Mentors play essential role in Pao School's growth

Pao School’s mentors can be seen on campus every week, whether in classrooms, offices, the school's hallways or its conference rooms. Despite being over 60 years of age on average, they continuously study new educational concepts and practice innovative teaching methods. The support from the mentors has helped Pao School's teachers to better teach, guide and care for the students.

Back row left to right: President Wu Zijian, Former Principal of Secondary Division Tony Jacacci, Executive Deputy Chairman Philip Sohmen, Chairman Anna Pao Sohmen, Mentor Shi Tongde, Mentor He Ya’nan, Mentor Xu Kuanhong

Front row left to right: Mentor Li Aizhen, Mentor Yin Guofang, Honorary Headmistress Ni Guyin, Mentor Chen Beilei, Deputy Chairman Tan Fuyun, Principal Matthew Wu

(May, 2011)

Honorary Headmistress Ni Guyin and student

(February, 2010)

The Primary School's mentor team was set up in 2007, at the same time that Pao School itself was formally established. Lead by Headmistress Ni Guyin, the key members of the Primary School mentor team included teachers Chen Beilei, Li Aizhen and Yin Guofang. In 2011, in conjunction with the establishment of YK Pao Secondary Division, a Secondary Division mentor group was established, headed by Principal Matthew Wu. The key members of the Secondary Division mentor group included teachers He Yanan, Shi Tongde, Xu Kuanhong, Kong Fangang, Chen Lei, Zhang Zhengyan and Bu Genhai. The instructors' areas of expertise included Chinese, mathematics, English, humanities and science.

The mentors played an essential role in YK Pao School from the very beginning, with a presence in all areas of the school's core work. Matthew Wu, head of the Secondary Division mentors, said with a smile that at the time the mentors served as a veritable jack-of-all-trades for the school, and were involved with curriculum design, classroom teaching, teaching management, teacher recruitment and teacher training.

In some cases, the mentors even helped young teachers with their pastoral duties in the  residence halls. As the Secondary Division is a boarding campus, and the young teachers did not have a great deal of experience in pastoral care, mentors aged 60 or older served on night duty in the residence halls together with the teachers.

The mentor team at the 2019 Songjiang Campus Annual Inspection

Pao School has always emphasized the importance of continually developing curriculum design for the school's ongoing growth. Curriculum design reflects the school's mission to develop whole-person education, pass on traditions of Chinese culture and foster an international perspective. In the school's naissance, naturally integrating Chinese and Western course material was without a doubt the toughest teaching challenge. 

The curriculum design process was extensive, with representatives from the Shanghai Education Committee and District Education Bureau visiting the school a number of times to provide guidance. The process also involved the participation of many outside experts from both China and overseas, as well as the mentors and the school's leadership. A great deal of valuable input from all of these sources was ultimately utilised to develop the optimal curriculum for each of Pao School's three campuses: the Primary School and Middle School's "Shanghai+ curriculum" and the High School's "international+ curriculum," with both highlighting the unique characteristics of Pao School. During the curriculum design process, the mentors served not only as "brick movers" but also as an "adhesive."

Chairman Anna Pao Sohmen presents books to the mentor team at the donation ceremony

 of the Pao Pei Wai Swimming Pool and the Huang Siu Ing Memorial Library on Songjiang Campus

(November, 2013)

The mentors group began on the Wuding campus of the Primary School. As the school grew and developed, the mentors did also, next becoming established on the Secondary campus and at last on the Middle School's Hongqiao campus – where their focus is on the training the teaching team. As time has passed, the mentors have evolved from their early roles in curriculum development to supporting research and teaching endeavours and in passing on the "artisan's art". Further, the mentor team also acts as a bridge by connecting the school with external high-quality resources.

The mentor team takes part in a class observation

Chairman Anna Pao Sohmen gives a mentor appointment letter to He Ya'nan

(May, 2011)

He Yanan of the mentor team believes that it is imperative for teachers to be aligned with Pao School's mission and educational ethos in order to be successful. For this reason, the mentors hold a foundational teacher training class for new teachers which aims to help them understand the school's pedagogical approach and core values. The training course is comprehensive, covering all aspects of Pao School's teaching standards, including how to prepare for class and in-class requirements, in addition to after-class evaluation and reflections.

The students of the foundational teacher training course regularly participate in a wide variety of activities organized by the mentors, including theoretical study, class observation, small-scale lectures and seminars. These activities all aim to help new teachers understand Pao School's classroom teaching standards by observing instructors give lectures, after which they then discuss their observations. This series of training activities provided by the foundational course helps teachers familiarize themselves with Pao School's educational approach and standards, while also boosting their teaching ability and classroom management skills.

