Editor's Note: No.42 Middle School in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, namely Hebei International School, has made remarkable achievements in the course of running a school for just 12 years. It has stepped into a high platform and quickly became a hot school in Shijiazhuang City, enjoying a high reputation in the field of education in Hebei Province and even the whole country. So, what caused her rapid rise and super-long development? Recently, with full of doubts and strong curiosity, the author walked into this school to explore her growth footprint and interpret the mystery of her brilliant achievements in a short history. ...
Building a Harmonious Campus and Showing the Brilliance of Education
-Documentary report on the development of No.42 Middle School in Shijiazhuang City
● Wang Zhichen is booming.
Optimizing the educational environment and building a harmonious campus
On the day we visited No.42 Middle School in Shijiazhuang, a sunrise was already high in the east and reflected in the high teaching building of the school. Hanging directly above the teaching building, the eight characters of "honesty, erudition, persistence and innovation" are shining with golden brilliance in the sun. Above the gate is a huge electronic display screen. The rolling subtitles such as "Creating a Harmonious Campus, Contributing to a Harmonious Society" and "Taking Scientific Outlook on Development as the Leader, Creating a New Situation in Education" show the vivid and harmonious educational features of the school. The right side of the main building is inlaid with the school-running concept of "all for students, all for students, all for students". To the south of the main building is an office building with the slogan "Learn to be a teacher and set an example" hanging in the center. Looking at these slogans, we are infected by the educational thought of "paying attention to the construction of teachers' morality and cultivating qualified talents with all-round and lifelong development for students" in No.42 Middle School. Throughout the campus, there are rows of buildings, resplendent and magnificent, lush gardens and full of vitality. The whole building complex is very harmonious, elegant and unique against the background of green trees.
Shijiazhuang No.42 Middle School put forward the guiding ideology of "three whatevers" when it was founded in 1993. Under the guidance of Scientific Outlook on Development, they attach importance to building a harmonious school and optimizing the educational environment, and have done a lot of fruitful work in leading group construction, teacher training and optimizing the educational environment. Form a United, diligent, pragmatic and pioneering leadership team, and build a team of teachers with noble morality, dedication, excellent business and harmony and unity; Cultivate a positive and enterprising style of study and a warm, harmonious and fresh learning home.
In recent years, No.42 Middle School has continuously strengthened the cohesion of the leading bodies, played a directional role in politics, played a cohesive role in strength, and played an exemplary role in image, always taking the self-construction of the leading collective as a key link. Comrade Han Yongjiang, the leader of Class One, has always emphasized "understanding, respect, trust and support, unity and cooperation, democratic centralism, diligence for the people, honesty and self-discipline", which has made the whole leading collective wholeheartedly strive for development, keep pace with the times and create first-class, and has been commended by higher administrative departments many times.
In order to build a harmonious school, the school always pays attention to improving the overall quality of teachers, and holds summer training courses for key teachers for six consecutive years, which improves teachers' consciousness of respecting students' physical and mental development characteristics and following educational laws; On the basis of all the teachers' academic qualifications reaching the standard, we raised a special fund of10 million yuan for teachers to study for graduate degrees. At present, 92 teachers have obtained qualified certificates, far exceeding the standard of 20% graduate education in urban high schools in 20 10. In addition, the school also encourages teachers to go out and "recharge", invites experts to come to the school to "refuel" teachers, sends a large number of teachers to all parts of the country or abroad for training and study every year, and invites well-known domestic education experts to train teachers in education and teaching theory; Attach importance to the training of teachers' modern educational technology, and organize all teaching staff to learn modern educational technology in a planned way. Now every teacher in 42 middle schools can skillfully apply multimedia teaching technology in almost every class; The school also regards teaching and scientific research as the primary productive force of development, and organizes teachers to participate in teaching and scientific research activities as an important way and measure to forge teachers' quality, forming a strong atmosphere of "seeking quality through scientific research and seeking development through scientific research" throughout the school. In No.42 Middle School, each teaching and research group has its own research topic, and every teacher participates in the research of teaching and research reform.
