With the establishment of Secondary School at Dipont Huayao Collegiate School (Dipont HC for short), the two sections of Middle School and Upper School will be further connected in depth, and the strong academic management team of Secondary School will usher in a new upgrade. Following the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Walkington, Principal of Upper School, as Principal of Secondary School, we hereby also welcome a new member,
From now on, Dr. Huang Maofa will be the Principal of Middle School at Dipont HC School.
Dr. Paul Huang
He graduated from Zhejiang University majoring in English Education, and then focused on Curriculum and Education major. He received his master’s and doctor’s degrees from Kean University in the United States. He has been engaged in teaching and administration for 24 years. He has held teaching management positions in Wenzhou Middle School, Wenzhou Foreign Language School, Wenzhou Kean University and Kean University in the United States. He has rich experience in curriculum research, teacher training and sino-foreign cooperation in school operation.
From Zhejiang University, which is known for academic performance, to working in the best high school in his hometown, Dr. Huang’s starting point was already higher than that of many of his contemporary teachers. It was a wonderful start for his educational career and a prelude for his further development in the future.
We first met Dr. Huang after he had several regular meetings with the School Leadership Team (SLT). Dr. Huang is full of expectations for this new journey that is about to soon start, and said that he has an open mind to learn more from everyone.
The deeper we get to know him, the more we can’t help feeling that Dr. Huang is almost a rare “master of all things” in the land of education.
To get to know the new Principal, let’s start with his three roles: teacher, education administrator and practitioner of internationalized education.
A teacher in a classroom
After earning a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Zhejiang University, Dr. Huang began teaching in the best local middle school of the city. How does Dr. Huang, who started his education career as an English teacher, perceive the changes in education and see the series of ups and downs brought about by these changes?
From listening to cassette tapes repeatedly when he was studying, to now seeing the students’ learning resources included foreign teachers, audio books and even Bilibili, Dr. Huang sees that the diversity of learning assistance and tools brings unprecedented opportunities.
Along with that, there are changes in learning goals.
Dr. Huang has witnessed the development of English language learning from English as a Foreign Language (EFL), to English as a Second Language (ESL), and finally to Bilingual of now.
“It’s a really great thing to be able to really tailor it.” Dr. Huang articulated his ideal of education in simple terms. According to Dr. Huang, the educational motto “teach students according to their aptitude”(“Yin Cai Shi Jiao”in Chinese Pinyin) is a pun: the “Cai” can refer to both material and talents.
Material, namely respect children’s physical and mental health development and cognitive laws, rather than discipline all children with one same rule.
In teaching, according to different students’ cognitive levels, learning abilities and their own qualities, teachers choose learning methods suitable for each student’s characteristics and conduct targeted teaching, enhance advantages and minimize siadvantages, stimulate students’ interests in learning, so as to promote students’ whole person development.
Talent is to help each child find their interests and strengths, explore possibilities, and then develop their best talents.
Teaching should focus on students’ Zone of Proximal Development, provide students with challenging contents, motivate students’ engagement levels, give space to their potential, and reach the level of the next stage of development beyond their Zone of Proximal Development.
The ” Zone of Proximal Development ” is dynamic, and the number and difficulty of the tasks given to students should increase with the improvement of their performance levels. What schools and parents should do is to constantly adjust the support system according to the situation of students, so as to meet the needs of students’ development and truly “teach students according to their aptitude”.
A manager looking at it all
Thinking on teaching is the first level, and the clear goal of education is the proposition that Dr. Huang began to continue to ask deeply after entering the teaching management post.
Dr. Huang has held many school-level leadership positions in public and non-governmental schools including Director of the International Department of Wenzhou Middle School in Zhejiang Province, the vice principal of Wenzhou Foreign Language School, and the Principal of New Century Wenzhou Affiliated School of Peking University.
When he was the principal of a previous school, Dr. Huang used curriculum construction as the starting point to explore the seamless connection of primary, junior and senior high schools, and carried out a series of school reforms and upgrades to bring the school’s development to an excellent level.
What did Dr. Huang do right when turning a new school into a prestigious local non-governmental school?
These are also one of the important reasons why Dr. Huang chose to join the Dipont HC School.
“Teaching students according to their aptitude not only refers to the aptitude of students, but also the aptitude of schools and teachers. What a good school does is how to give personalized guidance to children that combines the actual situation of the school and brings out the teacher’s maximum potential.” Dr. Huang said.
Dr. Huang has a unique resume. In addition to his years of experience in basic education, he has worked in universities for several years, serving as assistant executive vice President of Kean University in the United States and Director of Teaching Department of Wenzhou Kean University, responsible for curriculum setting, teaching evaluation, teacher recruitment etc..
This observation led Dr. Huang to think more deeply about what kind of people do we really want to raise?
This is an “end as a beginning ” approach, but getting into college is not “the end” either. “At the end of the day, we need to train people who can cope with the rapidly changing economic and social environments of the future, people who can do jobs that have yet to be created, and who can apply technologies that have yet to be invented to solve problems that we can’t imagine today.”
A practitioner of East-West integration
Let’s start with the basics, the curriculum.
The educational philosophy of Chinese and Western fusion meets in “student-centered” at Dipont HC School.
At Dipont HC School, the title was upgraded to “scholar.” “‘ Scholar ‘is not an easy term,” Carol said. “It reminds every student to remember that you are the spirit of the school and the master of the campus.“Dr. Huang is encouraged by such campus culture. In his opinion, entering a world famous university is naturally one of the goals of Dipont HC scholars, but on this basis, to become an international talent with “Chinese heart and world eyes” is a proper appearance of Dipont HC scholars.
Having studied and worked in the United States for many years and in the field of international education, Dr. Huang has extensive experience in cross-cultural communication. Communication, negotiation and even cooperation with people of different cultural backgrounds are also important lessons for scholars at Dipont HC School, according to Dr. Huang.
Fortunately, Dipont HC School has no shortage of such diverse soil. From the 1:1 ratio of Chinese and foreign faculty to the gathering of scholars from different backgrounds, the school is committed to building an international, diverse and cross-cultural school environment, laying a foundation for scholars to grow into global citizens leading future changes.
With the upcoming strong alliance between Dr. Huang and Dr. Jeff Walkington, Principal of The Secondary School / Upper School, we are looking forward to a new upgrade of the Secondary School!
