First, the school is the "second hometown" for students.
In the chapter of foreign cases, Professor Sato takes the very humble schools in Italy, Mexico, the United States, Britain, France and other countries as examples, aiming to show that many countries in the world are trying to carry out curriculum reform and have achieved good results. What moved me most was a primary school in Boston, USA. Deborah Maya, the headmaster, is famous for creating "miraculous success" in the most difficult area of new york ten years ago. The pilot schools in Japan and the vision of "learning community" learning are all inspired by Deborah Maya's quiet and solid school reform practice. On another visit ten years later, Maya and Deborah asked five graduating children to be the guides of Professor Sato. "The most important thing for schools is to listen to the children's voices." It was her idea that made this elementary school a pilot school advocating democratization in Boston public schools. Professor Sato was amazed by the change of students and the growth of teachers. During the discussion, when five children who were guides told him that "this school is your second home", five people rushed to answer: "Ah, really, it is my second home", "It is mine" and "The second home" are very appropriate "and" Well, it is the home where we study together ". These seemingly calm children must be very happy inside. This visit moved Professor Sato to tears. This is the future of the school and the hope of democracy.
In our consistent understanding, schools are places to educate people and impart knowledge to students. Since the implementation of the new curriculum reform, we have realized the importance of schools for the growth of the next generation. Different schools in our country put forward different school-running ideas, school mottos and school spirit according to the students' reality, but because of the limitations of the college entrance examination system and evaluation system, most of them stay in slogan propaganda ... We can't really start from the law of children's physical and mental growth and adopt educational methods suitable for children and children's favorite. Many so-called "problem students" live because of school scores. What does all this mean? Our school is not a paradise for all children to live in, nor a place to learn and grow up. We still have a long way to go. ...
Second, the classroom is a quiet symphony.
Professor Sato described the classroom he observed. The performance of teachers and students in the classroom is no longer the "noisy" classroom in the past, but the classroom with thunderous applause, noise and glitz. Walking into every classroom, the children are quietly thinking and freely expressing their ideas in a low voice. On the basis of listening to classmates' speeches, other children sort out their thoughts and say calm and accurate words. The teacher listens carefully to every child's voice in class. Especially Yamazaki's teaching in Hamashima Primary School shocked Professor Sato: As a new teacher, Yamazaki was able to share his reading experience with 38 third-grade children under the guidance of the teacher. Although this kind of whispering communication is extremely subtle to nearly 100 teachers who observe the teaching, it can be clearly heard among the children, and one voice after another resonates and catalyzes in the classroom. Teacher Yamazaki accepts every child's dedication to the letter, which makes him lack of teaching experience. Teacher Yamazaki's class is a typical example of good listening. After observing Yamazaki's class, Professor Sato learned that 70% of teaching creation is closely related to teachers' respect for the dignity of every child.
Teachers can skillfully connect children's inquiry thinking while listening patiently, which is also the key factor to promote the smooth progress of cooperative inquiry. Teacher activities centered on "listening" can establish the most dynamic relationship between children. Tetsuya Jian Ye, a teacher of Jintou Primary School in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, gave an open class entitled "The Expansion of Water", which made us truly feel that Kenye's teaching is centered on cooperative learning formed by interaction among individuals. Two different experiments were conducted in pairs, and children were asked to observe the changes of water level when water was heated and cooled. Teacher Jianye didn't tell the children the answer directly, but the teaching strategy centered on alienating children and students with learning difficulties. Give children enough time and opportunities to experiment, observe and discuss by themselves. This teaching strategy makes it impossible for children to become possible and prepares a stage for children to communicate vividly.
However, some of our teachers are too enthusiastic and eager in class. They are always afraid that students will not think, thinking is not in place. When children answer questions, they don't listen quietly, but pour out, repeat and even interrupt their thinking. I don't know that it is natural for students to stray from the topic, pause, stagnate and advance because of inquiry in class. Respect for all students' thinking and being able to lean down and listen are the directions that some teachers in Japan strive for. Can we also cultivate students' awareness of listening to each other while listening carefully, form an effective listening relationship, and then develop a trading relationship? Will there be quiet communication and cooperation in our classroom?
Third, children are the protagonists of learning.
The lesson examples shown by Professor Sato in the book can show us that children can communicate with their peers happily and enthusiastically in class, and even teachers don't think of their understanding of each other and even feel ashamed. As Mr. Nishioka of Binzhixiang Primary School said, the cooperative learning relationship established in his class is the result of repeatedly instructing students to "listen carefully to their peers", "have their own understanding" and "learn from small differences" in the past two years. Even so, why can children completely remember their peers' speeches within 10 hours? Professor Sato believes that this is because every child has become the master of class learning. First of all, the great changes in the classroom, the learning content in and out of class, and the solid and effective development of various practical activities have made students enjoy it, learned to grow and sell vegetables, and entered the world of microorganisms ... These activists and children have become the protagonists of learning. In three months, teacher Harada and the children in her class have realized that the present study is a new hero, which is just to prepare for tomorrow's hope. Parents' participation in teaching is an important part of classroom reform in Japan. Because many parents participate in classroom learning, children will be softer and all children can concentrate on their studies with peace of mind. It is not only a connection between parents, but also an excellent opportunity for parents to understand their children's reality and teachers' ideas.
The core of our current education crisis is the lack of trust between teachers and parents caused by "secret room education" and "secret room teaching". Learning participation advocates that each child learns with the help of several adults, and strives to establish a learning community in the school by strengthening the contact between teachers and parents. How to effectively form a study group in the case of large class size? Effective cooperative inquiry? How to truly "student-oriented"? How to cultivate students' listening awareness? How to make our classroom quiet? How to make every child a master of positive thinking in class? We need to learn from foreign good practices, and also need to combine our actual situation, and we need our teachers to explore and cultivate hard, so as to be a trendsetter in the tide of new curriculum reform! We still have a long way to go! Of course, we are also practitioners of reform!