These measures have forged a number of "expert" and "scholar" teachers for the school: since 1996, 9 people have won the titles of "National Excellent Teacher" and "National Excellent Gardener", and 12 people have won the title of "Hebei Excellent Teacher". In the evaluation of excellent courses at all levels, five teachers won the first prize in the country, 16 teachers won the first and second prizes in Hebei province, and14 teachers won the first and second prizes in Shijiazhuang city. There are 4 backbone teachers in Hebei Province and 0/4 backbone teachers in Shijiazhuang City. Five "Top Talents in Shijiazhuang City" were selected as three "Three Three Three Three Three" talent projects in Hebei Province. More than 65,438+0,000 people won national thesis awards and excellent tutors.
When we saw the excellent teacher structure in No.42 Middle School, we couldn't help but want to visit the teaching area. Now it is the mid-term exam of the school, and the north and south teaching areas are very quiet. We climbed the stairs and looked around the classroom. There are blooming flowers on the windowsill, green plants symbolizing the harvest fruit are hung on the window, multimedia projectors are hung on the roof, and pictures and words carefully arranged by the students reflect the content of the class are posted on the wall. Excellent teachers, beautiful environment and excellent study style, can't these students create excellent results?
During our visit to the campus, we interviewed several teachers we met.
-Li Jiaxiang, the backbone of English teaching, won the title of national excellent teacher and the "Garden Award" for national English teachers. His "strictness and love" education has made every student's college entrance examination score among the best in the city.
-Sun Jianjun is famous for her strictness, delicacy, guidance and love. She is an expert teacher and top-notch talent in Shijiazhuang. While teaching conscientiously, he insisted on doing a good job in teaching and scientific research, writing and publishing many teaching works.
-"From the moment I stepped onto the podium, I knew the heavy responsibility on my shoulders; From the first words the children shouted, I knew the sacredness of being a teacher ... "This is the voice of Teacher Zhang Limei. In education and teaching, she feels every student with her heart, so that students can feel the teacher's meticulous care all the time.
-"Respect for students should be based on trust and understanding of students" is the action guide of teachers such as Jiang Shuo, Sun Shuo and Sun Zi. These excellent class teachers personally take students to the hospital when they are sick. When their mood swings, guide them patiently. They enthusiastically solve any difficulties, and their maternal love has won the respect of students.
At present, the school is implementing a series of activities of "one harmony and three health" (harmonious campus, healthy class, healthy classroom and healthy family) proposed by the Education Department of Hebei Province, so that "harmony and health" can be deeply rooted in teachers' hearts. Many teachers not only give students knowledge, but also give them meticulous humanistic care, positive attitude towards life and correct world outlook, outlook on life and values. Let students develop freely in a healthy and harmonious environment.
Ma Yongchao, a senior three student. When we explained our purpose to him, he said unprepared: From the day I entered No.42 Middle School, I was moved by the quality management and humanized education here. During my three years in school, I not only learned a lot of knowledge, but also learned a lot about being a man. It can be said that 42 has changed my life and guided me.
Yu Cong, a self-funded student in jingxing mining area, has greatly improved his academic performance through hard work. When we asked him what his greatest wish was, Yu Cong blurted out: At the age of 42, I felt like a boat, and at the age of 42, I was a sail on the boat. Through my own efforts and teachers' hard cultivation, my boat will sail far away in the east wind of 42.
Wang Lin, a shy little girl, heard that she was going to have an interview when she entered the door. She didn't feel blushing. She said that in class, we walked into a healthy class together and received the motherly teaching from the teacher. After a day's study, we walked hand in hand back to the warm apartment built by the school, intoxicated by the civilized, progressive and harmonious cultural family, and we were very happy to go to school here!
