Meng-Ping Tu

Tell us why you became a teacher

I came from a family of educators. There’s not a day that I don’t see good teaching and hear a heart-warming story from my father and my uncle as a child. So when people asked what I want to be when I grow up, the only answer is “to be a teacher.” It did take some twists and turns to get here, though.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

The second day I taught in my first secondary school, after teaching and research in HigherEd for many years, my student taught me what means to “teach”. “Yo, teach, stop flipping through the PowerPoint. Write on the chalkboard. You go too fast. No one understands you.” Teaching is not just delivering content, it is to make sure that your students understand the content. I changed from “stand and deliver” to “student centered learning” overnight after being challenged by them 18 years ago.

What would you do with the $25,000?

Investing it on my own education and donate a part to my school’s research program.