Luo Daji, associate professor from Department of Medical Genetics of School of Basic Medical Sciences, PhD Tutor, has been engaged in the research of molecular genetics and reproductive biology and has mainly lectured on “Human Genetics”, “Cell Biology” and “Genomics” in his 10-year teaching career. In August this year, he won the first prize of the Science group in the 4th National University and College Youth Teachers Teaching Competition. Beforehand, he was also the recipient of the third prize of the 2nd National University and College Micro-Class Competition(2015), the first prize of the Science group in the 5th Hubei Youth Teacher Teaching Competition(2016) and Top Ten Outstanding Youth of Wuhan University（2016）etc.
In 1998, Luo Daji, a then high school student, participated in and won the third place in National Biology Olympics Competition as an outstanding contestant in the provincial competition. This reward brought him an offer from School of Life Sciences of Wuhan University. It may have never come to him that the champion which passed him by should have come back to him 20 years later. In 2018, he received the laurel crown in Science group in the 4th National University and College Youth Teachers Teaching Competition.
Luo Daji in the 4th National University and College Youth Teachers Teaching Competition
Remarkable works against great pressure
The National University and College Youth Teachers Teaching Competition is held every two years with over 10,000 participants from more than 1,100 universities and college. Only 129 contestants entered the final round through fierce competition. This year, the competition has its first live broadcast online with more than 900,000 viewers.
The up-to-the-second live broadcast in such a high-profile event has brought all the contestants greater pressure. One day before the game, the participants needed to decide the order of the competition by drawing lots. When Luo learnt that he would be the first one to present, the pressure got doubled. However, his solid teaching skills, calmness and confidence won him unanimous praise and affirmation from both the judges and the audience.
The final consists of three parts: teaching plan design, classroom teaching and teaching reflection. Each of the contestants had to give a 20-minute lesson on one random period from a chosen textbook. It was not until one hour before contest that the participant would know the exact period they were going to teach and this extempore lesson accounted for 75% of the total score.
Luo got down to the preparation upon his selection into the final in May. At first he selected a typical textbook of the discipline and decided on 20 key points as demonstration alternatives. During the process, he needed to refer to numerous materials, including some original documents, which gave him some unexpected gains: some undiscoverd errors in the textbook. “Searching for the original documents and trying to figure them out made me realize what real craftsmanship spirit means for a teacher,” Luo confessed.
Luo Daji also got a better understanding in the illustration on a key point. He felt it more important to go beyond the textbook for conceptual improvements and scientific methods summary than merely impart book knowledge.
In the last month before the contest, the participants were also required to submit the teaching plan design of more than 160,000 words. Up to the day before the deadline of submission, Luo Daji had already been working for several days and nights.
After completing the teaching plan, Luo then devoted himself to repeated practice in order to present the huge amount of knowledge and information vividly within 20 minutes. Three months of teaching trials and revision was a long tug-of-war for Luo, but he made it with great willpower and perseverance.
Soft Fire Makes Sweet Malt
“The Science classes are often informative yet also somewhat boring.” How to make the 20-minute-class with such a huge amount of information interesting was Luo’s sally port.
This reminded Luo of his school days and his encounter with Genetics. In 1999, Luo entered School of Life Sciences of Wuhan University as an undergraduate. In 2001, he attended a lecture by Academician Zhu Zuoyan, in which the cloned fish cultivated by Tong Dizhou, a renowned Chinese biologist, was mentioned. At that time, the cloned sheep “Dolly” was a hot topic, so this lecture aroused Luo’s immediate interest. After the recommendation of admission to graduate education, Luo Daji followed Zhu Zuoyan to conduct researches in Genetics.
In 2008, Luo stayed in Wuhan University and began his teaching career. He was not content with his first lecture regardless of laborious preparation for over half a month, because he thought it could be nothing but “reciting a lecture”. “The students thought I get a thorough understanding and they themselves knew nothing.” In order to improve his teaching skills, he would ask the students if they have any questions one by one after class, and the students would frankly tell Luo their confusions. “We are in the almost same age, so they were willing to tell me everything.” said Luo.
