01 | Beyond 1:1
Ruifang Junior High School is a rural school in northeastern Taiwan. We face teacher turnover, exam pressure, and the reality that many students come from families that need more support. But I have always believed in our students’ potential.
Our journey started with 16 iPads in my classroom.
Today, every student in our school has an iPad.
Technology opened new opportunities, but it also revealed a bigger challenge:
Having an iPad does not mean teaching will change by itself.
The real question became: How can we use technology to truly support learning?
That question became the starting point of my Apple Learning Coach journey.
02 | From Presenter to Coach
I used to enjoy solving problems. I introduced tools, demonstrated new ideas, and shared my own lessons.
Apple Learning Coach made me ask myself:
Am I more of a presenter than a coach?
I started giving fewer answers and asking more questions.
What do you want your students to experience?
What is one small step you are ready to try next?
My role slowly changed from Tech Support to Learning Empowerment.
Recording lessons also became an important part of my coaching. With permission from teachers and families, I go into classrooms, record real learning moments, and review them with teachers afterward.
Instead of asking only, “Was this a good lesson?” we look for where students were engaged, where they got stuck, and what we could change next time.
I am not just collecting videos. I am collecting evidence of learning.
03 | Meeting Teachers Where They Are
No two teachers start from the same place.
Miaoshu, a mathematics teacher, needed confidence. Her first step was moving from hesitation to thinking, “Maybe I can try this.”
Claire, an English teacher, and Taryn, a foreign English teacher, often joined coaching conversations with me. Taryn quickly became confident with iWork, while Claire slowly moved past her anxiety about technology. For some teaching questions, Claire also met with me one-on-one.
Later, Claire and I designed a learning activity for an exchange with Kotohira Junior High School in Japan.
Students used their iPads offline to record daily life, culture, and food during the trip. When they returned to school and reconnected to Goodnotes Classroom, Claire could immediately see everyone’s digital notes and invite students to share their experiences.
One student’s experience could become everyone’s learning.
Lin Jun, a Chinese language teacher, has an “adventurer” mindset. He enjoys trying new technology. His challenge was not starting, but learning how to move from many interesting tools toward a clearer learning purpose.
Not every coaching story is successful. One maker teacher reminded me that change takes time and sometimes has limits.
Zhan Shuting, another Chinese language teacher, showed me something different. When the Goodnotes team first came to film at our school, she had not yet joined our coaching community. By the time Apple came to film our Apple Learning Coach story, she had become one of the teachers representing that community.
New seeds keep growing.
04 | Making Learning and Teachers Visible
Teachers from different subjects and with different levels of confidence began using Goodnotes in their own ways.
For us, its value is not simply that it is another app.
In a junior high school with strong exam pressure, teachers cannot leave behind the reading, writing, practice, annotation, and feedback that already matter.
Goodnotes lets teachers start from what they already do well and add new possibilities.
Student thinking becomes easier to see. Video helps teachers see their own classrooms again. When learning becomes visible, our coaching conversations become more concrete.
I am very grateful to Goodnotes. It supported our teaching practice and helped more people see the story of Ruifang. Later, when Apple published our Apple Learning Coach story, Goodnotes naturally appeared there too.
When a good teaching story is shared, another teacher may not simply think, “That teacher is great.”
They may begin to think:
Maybe I can do that too.
05 | When Coaching Becomes Culture
Today, I no longer think of Apple Learning Coach as a role that teaches teachers how to use technology.
For me, the goal is to help a teacher move from trying, to building confidence, and eventually to supporting another teacher.
When lessons are recorded, reflected on, and shared, and when teachers begin learning from one another, coaching becomes more than a relationship between one coach and one teacher.
It slowly becomes part of the culture.
Before Apple came to film our ALC story, I shared one scene with the production team. It happens again and again in my coaching work.
When students stand up and learning starts moving around the classroom, I often move with them, holding my iPhone and recording what is really happening.
Later, that scene appeared directly on Apple’s official story page.
You can see it even before opening the video.
For me, that image says a lot about what a coach can be:
A coach does not always need to stand in front. A coach can step into the learning, observe, listen, and help a teacher find the next step.
Technology can open the door. Teachers bring learning to life.
And I still come back to my ALC motto:
Technology × Teacher × Team
Everyone is a learner.
Now I’d love to learn from you:
What is one question you ask teachers that helps them take the next step?
Learn More
Apple | Apple Learning Coach Success Story
Goodnotes | Ruifang Junior High School Story
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