What kind of existence is the classroom? It was in a leaky classroom in downtown Los Angeles. A primary school teacher named rafe esquith spent nearly a quarter of a century creating a classroom full of miracles, which touched the whole United States.
Who is rafe esquith, the creator of Classroom 56? Rafe is the only teacher who won the President's "National Art Medal", and has also won many awards such as "Best Teacher Award in America" and "Be Kind to Life". Turning to the first page of the book, he quoted himself as saying, "My teachers are not particularly creative, so I decided to give them the most precious thing in my ability-time." When I saw this sentence, I could already feel why the miracle that happened at school came from his hand.
Because I love it, I am willing to explore; Because of love, so insist.
The Miracle of Classroom 56 is a book of great reference value. Through unreserved teaching sharing, we seem to have entered the world of basic education in the United States, participated in Rafe's magical education journey, and felt the beautiful qualities of hot pillow, wisdom and three provinces. Close the book, such a well-organized and creative classroom is still in sight. Little Shakespeare, who can read, play rock, learn history and draw, seems to be performing in a crowded but lovely classroom.
As a teacher, I can draw a lot of teaching wisdom and learn from many practical teaching behaviors in "Miracle of Classroom 56". Here, I make a review and share of reading.
Students decide the quality of the class.
Teachers can lead the class, but it is the students who decide whether the class is excellent or mediocre.
As teachers, we all want students to behave properly, have a correct attitude towards learning and be considerate of others, but practical experience always slaps us in the face. The students sit up straight under the teacher's nose, and the students who leave the teacher are pardoned and celebrated. Can't students who leave their teachers manage their own and class affairs independently? Rafe told us that the answer is no. Students can be the masters of the class.
Rafe summed up the "six stages of search" after years of hard work: I don't want to cause trouble-I want to reward-I want to please others-I want to abide by the rules-I can understand others-I have my own code of conduct and abide by it. From the first stage based on fear to the sixth stage of realizing the values of right and wrong, students can become loved by everyone and make contributions to society through continuous learning and internalization.
Looking back on my education and the education around me, I feel deeply ashamed. Many children are still in the first stage of behavior, sitting there in a daze in order to escape the punishment of the teacher. We still rely on material rewards to encourage children to observe discipline, but forget to pass on the correct concept of "being rewarded is right" to children. Few children can be considerate of others and take care of themselves. We lower our standards and make concessions again and again because children can't do it, not because they have high standards and do their best.
Rafe shared books and movies he read and enjoyed with his children, such as Reconciliation Alone, Death of a Salesman, Noon and The Shawshank Redemption. As teachers, we should set high demands on ourselves, give students trust and accompany them to higher goals. I firmly believe that an excellent class belongs to a group of excellent children, not an authoritarian teacher and a group of students who only complain.
The emergence of educational wisdom
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
It is not appropriate to attribute Rafe's educational wisdom to "flash", but to call it the pearl of sand incarnation. Although there are differences between Chinese and American education systems, many of Rafe's practices are still shining like pearls, which is worth learning from.
There is an activity in Rafe's class called "Horror Rewriting". In classroom 56, students will not get low marks, and they will pass at least nine questions correctly, otherwise they will rewrite their homework again and again until they are familiar with the skills they have practiced. No punishment, no humiliation, just let students know that classroom 56 is a place where learning is taken seriously, so students learn to pay attention to lectures, try to understand and ask questions, and learn what they should learn in the first place.
Rafe teaches students learning methods and conveys correct learning concepts to them. Students understand that how to read is more important than how many books to read, how to review the night before the exam, and how to explore the topic setting of multiple-choice questions can explain why a wrong option is wrong and why the right option is correct. Even if they have to face countless exams, Rafe's students can do well in the exam, but they also know that personality is far more important than exam results. Although we are in an era of "test scores represent ourselves", we still need to make efforts to guide students to know that test scores are only a small part of life, and personality and conduct are the essence of education.
Rafe teaches students skills that he has used all his life, such as sorting things out and arranging things. He provides students with "jobs", provides "wages" and collects "fees" for the use of classroom seats; He teaches students to organize things by hand and organize things; Teach students to save money and delay enjoyment. All this has opened my eyes. In Room 56, students not only learn culture, but also learn the skills necessary for a person's growth. On the other hand, students get too little information in this respect. This is Rafe's wisdom.
Become a comprehensive "all-round hand"
Once "art" becomes a part of teaching, you will find it more addictive than chocolate.
What Rafe admires most is that as a teacher, he never stops learning. His art is poor and his singing is terrible, but he is still willing to rush to study and finish an art project in one month. He is willing to take his children to play rock and roll on weekends and spend a long time forming a baseball team. He has never been prejudiced against art. He realized that children who received art education learned much more than art itself. Children who join a band should not only learn to play musical instruments, but also learn discipline, responsibility, sacrifice, practice, error correction, listening and time management.
Drawing on the advantages of other disciplines and even joining the study with students will certainly broaden teachers' horizons, improve teachers' quality, help teachers become better in tangible or intangible ways, and frankly, let teachers spend part of their time trusting students in art study. In education, the field of study is not the key, but the children are.
"Miracle of Classroom 56" is often read and updated, and you can savor it by opening a chapter at will, benefiting from "The Best Teacher in America" countless times. I was encouraged by teacher Rafe's words and continued to forge ahead in education. To achieve true Excellence, you must make sacrifices, learn from your mistakes and make great efforts. After all, there is no shortcut to education. I am grateful that I chose the profession of teacher four years ago. Now I stand on the platform and lead the class. I still make mistakes. Fortunately, as a teacher, I learn from my mistakes and make continuous progress. In this process, there may be a great opportunity for me to lead the children to fly high. We pursue perfection, but we may never achieve it. The process of seeking is everything. Children are everything.