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Guangyuan Project – 2024 Spring Semester Visit Report – April

From April 24 to 28, 2024, colleagues from the Foundation visited the 16 schools in our Guangyuan Alliance project. This marked the first project visit of spring 2024. During the visit, we held discussions with the school’s reading leadership group, teachers and students around the four key areas: library opening, new book procurement, book circulation and ensuring students’ had adequate independent reading time. We exchanged ideas and addressed issues, experiences, and any doubts they had.

Following schools’ visits, the Foundation and the Education Bureau met to discuss the adjustments required for the better implementation of our reading project based on each school’s current situation and needs. This visit resulted in a shared focus for the next two months. These are listed as follows:

  1. Integrate high-quality children’s book list resources and provide corresponding information and suggestions to support schools in selecting high-quality children’s books that align with their specific needs and students’ preferences, so as to bring more high-quality reading resources to children.
  2. The Education Bureau will set up a core working group for regular visits to project schools. This group will operate in accordance with the project evaluation framework and facilitate stronger communication and supervision with schools, allowing us to stay informed on the school’s reading promotion progress.

Reading Innovation Fund Sharing Activities

Beyond school visits, the project team also held reading innovation fund sharing activities. The Reading Innovation Fund is an annual project where a RMB1000 grant is awarded to the winning application for activities that either promote an engaging reading environment; carry out diverse reading activities; or to conduct courses on campus. Class teachers apply independently, focusing on teachers’ spontaneity and project innovation.

During the Innovation Fund sharing session, three teachers who received funding in 2023 were invited to present their reading project results and observations in the past year. The three teachers designed unique reading projects that addressed the needs of their students and aligned with the curriculum goals. Here are some highlights:

  • A first-grade teacher cultivated the reading interest in newly enrolled students and fostered family reading habits through the reading of picture books with the theme of “My Family and Me”;
  • A fourth-grade teacher introduced classical Chinese to students, aiming to develop their language skills for future junior high school studies;
  • Another fourth-grade teacher integrated popular science reading goals into the curriculum, encouraging students to explore and experiment with various interesting and rich science reading materials.

The sharing of their experiences by the three teachers inspired other teachers with new ideas for determining class reading themes and organizing shared reading courses.

2024 Reading Innovation Fund Funding Project

In addition to experience sharing, the list of projects funded by the Innovation Fund in 2024 was also announced at the meeting. This year, a total of 27 project applications were received. Following a rigorous selection process, 14 projects were chosen based on two important criteria: completion of the project application form and the project’s impact on promoting students’ reading. These funded projects encompass a variety of initiatives, including: reading courses, teachers read children’s book and themed book reading promotions, etc.

By sharing funding details and providing proposal feedback, we hope to equip teachers with a strong understanding of project design considerations and evaluation priorities. Additionally, we offer a project effectiveness summary template to guide teachers in observing the impact on students based on the suggested thinking points during project implementation.

The foundation will continue to monitor the progress of funded projects and offer necessary support to teachers. We are looking forward to seeing the results of these 14 projects in a year’s time.