Teacher Training

Building a strong faculty team lays a solid foundation for the development of a school. Excellent teachers are able to give good advice to students and well escort them when they grow up. SHBS attaches great importance to building its faculty team. In addition to the weekly teaching and research meeting held by each subject group, homeroom teachers’ meeting and new teachers’ training session, it also offers training sessions to improve teachers’ professional qualities and skills at the routine faculty meeting held each Tuesday.

The training sessions we have held so far this semester covered many topics, such as 1.Differentiation: Although the school had carefully classified all the students, we still had students of different levels in each teaching class. Guided by principal Bowen, all teachers thought about methods of differentiated teaching, and discussed how to truly teach students according to their own talents so that our teaching activities could be more effective;

2. Review and Preview Strategies: Guided by Ms. Chuman Lin, all the teachers discussed the innovative methods of preview and review to help the students. They also explored how to cultivate students' enthusiasm for learning;

3. Applying psychology to teaching: Ms. Chloe Chen assisted everyone’s teaching with her practical psychological knowledge. By observing her demo classes on "Anxiety", "Memory and Learning" and "Self-driven Growth", all teachers got a clear picture of the symptoms and causes of anxiety and how to deal with it, and a clear understanding of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve. She also showed everyone how to teach students to memorize what they have learned through repetition, and achieve their growth driven by themselves. She also told us to encourage students to be self-motivated.

4. Environmental-friendly Education: Principal Chris advocated the concept of "Green education" at one of the training sessions. He made all teachers vividly understand the climate changes by presenting various data, figures, charts and diagrams. Besides, he demonstrated what would happen to mankind with the reduction of inhabitable lands caused by climate change. Finally, he called for everyone’s attention to the issue, and asked everyone to seek for ways to integrate green education into our class and daily campus life. 

In addition to sharing on a certain topic, the training sessions held by SHBS are characterized by heuristic group-discussion and co-creation. For example, during a training session, Principal Chris asked all teachers to think about two questions: What does an "excellent" teacher look/feel like? What does it require to be an "excellent" teacher? The teachers worked in pairs to have a heated discussion.

What does an "excellent" teacher look/feel like?

A teacher with strong professional and teaching skills; one who is able to build a good relationship with students, to impart knowledge accurately, to help students achieve their goals; one who is so patient as not to give up on any student; one who is enthusiastic about teaching in class; one who treats all the students fairly; one who has a sense of responsibility; one who is able to find the strengths of each student and help them to build on their strengths; one who can motivate students; and one can get along  with students as equals and trust each other. ...... teachers actively discussed the topic and shared their views with each other, brainstorming various characteristics of "excellent" teachers.

So, what does it require to be an "excellent" teacher? All the teachers present gave a lot of answers: One needs to have clear and distinct teaching goals; one needs to be good at using various resources in teaching; one needs to be creative and flexible in class; one needs to analyze and reflect on teaching; one needs to understand, care for students and communicate with them in a timely manner; one needs to maintain emotional stability and understand the different needs of students; and one needs to try his or her best to be a "lifelong learner." ......

Finally, Principal Chris guided the teachers in sharing their views and wrapping up the session. He pointed out that as teachers, it is important for us to share a common mission, common focus, and common goal with students and to put in efforts physically, emotionally, and intellectually without distractions, and to be fully prepared for each teaching activity. The efforts made by teachers will influence and motivate students and inspire them to take on a variety of challenges. In fact, in the process of exploring these two fundamental questions, teachers' requirements and expectations of themselves have been quietly changing.

SHBS faculty team learn from each other, keep making progress, better help students grow, and work together to make SHBS a warm and beautiful community.