Educational Autobiography
By: Chia Yeh
Tags: Taipei, Autobiography, Educational Technology, Taiwan, Education

First time teaching English at Wenlin Elementary School, Taipei

I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. I went to public school from elementary school to high school. I earned my BA degree in Children English Education at National Taipei University of Education. Now, I am pursuing an MA degree at University of San Francisco not only to immerse myself in a more diverse environment but also want to explore the field of Education Technology. Technology has been growing, and our education, too. From my growing experience, there are three things I learned from my teachers so that I made up my mind to dedicate myself in education: to know your students, to know the goal of learning, and to be empathy for people.

Which is better, teacher-center or student-center?

Throughout my elementary school to high school in Taiwan, I joined classes which is more like teacher-centered. For instance, teachers demonstrate how to solve math problems in class, students listen carefully and then practice them over and over again after school. I was frustrated by this way of the lecture because I tended to memorize the whole solving process instead of correctly know every step of the logic within those math problems. Fortunately, when I was in twelveth grade, I met a math teacher who was willing to teach us in a more student-centered way. Trying to know students’ questions about the math problem, he inquired every student about the basic concept and made everything clear to all students first. Then, each student had a chance to show him how to do the math problem, he will explain it again if we didn’t fully comprehend it. From then on, I have been thinking about the pros and cons of the student-centered classroom. The good thing is that a teacher can learn more about students’ condition, and adjust the teaching method immediately. However, it may take more time for a teacher to listen to students and get prepared for the next class. Nevertheless, I believe a student is a subject in the classroom and a teacher is a person who can help students with their learning. I would not say student-center is better than teacher-center but I am sure that always standing with students is definitely good for students’ productive learning.

Examine the learning strategy to achieve the goal

I love Taiwanese, Chinese, and Western history since junior high school time. Listening to the teacher’s lecture, I go to different museums when traveling to different countries. However, learning every detail in history doesn’t mean I can get a higher score in social study test. I found that the outcome of tests was fair, not excellent even though I studied history very hard. I turned to my homeroom teacher, a considerate woman, and we started to discuss my learning problem. She found out I am clear of the timeline of everything happening in the story, knowing the characters’ doing and the reason why things happened. However, I didn’t organize all of them and put them into the same chart or diagram to analyze. By doing analysis, I could compare one particular event with another one happening at the same time to define their differences and to know how they interacted with each other. Here is the thing I learned from this experience. My homeroom teacher didn’t deny my hard work but took good care of my mood. She tried to figure out how I prepared for the test and gave me the suggestion to change my learning strategy so that I could learn efficiently and get a higher score.

Put yourself in people’s shoes

I remembered I didn’t like P.E. class so much during elementary school and junior high school time. No matter what sports I do, I cannot handle it very well. I could not even join the competition with my classmates because of my bad performance. What’s worse, a B or a C is often on my P.E. score list. Not until senior high school time did I start to take a “normal” P.E class. The coach in the class told us to enjoy sports as much as possible. She didn’t force us to practice again and again. She believes the goal of sport is to have a lot of fun. Everyone has their own physical limits, not exactly the same as others. If one has tried so hard on a particular sport and cannot play it very well, it is okay for him to play another sport. What’s more, she showed the video which is a global competition for the disability. She wants us not only to cherish a healthy body we have right now but also to realize how fun those contestants were having and how hard they had tried. I am lucky to have this P.E coach in my senior high school time because I have an important life lesson from her: knowing myself and others’ limits and being supportive of each other.

What is changing education?

The school starts to teach the concept of code with the application created by Code.org

Over the past years, I have been acquiring my knowledge from school, from television, and from DVD and CD. Gradually, when the internet is thriving, I learn more online instead. Teachers teach with blackboard or whiteboard most of the time; nowadays, they can not only use those traditional tools but also advanced technology such as a computer or a pad. With Kahoot, students love quizzes more than they did before. In order to create the English environment for Taiwanese students, through Skype or Zoom, the teacher invites teachers from America to have a conversation with the class. Students can practice English speaking skills more often. In addition, the teacher encourages us to watch educational videos on Youtube or other online platforms such as Ted Talk to practice not only English listening skills but also be open-minded to various knowledge. While in university, more and more professors read our papers, graded them and gave a comment on the school’s online system. As I described above, technology has converted our education into a new page.

A school has been a place where students and teachers can meet face to face and share abundant resources together. This cannot completely be replaced by technology. However, I believe useful knowledge can be learned on the educational website and application through stronger internet and advanced hardware. By implementing technology into the classroom, students can find it interesting to learn. This is why technology is another bright choice for both teachers and students. Therefore, a teachers’ goal for the future generation is to help improve students’ learning efficiency through a technological tool.