"After a hundred flowers make honey, who will work hard to make it sweet for whom"? Through the honesty of the students, we really felt the pulse hidden under the surface of 42 middle school. This is a clear spring, clear and sweet. It is a breeze that moistens people's hearts, comfortable and refreshing.
Seize the opportunity and forge ahead.
Realize the leap-forward development of the school
At the beginning of the establishment of the No.42 Middle School in Shijiazhuang, it was only supposed to solve the problem of children's enrollment in several newly-built communities in the northwest of the city, so the planned area was only 43 mu and the scale of 36 classes. However, with the announcement of 1996' s first junior high school graduating class's senior high school entrance examination results, all the indicators in 42 are in the forefront of middle schools in the city. The gratifying results quickly spread to most urban areas. Many parents have learned about the excellent teaching and strict school spirit of this newly-built school through various channels, and they want to send their children to No.42 Middle School. With more students, the school building is stretched, and the supporting teaching facilities can no longer meet the needs of school development when it was first built. By 1997, the influx of students could not be resettled, so the school had to transform the shops facing the street into classrooms.
What should we do, stick to the rules and follow the trend, or seize the opportunity to develop? Therefore, after careful analysis and demonstration, the school leaders resolutely made a bold decision: according to the spirit of the Outline of Education Reform and Development in China, reform the school-running system, change the pattern of government-run schools, gradually establish a system with the government as the main body and all sectors of society running schools together, and reform the school-running system and model! To this end, they went to other places all the way, trying to find a new school-running system and teaching model that conforms to the laws of market, value and education. On the basis of extensive social investigation, demonstration and listening to the opinions of leaders of provincial and municipal education administrative departments and education experts and scholars, a pilot scheme for implementing the reform of school-running system and mode was drawn up and reported to the provincial education commission step by step. Han Qinglin, director of the Provincial Education Commission, affirmed the feasibility of the plan, approved the implementation of the overall reform plan in No.42 Middle School, tried out the reform of the state-owned private student aid system, highlighted foreign language characteristics, entered the management sequence of foreign language schools in Hebei Province, and enjoyed various policies of the state, province and city on foreign language schools. Since then, the school has insisted on taking English characteristics as the teaching leader to promote the overall improvement of students' comprehensive quality. The results of college entrance examination have been improved year by year, and the conventional qualities such as music, body and beauty have also been strengthened. Many students were admitted to Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts, China Civil Aviation Flight Academy and other universities. Many students have won national patents or won the first prize of Hebei Science and Technology Innovation Competition; In the study abroad program and the written and oral Chinese test in the college entrance examination, 42 middle school students have an absolute advantage. From 65438 to 0999, the school was upgraded to a key middle school in Hebei province with the approval of the Hebei provincial government after the expert evaluation organized by the provincial and municipal education committees. It is a miracle that it entered the ranks of provincial key middle schools less than six years after its establishment.
By 2000, the school had grown to 49 classes and had to rent classrooms and student dormitories. Even so, it cannot solve the needs of many students. When we can't accept new students because of the limited capacity of the school, when we see parents' eager eyes and many people running around asking for No.42 middle school, when the city leaders instruct the school to ensure that students enjoy quality education no matter how difficult it is ... President Han feels a great responsibility on his shoulders and can't sleep all night. After repeated thinking, a bigger blueprint appeared in front of him. "We must create conditions to build a modern school with a university system, high quality standards and integration!"
Therefore, relying on all the faculty and staff, class one students of the school discussed extensively and actively explored. While doing a good job in the existing education and teaching, they began to seek and explore the idea of diversified and joint-stock running schools, and finally signed a cooperation agreement with Shijiazhuang Jinxiu Real Estate Development Company.
In 2002, it occupied an area of 150 mu, with a building area of 40000m? Building after building with 60 classes, building after building with 18 laboratory, building after building with modern library, building with 3,000 students' apartments and building with student canteens have miraculously sprung up.