Ten years’ practicing made Luo realize how to truly get the knowledge to the students. He gives prominence on understanding instead of mechanical memorizing. “The epigenetic part in Genetics courses contains many abstract concepts, Mr. Luo would compare the concepts of molecule or genetic level to something concrete in the daily life to make the difficult understandable,” said Yang Yu, an undergraduate in grade 2014.
Luo Daji believes that concepts give students the first impression of a course, “what sets science courses apart from those of liberal arts is that the concepts must be accurately conveyed to students. Only when the concepts are made clear can students take fewer detours. ”
The National University and College Youth Teachers Teaching Competition comprises several rounds of selection at school, faculty, university and provincial level. The most impressive day for him was the day of the school selection. “It was May 25th, 2010, the day after my son was born.” He didn’t take any rest the previous day and went to the stage of school selection with full energy.
Luo devoted himself to scientific research in his first teaching years. His project was approved by the Natural Science Foundation of China the second year and he was immersed in the achievements he had made. However, a talk with his tutor made him reconsider the true meaning of “teacher”. “It is the lifelong pursuit and the sacred duty for teachers to teach students something influential and unforgettable throughout their whole life through love and caring, voice and tone, illustration on key points and enlightenment and speculation”, the tutor’s words inspired Luo with new understanding of teaching and cultivating students.
In 2014, Luo Daji is also the recipient of the second prize in Wuhan University Youth Teacher Teaching Competition (2014), the third prize of the National University and College (Undergraduate) Micro-Class Competition (2015), the Top Ten Outstanding Youth of Wuhan University, the first prize of the Science group in the 5th Hubei Young Teacher Teaching Competition and Hubei Teaching Master(2016), the first prize of the Excellent Paper Award of the University and College group in the 3rd Hubei Youth Teachers Professional Forum(2017).
The rewards he got in the contests are honors, prizes, and more importantly, solid skills, a wider horizon and constantly updated teaching philosophy. He gradually got rid of the status of “reciting” the lectures along the way, and started to put himself in the students’ shoes. He gave lectures in accordance with students’ needs and competence. Plain explanation on key points is supported by a more vivid guidance to explore the hidden knowledge and the frontier academic achievements.
“Perseverance, the key lesson WHU has taught me”
In retrospect to the 19 years in Wuhan University, Luo Daji said that the most important thing he had learnt here was perseverance. He was deeply touched by the enthusiasm and persistence of countless scholars, from whom he became aware that true knowledge came after the cold bench, loneliness and hard work through the arduous journey of research.
Luo Daji holds a regular biweekly meeting for lab graduates. He does not stipulate how long the students should stay in the laboratory. Instead, he sets goals and conducts periodical supervision so that the students could learn time management.
“Students need an experienced person who can offer instruction and help for them to adapt to the new environment and take fewer detours when they enter university.” Luo has served as the class tutor for three times. There were poor students as well as minority students in his class. Under his considerate guidance, they quickly got used to the university life and made great accomplishments in study and extracurricular activities.
“Easy-going”, “not too talktive” and “care for students” are the frequent words his students use to describe him. In ten years’ teaching, he was awarded the title of “Top Ten Teachers” by students, and was also “The Most Approachable Teacher” and the Excellent Navigation Teacher in “Candlelight Navigation Project”. The students call him “Prof. Daji” after class. “Mr. Luo was kind and gentle. He was more like an elder brother than a teacher who never puts on airs ”, said Yang Yu, a student. “Mr. Luo strongly encouraged us to explore our research interests. Moreover, his help beyond scientific research would benefit me for a lifetime”, said Zhao Yuntong, a graduate student.
EveryWHUer has strong emotions for the alma mater. For Luo Daji, his efforts prove the training from Wuhan University worthwhile. He hopes to share the knowledge and methods he gained in this competition with his students in his future teaching.
(Rewritten by Zhang Shiqi, edited by Shen Yuxi and Hu Sijia)
