In 2021, in the field of basic education, policies such as "double reduction" are frequently landed, as a respondent, what gains and regrets do primary and secondary school principals have in governing schools? As practitioners, what new thinking do they have? To this end, we have specially invited 5 primary and secondary school principals to listen to the voices of principals in their struggle and find the strength to move forward in 2022.
Let the world be a textbook for kids
Zhou Jianhua Chinese Executive Vice President of the Affiliated Middle School of Renmin University and Principal of the Aerospace City School of the Affiliated Middle School of renmin university
Looking back at basic education in 2021, the most critical word is "double subtraction". In my opinion, the implementation of the "double reduction" focuses on achieving three returns and removing three kinds of alienation, that is, returning education to schools, returning schools to educating people, allowing students to return to growth, and removing the utilitarianization of society, the anxiety of parents and the test-taking of teaching.
At the Space City School of Renmin University Affiliated Middle School (hereinafter referred to as "Renhang"), we hope that children's learning is interesting and meaningful, and we hope that children will not regard textbooks as their whole world, but should regard the world as their own textbooks and society as their own classrooms.
2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party, and a painting by Yu Shenxin, a fifth-grade student at the school, impressed me very deeply. Inspired by the artist Escher, Yu Shenxin created a theme work of the centenary of the founding of the Party called "Look, China", painting the heart by hand, integrating a strong patriotic feeling into it, and this painting won the first prize of the National Primary and Secondary School Students Painting calligraphy competition. This also reflects the educational position of our People's Navigation from one side, that is, to help students think about "what kind of person I want to be" every day, and to prepare for the future talent reserve of the country and the nation.
Curriculum teaching is an important means for Renhang to promote the "five educations at the same time". "Double subtraction" has brought students more space for in-class quality improvement and after-school service improvement, and in the past year, Renhang has taken course teaching as the main carrier for the implementation of "double subtraction", interpreting the school's "double subtraction" road with wonderful curriculum stories.
The "three-flight system" of school curriculum construction provides a good guide for the construction of an integrated curriculum system for primary schools, junior high schools and high schools. The departure course, for all students, focuses on consolidating the common foundation; the pilot course, oriented to hierarchical students, meets the needs of classified development; the self-sailing course, for individual students, focuses on the development of personality. The focus of the departure course is to improve the quality within the implementation of the course, and the pilot course and the self-flight course focus on the implementation of the after-school service improvement.
In the context of "double reduction", the school also attaches special importance to the implementation of the concept of "health first", taking primary schools as an example, in the optional courses of after-school services, there are 66 sports courses, accounting for 50% of the total; there are 29 sports clubs, accounting for 42% of the total. Students participate in after-school services and choose 100% to 16:30 and 99% to 17:30. In 2021, the physical health of primary and junior high school students in the school increased by 6% and 8% respectively.
"Double subtraction" is to reduce the excessive burden of homework on students. So, what kind of homework is an excessive burden on students? That's a lot of repetitive, standard-answered paper-and-pencil assignments. In order to solve this problem, all teachers in the school carry out special teaching and research on homework. One of the initiatives is to reduce pen and paper work, control the total amount of time, and design unit large assignments, practical assignments, and interdisciplinary assignments. The change of the content and way of students' learning is the top priority of the change of the way of educating people. Renhang advocates teachers to improve the quality of the class, and on the basis of the implementation of the national curriculum, the school-based expansion of the solution of content and real situation problems according to the actual situation of students.
If we teach the present students in the way of the past, we are killing the future of the students. Our choice is to make the real world a textbook for children, teach students the knowledge of the past in the present way, solve problems in the real situation of the present, and lay a solid foundation for students to cope with the uncertainty of the future with core literacy.
The way out of rural education is in the countryside
Xiao Shijian Principal of Tianzige Xinglong Experimental Primary School in Zheng'an County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, and founder of Tianzige Public Welfare
2021 is the fifth year that I brought the Tianzige public welfare team to the poverty-stricken mountainous areas of Guizhou and founded tianzige Xinglong Experimental Primary School.
Sitting in the principal's room, every day I like to look out the window at the Privet tree. 5 years ago, the trees were small and the flower beds looked sparse. I was in a hurry, looking at these little trees and not knowing when they would grow. So, in order to make the flower beds look good, I made the spacing of the trees relatively dense. For the next 4 years, I had to move the trees out of the flower bed every year, and now I have moved 8 trees out.
