The following essay is based on one speech at the proposal defence of the 5th round ECNUAS teacher research project.
Photo taken in ECNUAS main campus in late November, 2021
In ECNUAS, we want to cultivate successful life-long learners. To this end, we design and create a lot of learning opportunities for students in and outside classrooms. Our students benefit from all of them and develop good approaches, habits, and abilities of learning and enquiring. On the top of these explicit learning opportunities, teachers are also encouraged to model on learning and enquiring because we believe that a good education is to use our adults’ good examples to influence students and that perhaps the best approach to education is teachers learning alongside students.
I am teaching one academic writing course with Grade 12 A-Level students. The name of the course is Critical Thinking and Writing. We created this high school school-based course in the purpose of preparing students’ academic research and writing abilities. In one of my classes, I mentioned to my students that ECNUAS teachers are designing and conducting research projects based on their teaching practices too. I even let the students look at one expat teacher’s research proposal before they began to write their own research proposals. I see students be inspired the examples of our teachers. They see we are with them, we are the same as them, they see teachers are both teachers and learners, the teachers and students in our school are in the same community of learning.
Each year, ECNUAS sponsors teachers to conduct research based on the work they do or the theories or practices they learn. The school not only financially supports this extremely important practice of teacher professional learning, but also provides teachers with platforms on which teachers can share their ideas and findings. Each time we would organize a research proposal defence and a final examination for submitted teacher research reports. Each time, we would invite internal or sometimes external experts from the District or professors from universities to evaluate our teachers’ proposals or research outcomes.
Over the past four years, ECNUAS has collected about 30 teacher studies with some of them being shared in larger education systems such as Jiading School District, ECNU schools, as well as municipal level platforms. The school would inform teachers and encourage them to submit research proposals in the District, to educational associations, or to other governmental platforms whenever this type of information arrives in the school. Moreover, each year the school library would create a collection of high quality, completed teacher studies so that these valuable research reports can be permanently shared in this community. The school also gives awards to selected outstanding research projects and announces the awards at teacher assemblies on the Teacher’s Day each year.
Reading is one useful way to improve teacher learning and provide knowledge base for teachers to conduct practice-based research. By the end of each academic year, the school asks teachers to read books related to curriculum, teaching and learning, or education theories in general. Teachers are also encouraged to write book reviews that will be collected and edited by the Academic Committee of the school to create a collection of book reviews. The annual book review collection is printed and distributed among teachers so that they can learn from each other’s readings.
This year we received 11 teacher research proposals covering many aspects of the school work, including the effectiveness of modified practices in response to the new ‘Double Reduction Policy’, integrated approaches to curriculum and teaching and learning, formative assessment design such as rubrics and homework, planning units of teaching, promotion of personalized reading, exploration of English learning environment, and one proposal submitted by the director of logistics about designing a school based curriculum of food and dining informed by international research in this area.
Today is the defence of the 5th round teacher research in ECNUAS. The process of the proposal defence begins with an opening speech by the director of the Academic Committee. After the speech, each research team will have about 10 minutes to present the proposal by outlining the purpose, preliminary literature review, research design and methods, and expected research outcomes. The Committee will give comments or ask questions after each presentation in the hope of improving the quality of the research design. A close-door panel discussion by the Committee will take place after all presentations are completed. The Committee will decide if one research proposal passes the defence, or needs some modifications, or fail the defence. Research funds will be allocated according to the need of each project as well as available budget for school-based research.
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