ROSA老师，有她数学不难了!

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老师的状态特别影响小孩子。

暮气沉沉的老师，

绝难带出活力四射的学生。

三里屯校区的孩子，

活泼、大方，有想象力，

老师们也是全天“满血”！

——比如，Rosa老师!

张玥媛（ Rosa Zhang ）

* 家乡上海，美国的宾夕法尼亚州读高中；

* 本科在华盛顿大学完成，纯数学专业；

* 研究生在哥伦比亚大学读双语双文化教学；

* 毕业后，在上海平和双语国际部初中数学；

* 后来随家人搬来北京，加入启明星三里屯校区小学部，教授英文数学。

Rosa老师是个能量的矛盾体：

典型的J人，有计划，重逻辑，这点适合做数学老师，

双鱼座，浪漫，天马行空，喜欢不一样的体验，这点适合和小孩子们在一起！

结果，在她充满能量的课堂上，你逃不过她细致又客观的观察，又会受到她不断涌出的“新点子”的洗礼——

学数学，手脚并用

Rosa的课堂上，数学不只用纸笔学习，还能用身体体验。

这是她对具身认知（Embodied Theory）理论的应用——让孩子们通过身体，利用五感来真切地体验和理解知识。

在学习“角”的课堂上，Rosa老师让4年级的孩子们玩了个小游戏——

每人抽一张写着不同“角”的卡片，然后用身体，比如胳膊的开合程度把这个角“比划”出来，让全班同学一起猜：是钝角？锐角？还是周角？......

Rosa老师“比划”周角

一阵热闹和比划之后，孩子们自己把“钝角组”“锐角组”“直角组”都分了出来——

整个过程，“角”的知识由大脑到手脚，再回到大脑，烙在心里，想要忘掉都不行。

“数学焦虑”治好啦

有些学生有典型的“数学焦虑”。一上数学课就紧张，特别害怕犯错。

Rosa抓住学生能在游戏中放松的特点，加入很多kahoot比赛，就是在屏幕上不断冒出数学题，大家都来抢答，结果效果特别好！

孩子们的注意力都在屏幕上，没人在乎是谁答错的，紧张的学生反倒慢慢放下了心里的防备，就算答错了也不会像以前那样尴尬，重拾了对自己的信心。

我不认为，一个孩子肯定就是数学没有天赋的。数学能力里面有很多不同的分支：比如说公空间几何能力，方向感，数论的能力，化实物为抽象的能力，快速的提取关键信息的能力......

其实数学学习，最重要的是持续的动力。老师要做的，就是捕捉一些点，push孩子们去发散，保持学习的动力。”

——Rosa老师

数学不远！

孩子们开始认识“大数”，但是大数到底有多大？

为了让他们对“一百万”这样抽象的大数有直观感受，

Rosa带着学生登陆Zillow网站，

查看美国不同州的房屋价格。

“100万美元在某些州能买下超大别墅，

可在洛杉矶可能只够买一套两居室。”

Rosa解释说：

“这个活动不仅反映地区物价差异，

还涉及各州的税率差别——

这些知识和现实生活联系紧密，

甚至启发学生思考文化的差异，

他们会理解得更快，也更有兴趣。”

“学习英文数学，对小学低年级孩子，我们关注孩子学习相应的英文词汇；对中高年级孩子，我们会注重设计体验式的活动，帮助他们在探究中理解数学概念。”

——Rosa老师

Rosa说，每个学年的教学活动，她都要重新设计、推翻、再创造。

所以，即便几届学生聚在一起聊天，

也很难说出那句话：

“Rosa老师也让你们做过这个活动吗？”

需要强调的是，

这些活动都紧贴学习的目标，

不是为了活动而活动。

一个尝新DNA不断在动的老师，

带出的是一群对世界充满好奇的学生；

一群这样的老师和学生营造出的，

就是一个活力永动、

充满创造力的校园！

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.