February 12-21, 2024，The first Tsinghua Affiliated High School teacher training group was led by Vice President Xu Wenbing and Director of Teaching Management and Research Center Zhang Biao，Went to Los Angeles, California to investigate the status quo of basic education in the United States，Visit local secondary schools，Understand teaching features，It will provide a broader vision and rich experience for the continuous development of the classroom revolution in Affiliated Middle School。Also participating in the workshop were Orson, Zhang Shumin, Vice President of Jiangtai Road Campus, Du Lei, Vice president of Yongfeng School of Tsinghua High School Attached to Tsinghua High School, and representatives of teachers from various disciplines。

The group first visited the Westridge School in Los Angeles。The school is a well-known girls' school with a history of more than 100 years, specializing in providing education from Grade 4 to Grade 12, in order to achieve the school philosophy of diversity, equality, inclusiveness and justice, encourage students to learn happily and independently, and improve students' ability to adapt to society。The workshop group was warmly welcomed by the school. Andrea Kassar, principal of Westley Ridge School, introduced the school's history and purpose to the teachers and hoped that the two schools could carry out more exchanges and cooperation。On behalf of Tsinghua Affiliated High School, Xu Wenbing thanked them for their warm reception and arrangement, introduced the main content and purpose of the study, and presented souvenirs of Tsinghua Affiliated High School。Afterwards, the teachers went deep into the classroom and felt the diverse classroom atmosphere under the teaching methods such as flipped classroom, microteaching, discussion and speech, and had subject exchanges with the teachers, further realizing the similarities and differences between Chinese and American curricula and classrooms。

The principal of Westrich School introduced the school

With a Westrich School teacher representative

Observe the classroom teaching at Westrich School

the California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley is a public school that features an arts program，It is considered one of the best charter high schools in California，In a creative and challenging campus environment，Quality high school programs and artistic vocational training for talented students。The teachers led by Vice President Xu Wenbing listened to the teaching of reading and writing, math, science, history, foreign language and various arts courses. The types of courses are rich and diverse, the classroom atmosphere is positive and vivid, and the students pay high attention。The principal of the school, Gregory Endelman, and the teachers' representatives had in-depth and friendly exchanges with them on the curriculum, student training, school management and other aspects during the working dinner. The teachers had a certain understanding of the working mode and professional characteristics of American teachers。

And the California School of the Arts SAN Gabriel Valley School of the principal and teacher representatives working dinner

Vice President Xu Wenbing presents a souvenir to California School of the Arts SAN Gabriel Valley

Observe classroom instruction at California School of the Arts SAN Gabriel Valley

The faculty also came to UCLA.，Associate Professor Stephanie Schmier presented a detailed presentation of basic education in the United States in the form of a seminar，She starts from three aspects: the American educational management system and structure, curriculum standards and evaluation, and the current American educational reform，Teachers have a relatively comprehensive understanding of the current state of American secondary education。Afterwards, we visited the university under the guidance of the host。UCLA is world-famous for its many beautiful buildings and scenery, and teachers can also appreciate the strong academic atmosphere and educational heritage of the school during the visit。

Listen to a seminar by Associate Professor Stephanie Schmier

Visit the UCLA campus

During the workshop, Sun Liancheng, chief representative of the American Education Association in China, explained to the teachers the evolution of students' learning styles in the field of basic education in the United States, as well as a variety of teaching strategies, and stressed the importance of deep learning to improve students' advanced thinking in teaching theory。

Director Sun Liancheng introduced American classroom teaching strategies

The teachers also came to California Institute of Technology, California Science and Technology Museum, Getty Center and other famous universities and science and art centers in Los Angeles to visit and study, learn about the achievements of the United States in education, science and technology and culture, and realize the importance of talent training for social civilization and progress。

Visit the California Institute of Technology

Visit the California Science and Technology Museum

View Van Gogh's Iris at the Getty Center

Teachers benefited greatly from this study. They not only felt the specific implementation and operation of middle school teaching under the American education system at close range, but also deepened their understanding of their own students' situation, teaching characteristics and school environment through comparison。They said that they would earnestly summarize the feelings and harvest of this study, share the lessons learned during the visit with other teachers, implement the classroom revolution, promote the improvement of teaching quality, and contribute to the high-quality development of the attached high school。

The following is a summary of some teachers' perceptions:

The biggest takeaway from the trip: don't become the adult who preaches that he has all the answers and tries to control all the outcomes。In the process of in-depth communication with a number of history teachers and high school students in various schools, I realized the similarities and differences, and also found the common point and improvement point。What is education for？To cultivate a person is to cultivate his hope for the future!

-- Teacher Song Wei

What impressed me most about physics classes in American middle schools was the students' technical, initiative, commitment and freedom in learning and listening to lectures。Physics routine teaching and AP elective are implemented in different layers, small class teaching, students bring computers, mobile phones to class, can freely enter the classroom at any time。Teachers' education and teaching may not adopt such strategies as project learning, or even experiment, inquiry and other operational processes, but they will also adopt the teaching mode from beginning to end, but in any case, students are always extremely focused and learning efficiency is very high, which is what we need to continue to pay attention to and improve。

-- Teacher Jiang Weibo

"Education is not the filling of minds, but the lighting of lights.。American middle school education focuses on personality development, the classroom atmosphere is free and lively, and students are actively involved。For example, although the difficulty of the algorithm in the computer classroom is not deep, the teacher guides the students to understand the array with a 9-grid game, which is novel。Students' thinking is not confined, can better establish and stimulate the enthusiasm of learning, abandon imitation in learning and research, and dare to create and innovate。The achievement is not only the current achievement, but also the academic future。

-- Teacher Lee Sung-woo

There are many differences in educational concepts between China and the United States, among which the biggest difference is that the American classroom emphasizes individual development and student participation。Through project-based learning, teachers encourage students to think, ask questions, and discuss and solve problems。Focus on developing critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving skills。In an English class, the teacher does not give a long lecture, but assigns tasks to the students, which are more based on the thinking level of the task, rather than the task based on the fact memory。This is what impressed me most。

-- Mr. Chen Jianrong

I have the honor to experience and observe the classroom education and artistic activities of different schools in the United States closely as a teacher and administrator, and have grasped the advanced educational concepts and teaching methods of people-oriented, emancipating the mind, and learning to do and do。At the same time, I have further understood the cultures and ways of thinking of different ethnic groups, expanded my international educational horizon, and improved my cross-cultural learning and communication ability。In the United States, the integration of three major educational elements such as higher-order thinking skills, creativity and personal and social ability into the formal curriculum is a highlight of its education. These advanced educational concepts and school-running cores are indeed worth learning from。

-- Zhang Shumin, Vice President

Text: Shu Chi

Photo: Yao Jia

Reviewed by: Xu Wenbing, Zhang Biao, Yang Ruizen, Yifei

Edit: Administrative Management Center