So far, the hardware construction of Shijiazhuang No.42 Middle School has reached the leading level in the province, and the scale effect is prominent.
On the eve of China's accession to the WTO, school leaders are keenly aware that China's accession to the WTO will bring challenges and opportunities to China's education. We should seize this opportunity, expand education opening to the outside world, seize the international education market, and make use of the characteristics of low tuition and solid basic education in China to create conditions for all parts of the world to come to Hebei and Shijiazhuang to learn Chinese and China culture.
Based on this idea, the school began to plan international schools, make full use of the favorable conditions of foreign language schools, pave the way for students to study abroad and actively create conditions to recruit foreign students. At the beginning of 2002, No.42 Middle School submitted an application report for establishing "Hebei International School" to the provincial and municipal education administrative departments. In May, 2002, the Provincial Department of Education agreed to rename No.42 Middle School in Shijiazhuang as "Hebei International School", hoping that No.42 Middle School would "continuously deepen its reform, strive to explore new ways of foreign cooperation and exchange, make the school a window for foreign exchange of basic education with first-class conditions, first-class management and first-class level, and make new contributions to the reform and development of basic education in the province."
On May 18, 2002, "Hebei International School" was unveiled in No.42 Middle School, and the school was qualified to recruit foreign students. Now, the school has enrolled international students from Korea, Thailand, the United States, Argentina and other countries.
During the two days in No.42 Middle School, we saw that in addition to high-standard teaching buildings, office buildings and student canteens, we also built a campus network and an information platform that can connect with the Internet. All classrooms were equipped with multimedia teaching systems, and every teacher was equipped with a microcomputer, which basically realized paperless office. In addition to a large number of paper books, the school library has also installed an electronic book reading system containing more than 60,000 books, which can be managed and borrowed by computers.
"Xiongguan Road is like iron, but now it is a leap from the beginning." In just eight years, No.42 Middle School really strode from a little-known primary school to Hebei International School.
Adhere to the characteristic development strategy
Promote the all-round improvement of students' quality
In 42 years, the author heard that Li Yang, the founder of Crazy English, had just come to the school to give two lectures. When Li Yang made a report for the first time, he personally felt the enthusiastic learning scene of the teachers and students in the whole school, and felt the students' responsive oral English ability, so he immediately decided to do morning reading for nearly 6,000 students in the whole school the next morning! Specially printed materials specially designed for 42 middle school students in the morning reading overnight. On the huge playground, 6000 teachers and students read aloud under the leadership of Li Yang, and the scene was spectacular.
As a foreign language school and an international open school, the reporter felt a strong English atmosphere in No.42 Middle School. All school signs are bilingual in Chinese and English; In the window, there are silhouettes of students participating in various English activities; The campus broadcast at noon is also in Chinese and English. ...
With regard to the orientation of foreign language teaching objectives, the school aims at cultivating talents with high foreign language proficiency who can go global and participate in international competition, and formulates teaching plans according to the new curriculum standards of ordinary middle schools and the syllabus of foreign language schools. In the use of teaching materials, in addition to learning the unified teaching materials, the original "3L", "New Concept English" and "Looking to the Future" are also introduced as auxiliary teaching materials; In terms of teaching methods, communicative and interactive English teaching mode is adopted, focusing on the creation of situations and the cultivation of language sense; In teaching methods, we should adopt small class teaching and make full use of multimedia system to create a brand-new foreign language teaching environment. In addition, they also employ 8- 10 foreign teachers to teach students oral English all the year round; Some teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, music, computer and other disciplines conduct bilingual experimental teaching; French, Japanese, Korean and other small languages are offered in the form of elective courses.
While doing a good job in English classroom teaching, English evenings, foreign language karaoke competitions, English corners, campus English broadcasts and English calligraphy exhibitions are all carried out as routine activities.