The mentor team takes part in a class observation and discussion

Left to right: Mentor Bu Genhai, Mentor He Ya'nan, Mentor Zhang Zhengyan, Mentor Wang Zuheng, Principal Matthew Wu, Mentor Kong Fangang and Teacher Shirley Jin

Matthew Wu has ten key questions for new teachers in the foundational teacher training course to ponder. The questions focus on ten common problems in classroom teaching for the new teachers to discuss.

The "ten questions about classroom teaching" are regularly updated based on the teaching environment. The purpose of these questions is to stimulate young teachers in considering how to apply the new concepts they have just learned to solve old problems and guide them in continuously improving their professional skills.

As young teachers are of increasingly high ability, the original foundational teacher training course became insufficient. Thus, the mentors established a more in-depth training seminar that aims to train Pao School's "future teaching stars." Every participant in the seminar chooses a teaching and research topic under the guidance of a mentor. Then, based on their subject, participants teach an interactive class made up of their peers and their assigned mentor. After the class finishes, the mentor and other participants evaluate the presenting teacher's performance. The teacher who presented writes a report featuring their reflections on the experience, while the mentor provides some comments on the quality of the instruction. At the end of the academic year, participants in the seminar submit a research paper on the subject.

Mentor He Yanan believes that a good teacher needs to have four basic qualities, including solid professional skills and subject literacy; open global vision and excellent bilingual ability; excellent learning ability and the ability to respond quickly; and to be diligent in reflection and to possess good research skills. Compared with cultivating new forces, the focus of the mentor team is different in the training of key teachers. The difference here is reflected in the requirements for teaching reflection and teaching research. While further enhancing their reflection ability, key teachers will do more teaching demonstrations and in-depth research on selected topics.

Group photo of some members of the Secondary Division mentor team

(May, 2011)

In recent years, Pao School's teachers have steadily strengthened their teaching ability. In particular, they have strived to develop student-centered learning and are proactive about improving themselves. Their progress is clear for all to see. For instance, Ms. Jin, Head of Chinese in the Middle School, has made continuous breakthroughs in the classroom and tried whole-book reading teaching. Further, Ms. Li, Head of Mathematics in the Middle School, has achieved fruitful teaching results through classroom practice and open classes.

Mr. Zhu from the Middle School's Humanities Department has progressed rapidly in his teaching and research abilities. Prior to joining the Pao School faculty, he had never published a paper in an academic journal. Under the guidance of the mentors, he was able to publish papers in district-level academic journals (focused on the field of education) in just one year's time.

Ms. Song, a music teacher in the High School, has been an innovator in the music classroom. She guides her students to develop musical scores for Tang poetry, seamlessly blending the essence of traditional Chinese culture with melodious music.

Ms. Fan, a Language Support teacher in the Middle School, has progressed rapidly in her teaching abilities, thanks to her hard work and the superb training provided by the mentor team.

Ms. Weng, who holds a PhD in pediatrics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, previously worked at Harvard Medical School before joining YK Pao School as a science teacher. In recent years, her classroom management and teaching techniques have continuously grown, thanks to the support from the mentors.

The mentors' students are grateful for their guidance all these years, which has helped broaden their horizons and steer their professional development in the right direction. Ms. Li, Head of Mathematics, says, "The mentors have expanded our teaching horizons by applying both theory and practice. They have improved our teaching and research skills and allowed us to understand that teaching should be treated as a subject unto itself."

Ms. Li explains that the mentors have shown the teachers that whole-person education at Pao School is a constant process; it is not merely a matter of teaching mathematics. The process also involves collecting teaching materials, designing the course curriculum, and establishing teaching goals, as well as classroom instruction and after-class evaluation.

Ms. Li adds, "Comments from the mentors after each open class have benefited us a lot, showing us the different perspectives from which we should evaluate and summarize our classroom teaching, and how we can improve our teaching ability."

Ms. Weng, a science teacher at the Middle School, is deeply moved by the mentors' dedication, "The Mentor Group has set an example for us all with their spirit of perseverance. We can learn much from this older generation of educators."

Ms. Weng points out that over the years, the mentors established a convivial and interactive platform through which they could communicate with the school’s teachers. "If the mentors hadn't encouraged everyone to keep learning, we might have grown complacent," she says. However, instead, the students learned from each other, by listening to each other and having discussions, which helped improve their classroom presentation and overall teaching skills. "For me, this is a process of self-examination," she adds.

Principal Matthew Wu speaking about calligraphy at an event

(December, 2011)