Observations -- Rachel

One concept that was emphasized extensively during our training with Teach For China was the importance of adapting our teaching to fit the context in which we live. In the broadest sense, this context is rural China. More specifically, my context is Yongfeng Elementary School: a small school of around 250 students and teachers, located one hour outside of Xi’an.

It is pretty unusual for a rural, elementary school in Shaanxi province to have any foreign teachers. This is the fifth year of the Yongfeng Fellowship and word has definitely gotten around that not only does Yongfeng have multiple “外国人”, but that the fellowship program also provides substantial financial support to the school. These assets make Yongfeng standout in the area and as a result people are curious about how we do things here. Officials from the Xi’an Education Bureau and local teachers from other schools regularly visit Yongfeng to witness the teaching methods of the foreign teachers. In practice, this means that I often have anywhere from one to twenty people standing in the back of my classroom watching me teach. Some weeks there are no visitors, other weeks I am observed three days in a row.

As a new teacher, being observed is a pretty nerve-wracking experience. Usually when I know that I am going to be observed ahead of time, I remind myself that there is no need to change my lesson plan because I am already doing my best work. For the most part, this rational keeps me calm. It is especially useful when I am already five minutes into the start of a class and an observer (or twenty) walks into the room unexpectedly. In that situation, there is no opportunity to change your game plan and your best bet is to just smile and welcome him or her into your class.

The presence of observers in the classroom changes the learning environment and forces me to reexamine my place in the overall “context.” Suddenly I am more than a teacher trying to use student-centered pedagogy to motivate her students. When observers arrive in my classroom with the expectation that forty minutes later they will walk away with a more complete understanding of the American education system, my responsibility for that day becomes greater than simply educating my students. I become a symbol for these observers of a different, “Western” way of teaching.

I have been teaching for two months and am far from an expert on anything other than my own educational experiences.  Nevertheless, local teachers in the area often speak to me as though I do have answers to some of the toughest educational quandaries. I do my best to answer them in the moment and spend the rest of my time teaching my students to the best of my ability.  With each passing day at Yongfeng the complexity of education inequality in China becomes clearer. Discussions with local teachers have encouraged my belief that strengthening the Chinese education system does not mean replacing it with the American one. This goal will best be achieved by drawing on the strengths of both systems and then adapting them to create a system capable of addressing the unique and multi-faceted needs of a rapidly changing nation.