Shanghai+Normal+University

= Visit to Shanghai Normal University  =

After lunch it was off to Shanghai Normal University for the four education professors (and of course, I left my phone at the restaurant! But it was brought to me later.) After some greetings, we were off to our respective spots for presentations. Pictured on the right at the left end are the colleagues for Kristen and I - mine was Xinguo Li, Assoc Prof and Vice Dean - a rarity in teacher education because he has 10 years high school teaching experience! He also accompanied the group of Shanghai student teachers who came to Fullerton this past spring. Song (?), Kristen's colleague, is heading off to Indiana University this fall to earn his PhD. It was a bit of a surprise to discover that our audience was students and not professors, but all four of us aren't professors of education for nothing! We all did great. Natalie wins the gold for the most students - almost 200 graduate students to hear her presentation on research - and they asked great questions about choosing a great research question.

Amy spoke on university partnerships and informal science education; Kristen wowed them with hands-on activities on technology tools - she was on Intel Visual Ranking, Popplet, Socrative, and a bunch of other digital tools. And her students were quickly accessing these resources with their smart phones!

I started with a discussion on the 21st century workplace, shifted to 21st century skills, and then headed to the Web for my own hands-on. We started with GeoGebra for an exciting beginning, but then I was knocked off the web and couldn't get back on. Bummer - no quizlet or other tools. In a quick reverse - I shifted to requirements of becoming a teacher, the Teaching Performance Assessment, and took questions from students about what qualities are most important in a teacher. Jenny fielded questions about becoming a professor - and we all ended the afternoon with a bang! I also have a small set of Shanghai Smart Girls (to borrow Margaret's name) - who want to be the China Kahn Academy!



We all agreed these students were very impressive and Kristen and I are excited about possibilities for some student teaching exchange. The three in the middle row on the left end are my Smart Girls.

So then we had a tour of the beautiful campus - very nice! and of course, it was then off to an 8-course dinner where I found one of my new favorite dishes - Beijing Duck Tacos (made with cucumber, duck skin, plum sauce, and a flour tortilla of sorts)! And the food art was amazing! Here is Natalie with her counterpart (educational economics):