ROSA老師，有她數學不難了!

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老師的狀態特別影響小孩子。

暮氣沉沉的老師，

絕難帶出活力四射的學生。

三里屯校區的孩子，

活潑、大方，有想象力，

老師們也是全天“滿血”！

——比如，Rosa老師!

張玥媛（ Rosa Zhang ）

* 家鄉上海，美國的賓夕法尼亞州讀高中；

* 本科在華盛頓大學完成，純數學專業；

* 研究生在哥倫比亞大學讀雙語雙文化教學；

* 畢業后，在上海平和雙語國際部初中數學；

* 后來隨家人搬來北京，加入啟明星三里屯校區小學部，教授英文數學。

Rosa老師是個能量的矛盾體：

典型的J人，有計劃，重邏輯，這點適合做數學老師，

雙魚座，浪漫，天馬行空，喜歡不一樣的體驗，這點適合和小孩子們在一起！

結果，在她充滿能量的課堂上，你逃不過她細致又客觀的觀察，又會受到她不斷涌出的“新點子”的洗禮——

學數學，手腳并用

Rosa的課堂上，數學不只用紙筆學習，還能用身體體驗。

這是她對具身認知（Embodied Theory）理論的應用——讓孩子們通過身體，利用五感來真切地體驗和理解知識。

在學習“角”的課堂上，Rosa老師讓4年級的孩子們玩了個小游戲——

每人抽一張寫著不同“角”的卡片，然后用身體，比如胳膊的開合程度把這個角“比劃”出來，讓全班同學一起猜：是鈍角？銳角？還是周角？......

Rosa老師“比劃”周角

一陣熱鬧和比劃之后，孩子們自己把“鈍角組”“銳角組”“直角組”都分了出來——

整個過程，“角”的知識由大腦到手腳，再回到大腦，烙在心里，想要忘掉都不行。

“數學焦慮”治好啦

有些學生有典型的“數學焦慮”。一上數學課就緊張，特別害怕犯錯。

Rosa抓住學生能在游戲中放松的特點，加入很多kahoot比賽，就是在屏幕上不斷冒出數學題，大家都來搶答，結果效果特別好！

孩子們的注意力都在屏幕上，沒人在乎是誰答錯的，緊張的學生反倒慢慢放下了心里的防備，就算答錯了也不會像以前那樣尷尬，重拾了對自己的信心。

我不認為，一個孩子肯定就是數學沒有天賦的。數學能力里面有很多不同的分支：比如說公空間幾何能力，方向感，數論的能力，化實物為抽象的能力，快速的提取關鍵信息的能力......

其實數學學習，最重要的是持續的動力。老師要做的，就是捕捉一些點，push孩子們去發散，保持學習的動力。”

——Rosa老師

數學不遠！

孩子們開始認識“大數”，但是大數到底有多大？

為了讓他們對“一百萬”這樣抽象的大數有直觀感受，

Rosa帶著學生登陸Zillow網站，

查看美國不同州的房屋價格。

“100萬美元在某些州能買下超大別墅，

可在洛杉磯可能只夠買一套兩居室。”

Rosa解釋說：

“這個活動不僅反映地區物價差異，

還涉及各州的稅率差別——

這些知識和現實生活聯系緊密，

甚至啟發學生思考文化的差異，

他們會理解得更快，也更有興趣。”

“學習英文數學，對小學低年級孩子，我們關注孩子學習相應的英文詞匯；對中高年級孩子，我們會注重設計體驗式的活動，幫助他們在探究中理解數學概念。”

——Rosa老師

Rosa說，每個學年的教學活動，她都要重新設計、推翻、再創造。

所以，即便幾屆學生聚在一起聊天，

也很難說出那句話：

“Rosa老師也讓你們做過這個活動嗎？”

需要強調的是，

這些活動都緊貼學習的目標，

不是為了活動而活動。

一個嘗新DNA不斷在動的老師，

帶出的是一群對世界充滿好奇的學生；

一群這樣的老師和學生營造出的，

就是一個活力永動、

充滿創造力的校園！

A teacher’s energy deeply influences their students.

