Mr Lu Yu–Jen (22 July to 8 August 2019)

Mr Lu Yu-Jen (22 July to 8 August 2019)

AST’s 26th OEIR

Mr Lu Yu-Jen is the superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Yilan County Teacher Training Centre, Taiwan. Prior to that, he was a mathematics Lead Teacher for ten years and the director of school academic affairs and general affairs for three years. As a mathematics teacher leader and a superintendent, Mr Lu regularly conducts professional development for primary school teachers that include the use of mathematics magic, picture books, learning trails, diagnostic instruction design and assessment task to maximise students’ mathematical learning. At the international level, he has presented papers at the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference in Brazil and Canada, and conducted lesson demonstrations in mathematics teaching symposiums for elementary school teachers in China.

Mr Lu Yu-Jen was the recipient of the outstanding teacher award in Yilan County in 2015, and also received both the distinguished honour and gold medal of the excellence in teaching award in 2012. He specialises in the hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) model which emphasises on sequencing content and learning, and will be able to share with our mathematics teachers on how the design of mathematical instruction can enhance teaching and learning in the mathematics classroom.

As a superintendent, Mr Lu and his colleagues from the primary Mathematics group in Yilan County Training Centre have worked together to develop a 5-step approach to use the HLT model. The purpose of this approach is to help primary Mathematics teachers design mathematical instructions.

Mr Lu conducting a Master Class for teachers at Princess Elizabeth Primary School

During his stint with AST, he conducted four Master Classes for primary Mathematics teachers. His Master Class titled ‘Teaching Mathematics Beyond the Textbook’ aims to equip teachers with the the knowledge and skills on the use of a HLT as an effective mathematics lesson planning tool. He emphasised on the need to have meaningful conversations on teachers’ experiences and understanding students' needs as an equally important factor. Teachers also got to experience hands-on practice using the 5-step approach to lesson planning. In his Master Classes, Mr Lu also shared a range of teaching strategies such as the use of mathematics magic and games to engage students.

Mr Lu had the opportunity to visit four schools: Seng Kang Primary School, Waterway Primary School, Princess Elizabeth Primary School and Northland Primary School, where he observed how primary Mathematics lessons were taught. After each lesson observation, Mr Lu engaged in a dialogue with the teacher to understand their considerations in planning the lesson, the various and offered feedback and exchanged ideas on ways to further engage students.

Mr Lu interacting with teachers as they have hands-on experience of playing various Mathematics games

He also had the opportunity to teach a Primary 5 class on the topic of “Percentage” in Seng Kang Primary School where he demonstrated the various Mathematical Talk Moves when engaging students.  The students got the opportunity to experience Mathematics magic with him too.

Mr Lu with doing Mathematics Magic to engage students from Primary 5 Hope, Seng Kang Primary School, during his lesson conduct

From his school visits, Mr Lu observed that the primary school Mathematics teachers in Singapore are very professional.  He also commented that the PD programmes in MOE are very well-planned with a lot of opportunities for teachers to participate in various teachers’ professional activities both in school or at AST.

We are honoured to have the opportunity to interact and work with Mr Lu through the OEIR programme and we would like to thank him for being very generous in sharing various lesson planning tools and mathematics games that teachers could use in their classroom.