Dr. Shuai Zhang receives the Servant's Heart Award at the January 10th Board of Education meeting for his volunteer work with young readers at Blowing Rock Elementary School.
“No matter what country you’re from, or what language you speak, kids are the cutest," said Dr. Shuai Zhang, a research assistant professor in the Department of Reading Education and Special Education at Appalachian State University. "Some of them are struggling to read, and if I have the knowledge, time, and power to make changes to their lives, that’s something I really want to do.”
Dr. Zhang has published 15 peer-reviewed articles and 35 conference papers in his three years working at App. However, he is serving not only college students, but young readers at Blowing Rock School, regularly volunteering 11-15 hours a week.
Zhang grew up in China and moved to the United States to study education, earning his Ph.D in reading education from Texas A&M University. He began to speak English only when he moved to the United States and is now an expert on the learning and comprehension of English. When Shuai won the Watauga County Schools’ Servant’s Heart Award on January 10th, he gave a brief speech to not only the Watauga Board of Education, but the many coworkers and elementary students who had come to support the person who shows them how to be a true hero.
“I grew up in China,” said Zhang. “So nine years ago, I didn’t know how to speak English. And now, nine years later, I’m a teacher of English reading and writing.” Although he said his parents cannot even imagine him speaking English, he is proud to be able to tell them he can “teach children to read and write in English now.”
Dr. Z, as his Blowing Rock students call him, derives part of his wonderful teaching style from his experience learning English.
“Most of us probably don’t remember how we learned language...but [Zhang] didn’t learn the English language until he was a young adult,” said Dr. Scott Elliott. “So he can remember, and relate to students right now. The ways in which he struggled to figure things out helps the students to relate to him.”
Students realize that their challenges are legitimate, and have a teacher to look up to who is passionate about guiding them through their struggles with kindness and empathy.
Shuai not only devotes his time to teaching striving readers, he uses his experience learning and teaching to educate and inspire a future generation of teachers.
Dr. Elliott spoke on how beneficial Watauga’s relationship with Appalachian State can be for Watauga County Schools students. He explained that students often “hear people talk about the university as if it’s a separate institution, separate from the community. But the university is made up of people who live right here in the community just like all of us.”
Unfortunately, some students are not as likely to continue their studies in postsecondary institutions as others. However, when students who learn differently from their classmates build relationships with people like university professors early in life, the barrier between the community and universities starts to dissipate.
When students become comfortable with reading and education, their chances of prioritizing education throughout their lives dramatically increases. Helping students build confidence in their learning abilities is the first step in Shuai’s mission to reduce the social inequalities that stem from learning to read.
Dr. Z shared how he sees unequal access to adequate reading education as a large-scale social justice issue.
“If students fall behind throughout their school years, they won’t be able to gather the same information that their classmates are gathering,” Zhang said. If students have undiagnosed or disregarded learning disabilities, they can lose interest in reading, education, and even community involvement.
Students are then “less and less aware of issues in the world” and can also miss out on learning about fun topics like animals or nature, according to Zhang. “Gradually there becomes a gap between successful readers and struggling readers, creating social justice issues” Zhang said.
Without people like Shuai Zhang, students may not develop the ambition and love of learning that can change their lives. Proper reading and writing education for all children can help increase social awareness, political involvement, and cultural knowledge for society as a whole.
“The Servant’s Heart Award...originated with my attempts to better understand and appreciate all the many different things people do in the school system to make it a great place,” said Dr. Elliott. He created the award eight years ago to recognize those who far exceeded their “call of duty” and worked with a “passion and a purpose.”
For Laurie Gill—the Blowing Rock School Reading Specialist who nominated Shuai for the award, for Shuai’s students-turned-fanclub, for his coworkers, and for Dr. Elliott---one selfless person truly epitomizes passion and purpose: Dr. Shuai Zhang.
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