A weary teacher can hardly inspire lively, curious learners.

At Daystar Academy’s Sanlitun Campus, our students are vibrant, confident, and full of imagination— and their teachers match that energy, staying full of vitality all day long.

Ms. Rosa Zhang is one of them.

Rosa Zhang

Back in high school, Ms. Rosa left her hometown of Shanghai to study in Pennsylvania, US.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Pure Mathematics from the University of Washington and her master’s in Bilingual and Bicultural Education from Columbia University.

After graduation, she naturally stepped into international education, teaching middle school math at the bilingual department of Shanghai Pinghe School.

Few people from Shanghai choose to move north, but Ms. Rosa decided to follow her family to Beijing—and with that, she joined Daystar’s Sanlitun Campus, transitioning from teaching middle school to teaching elementary school.

Ms. Rosa teaches English Math. She’s a fascinating mix of energies.

She’s a typical “J-person”—organized and methodical, perfect for a math teacher—yet also a true Pisces at heart: romantic, creative, and always eager to explore new experiences, perfect for an elementary teacher.

“I just love trying different things while teaching!” She said.

Learning Math Through The Body

Learning math does not have to take place with pen and paper — it can also be experienced through the body.

In a recent fourth grade lesson on “angles”, Ms. Rosa invited students to play a fun guessing game.

Each student drew a card labeled with a type of angle, then used their body to show the angle—opening or closing the angle of their arms to “act out” that angle, while their classmates guessed: “Is it an obtuse angle? An acute angle? Or maybe a full angle?”

After a lively round of gesturing and guessing, the students grouped themselves into the “obtuse angle,” “acute angle,” and “right angle” teams.

This approach is an example of Embodied Cognition — the idea that we learn best by engaging our bodies and senses to truly experience and understand new concepts.

Ms. Rosa demonstrates how to “act out” a full angle.

Easing “Math Anxiety”

Some students experience classic “math anxiety”: they freeze up in math class, avoid eye contact, and fear making mistakes.

Ms. Rosa helps them relax by introducing game-based learning.

In her class, she encourages students to use Kahoot!, a lively quiz game, where math questions pop up on screen and everyone races to answer.

The results have been excellent.

Students focused on the game instead of their fear of failure. Even those who were once anxious start to relax. When they made mistakes, it no longer felt embarrassing—

and gradually they regained confidence in themselves.

I would never say that a student has no talent for math because within math there are many different branches:

There’s spatial and geometric ability

sense of direction, number theory ability, the capacity to turn concrete ideas into abstract ones, the ability to extract key information quickly divergent thinking,

and the ability to draw inferences from one example to another...

Sustained motivation is what matters most for learning math. As teachers, our role is to notice those sparks, give them a gentle push to explore further, and help students keep that drive to learn alive.”

— Ms. Rosa

Making Concepts Come Alive

When teaching large numbers to her fourth graders, Ms. Rosa wanted them to feel what “one million” really means.

So she guided her students to explore real estate listings on the website Zillow.

“In some states, a million dollars can buy a huge mansion, but in Los Angeles, it might only get you a two-bedroom apartment.”

As students browsed and compared listings, Ms. Rosa led them to discuss further, “This activity not only shows regional price differences, but also introduces tax variations between states – concepts that are closely connected to real life.

This way students grasp the ideas faster and stay more engaged.”

“When it comes to learning math in English, our focus differs by grade level. For younger elementary school students, we emphasize building their English math vocabulary.

For upper grades students, we design experiential activities that encourage them to explore and understand mathematical concepts through hands-on inquiry.”

— Ms. Rosa

For Ms. Rosa, “staying the same” is practically a forbidden concept.

Each school year, she redesigns and reimagines her lessons from scratch.

So even if students from different years compare experiences, they rarely say: “Oh, Ms. Rosa made us do that same activity too!”

A teacher whose DNA is wired for innovation naturally inspires a classroom full of curious minds.

And when you gather a community of teachers and students like that—

you get a school community that is dynamic, create, and full of life.