With the mission to change Asia's spoon-feeding and teacher-centered approach in the classroom, after 18 years of experience teaching in a public senior high school, in 2013, Chang Huicheng founded the Sharestart method. This unconventional teaching method nurtures students to self-learn, think, and express. Chang began his initiative to promote the Sharestart method through classroom observations and public speeches. Seven years forward, Sharestart now has 80 lead teachers, from the 1st grade to the college level, participating in the mission to change the spoon-feeding approach.
Sharestart's main focus is training more teachers to adopt the method in their classrooms. Teachers who also grew up in a spoon-feeding environment must first practice self-learning, think, and express, and then guide students in their learning. Nurturing students to self-learn, think, and express is challenging in a society accustomed to spoon-feeding, yet these abilities are ever more critical in the 21st century.
Sharestart's Strategy to Increase its Reach
1. Theoretical and practical training curriculum
Sharestart has developed a training curriculum for beginners, intermediate, and advanced levels. For beginners, all participating teachers are required to mindfully adjust their prior teaching methods. Throughout their growth, they are given tasks to observe Sharestart classrooms or to spend ten minutes in class guiding students to self-learn and answer questions. Currently, the Sharestart team is working hard to increase its online curriculum and experience sharing in hopes that more educators can learn and better understand the method through the platform with convenience.
2. Build a strong Sharestart foundation in every city
Sharestart chooses up to two cities on which its training will focus each year. They conduct monthly workshops and encourage teachers who have easily adopted the method to establish and lead community forums, online or in-person, where new Sharestart teachers can co-support, share, and discuss their learning journey.
In the long term, teachers who feel confident practicing the method are encouraged to open their classrooms for observation for other teachers in their locale who are curious to witness a different way of teaching—a student-centered way.
3. Continued training for lead teachers
Train-the-trainer workshops are periodically conducted to lead teachers in advancing the teaching community's facilitation skills, curriculum establishment, and management skills.
In 2019, Sharestart hosted over 200 train-the-trainer workshops with over 7000 participants. With support from schools, principals, and private universities, the method, first initiated in Taipei, where Chang is based, has now stretched to ten cities across Taiwan and has established 19 community forums. In the same year, with support from The Hugo Foundation of Culture and Education and National Chiayi University's Center for Teaching and Learning, the fourth annual Sharestart Asia Conference was hosted for the first time outside of Taipei in southern Taiwan.
One Sharestart lead teacher shares, "Our goal is not to take away the teacher's teaching, but rather to elevate their way of teaching. From experience, I believe Sharestart is a method that truly nurtures the student learning process". When a new method is introduced into the classroom, teachers and students change and adjust. Sharestart's training curriculum is a resource created to support teachers throughout different stages of their practice.
The Sharestart education revolution was initiated by the bottom-up (government) and is now receiving government recognition. For two consecutive years, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Education’s Fan Sun-lu attended the Sharestart Asia Conference. Fan has brought government officials to Sharestart’s observation classrooms for many years. In 2019, Taiwan introduced a new curriculum guideline that includes nurturing youths to be lifelong learners, a value aligned with Sharestart’s – the ability to self-learn. With Sharestart’s accumulated experience over the past seven years, Chang hopes it can inspire more teachers to elevate their ways of teaching.
Sharestart encourages all teachers to open their classrooms for observation. This is an opportunity to share experiences with other teachers and, more importantly, to receive feedback for continued growth. Sharestart believes that students should be lifelong learners, and teachers should share the same approach.
When faced with challenges in the classroom, Sharestart beginners are encouraged to open their classrooms to another Sharestart peer for immediate feedback. The Sharestart culture avoids focusing on failures but on what is positive now and what can be improved going forward. Chang hopes that with a collaborative effort and the mindset of sharing, starting from myself, the next generation will thrive.
The Sharestart Logo
At first glance, one notices the lightbulb, which represents thinking. At second glance, one notices two persons engaged in conversation, which represents expression; it also demonstrates that things often can have more than one answer. The triangles represent those part of the Share start education revolution initiated from the bottom (teachers-government).
ACF and Chengzhi Education Foundation have supported Sharestart with resources, manpower, strategies, and tech since 2016. Sharestart's next step is to establish the Sharestart Education Platform to increase its resources and reach and advance Taiwan's education future.
