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Ron Sung is a full-time Teaching Coach at Guan Ai School. He is from the United States and earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation he held a position as a middle school math teacher in Oakland before deciding to join RCEF. He now works with the Science and Math teachers at Guan Ai to help them improve their teaching methods.

Ron helps fourth graders to learn about decimals.

What kinds of discoveries have you made since coming to Guan Ai School?

I thought that kids in rural China would all be obedient and silent, but they’re not, which is good. I find a great deal of similarities between my middle school students in inner-city Oakland and elementary students in rural China. Kids are kids wherever you go, and you really have to understand them to get them to learn.

I also found similarities working with teachers and working with students. When I want teachers to perform a certain way or do things in class a certain way, I can’t just tell them. Improving teacher performance and improving student performance in a classroom both involve soft nudges and rational explanations for everything. Teachers, like students, need structures and guidelines in which to work and succeed.

What are a couple of the biggest challenges you face and how do you deal with them?

Ron works with Teacher Sun to plan a lesson.

Guan Ai has a number of young, inexperienced teachers who struggle in the classroom. As a recent first-year teacher, I offer them my full support in thinking through lesson plans, self reflection, and classroom management. They require patience from me as well as fresh ideas to engage students in learning.

We also have a number of veteran teachers who only teach in the above mentioned traditional methods of lecturing and individual work. At first I practiced my debate skills with them, breaking down their logic of a rigid classroom environment, but this was pointless. Instead, I shifted toward working on student-centered projects with them, letting them teach how they teach, but also letting students work on hands-on activities.

Tell us about a student who has made great progress in your eyes.

Guan Ai School and RCEF try to implement student-centered learning, which is very different from the norm in China, where teachers lecture and explain this and that for an entire class period, then hand out assignments for students to complete during the next class period. The results stink, at least for those in the bottom half of the class, who simply don’t learn in the traditional format.

One fourth grade boy, has made incredible progress in our system. This kid, when he entered our school near the end of the last school year without any knowledge of pinyin and addition, now discusses topics with other students in his fourth grade group and raises his hand to answer questions. By no means is he “caught up” with his peers, but he epitomizes the success of our school’s philosophy of student-centered learning as the key to engaging all students to learn.

Ron occassionally teaches math and science classes.

Describe a typical day for you at Guan Ai.

As math and science curriculum coach, I make a concerted effort to observe all science classes and as many math classes as possible. I try to consult with teachers before each observation to see how I can improve their class or what methods I think should be used.

Before lunch there’s a period of student reading time, which is my favorite part of the day because I have a chance to play table tennis, which was set up after the community service class raised money for it.

After lunch is usually a science class. I then try to figure out what math teachers are doing for their late afternoon and eveing classes, often times persuading them to use activities or games after a day of sitting in class. Twice a week I teach students Chinese Yo-Yo at 4:30 PM during the afternoon extracurricular activities. Otherwise, I do some paperwork and relax until school gets out at 8:00 PM with dinner sometime in between.

At night, I give feedback to the teachers and we discuss lesson plans for the next day. I always want to have input before each science class because I want to make science class fun. In the fall 2008 semester, I was more hands-on with the math curriculum in order to increase student engagement in class.

What do you like best about your job?

The best part about my job is working with teachers and thinking about ways to engage students in learning.

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