As a school with foreign language characteristics, No.42 Middle School has made great achievements in strengthening international exchanges and cooperation and drawing on and absorbing advanced experience and achievements from the world. They make full use of the advantages of the provincial capital and invite international students from Shijiazhuang universities to hold an English corner once a month. So far, more than 65,438+000 foreign students from more than 30 countries and regions have participated in the English corner. 1999 From 2004 to 2004, the English Summer Camp China jointly organized by China Education Association for International Exchange and American English Association was successfully held for five consecutive sessions. The American English Association sends more than 65,438+00 North American college students for intensive training every year to help them improve their English listening and speaking ability, practical ability and communication ability with people from different cultural backgrounds. Held four consecutive summer camps and winter camps in Britain, Australia and South Korea to let students go abroad and broaden their horizons; It has signed friendly agreements with universities or middle schools in more than 10 countries in the world, so that teachers and students can visit and learn from each other. Up to now, nearly 40 teachers from No.42 Middle School have gone abroad for long-term and short-term training or study, more than 60 students have gone to Singapore and other places at public expense, and 100 students have studied at their own expense or semi-at their own expense.
When talking about students' development, President Han proudly said that running a school has distinctive characteristics, and not only has quality education not been neglected, on the contrary, students' horizons have been broadened and their comprehensive quality has been greatly improved. Therefore, as the source bases of Singapore Nanyang Technological University, National University, Beijing Foreign Studies University and other famous schools at home and abroad, dozens of students are admitted from our school every year, and the admission rate is much higher than that of some established key middle schools.
Brilliant achievements have confirmed the miracle of development, and fertile soil is deeply rooted and leafy.
During the two days in 42 middle schools, we were always infected by the surging youthful vitality and positive enthusiasm on campus. It is this energy and enthusiasm that has created a series of impressive achievements.
During the period of 1996-2000, the sub-project of the national ninth five-year plan key project "Diagnosis and teaching countermeasures for students with learning disabilities" passed the acceptance of the Central Education Institute and was awarded the title of "excellent experimental school" because of its distinctive characteristics of the times and educational functions. 200 1 the ninth five-year plan of the national education science "Guidance of Chinese ability training methods" successfully passed the three-year acceptance of the general research group and was rated as "excellent experimental school" by the National Chinese Learning Science Committee. In view of the fact that the national and provincial projects completed by the school rank first in the number of projects undertaken by primary and secondary schools in Hebei Province, the Hebei Provincial Department of Education awarded the school medals such as "Hebei Scientific Research Pilot Demonstration School and Mental Health Education Demonstration School" in 2002. In addition, the school has successively won the honorary titles of "Modern Educational Technology and Equipment Demonstration School", "Moral Education Demonstration School for Primary and Secondary Schools", "Six Hearts Education Red Flag Unit", "Garden Courtyard" and "May 4th Red Flag Youth League Committee" in Hebei Province, and has been named as "Civilized Unit" by the provincial party committee and provincial government for three consecutive years.
Scientific and rigorous teaching management, brand-new teaching concept and teaching mode have made the results of the 42 middle school entrance examination among the best in Shijiazhuang, and have been rated as "advanced teaching unit" by the Municipal Education Bureau for five consecutive years; The experimental teaching and extracurricular interest groups have won numerous awards, won the title of "Advanced Experimental Teaching School in Hebei Province" and won many national "Excellent Organization Awards".
Faced with flags and medals, we feel strongly in the dazzling: in this fertile land of No.42 Middle School, students can grow up healthily while developing independently. Isn't it a testimony of their 12 years of hard work and sweat? When we finished the interview and walked out of the fertile soil of No.42 Middle School, we couldn't help but think of a poem by Li Shangyin: "The young phoenix is clearer than the old one on Danshan Road in Wan Li, Tonghua." This is precisely the true portrayal of the super-long development and brilliant education of the young Shijiazhuang 42 Middle School.
Originally published in China Youth Daily on June 7, 2005.