This is the time and process, you have to wait for the flowers to bloom, the moment the flowers bloom, you will feel that everything in the world is so wonderful, any effort is worth it. The same is true of education, waiting for the flowers to blossom is a wonderful process.
I usually like to post photos of all kinds of children in the circle of friends - class, play, labor, study, and daze. Sometimes I even remind myself: convergence point, don't show it. But no way, I still can't help it. I not only post photos, but also often sigh: look at our baby, how happy, more confident, how happy!
When doing rural education, the biggest problem I see is that the education received by children in poor mountainous areas is disconnected from their own life and life, and they yearn for the urban education model. So the first thing I did when I was running a school in Xinglong was to comb through the "student portraits". I hope that the children of Xinglong can understand and accept: I am a Xinglong person, I am a rural baby, I live here, my life is unique and wonderful, I am proud of it.
The original intention of Xinglong school is to explore a good education that suits them and belongs to them for rural children. Our school is in the beautiful mountainous area, and our classes are often carried out in the mountains, and the teacher takes students to know flowers and plants, find animals, and write poems and paintings. I believe that this unique natural classroom, this kind of in-depth nature education, will be the core content of future education. Let rural children have a heart that loves their hometown and loves nature, has the vision of authentic learning and pursuit, cares for others and the world, and the courage to go to the future, which is the exploration of local humanistic education.
Xinglong Experimental Primary School has a wealth of characteristic courses. In the past year, xinglong children's research topics have been very local. Children's questions include: Can potatoes and eggs be eaten together? Why are the rabbit's eyes red? Wait a minute. The children selected topics from their lives, searched books, searched the Internet, wrote reports, and finally defended themselves in front of the whole school.
"One class, one good thing" is a special activity of Tianzige Xinglong Experimental Primary School. In the new fall semester of 2021, the children of the lower grades will become the little guardians of the village's environmental protection and clean up the garbage in the mountains; the good things done by the children in the third and fourth grades are to carry out cultural performances for the elderly in the village; the small projects completed by the fifth grade children are to renovate the small pool of the campus; and the good things the sixth grade children do are to discover the history of the campus. Through these activities, the seeds of kindness in the hearts of the children will slowly sprout.
Tian Zige's mission is to promote rural education equity through local humanistic education innovation. In 2021, Tian Zige cooperated with the China Development Research Foundation to promote the concept and curriculum of Tian Zi Ge to 30 village primary schools through the "Rural Village Small" project, so that hundreds of rural children and rural teachers have gained new ideas and new curricula.
Farming, literacy, innovation, perhaps one day, leaving the mountains, will no longer be synonymous with changing the fate of rural students, rural education will also have another beautiful possibility.
Return the "land" of growth to students
Shen Maode Principal of Dibang Liberal Arts School in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, former principal of Tianyi Middle School in Jiangsu Province
In 2021, a series of education policies have brought great impact on basic education, among which the "double reduction" policy is unprecedented in strength and faster.
I believe that the reduction of "double subtraction" is the first step in deeply promoting quality education. Each school should also provide students with as much as possible a more autonomous and choice-based environment based on its own regional conditions and school curriculum resources. That is to say, today's "subtraction" is for tomorrow's "more". The most important work of the principal in the future should be to provide more rich reading, rich experience and rich activities for the development of students' personalities.
I call "rich reading, rich experience and rich activities" "rich curriculum", the emergence of outstanding talents is closely related to their growth mode, the "soil" of growth, and returning "land" to children has become an important idea in school curriculum design.
After more than 40 years of educational practice, I have confirmed that with the "rich curriculum" system, children will have more independent learning space and have real personality growth. In my opinion, today's "deferred service" is only the beginner version, and its upgraded version should be "extended course". In Tianyi Middle School, for the all-round development of children, in the school curriculum design, we not only fully implement the various tasks of national curriculum learning, but also open up many "free lands": science and technology festivals, sports festivals, art festivals, etc., each section is actually a curriculum section, containing 50 to 60 activities, activities are designed, organized and participated by the children themselves.
We have made extensive contacts and invited people from all walks of life to enter the "Tianyi Celebrity Classroom", they have set a life example for children with their own growth, and they have used their own vision to show students the grandeur of the world and the dangers of science...
We organize students to participate in CCTV, provincial and municipal television stations and other projects of middle school students competition, so that they can feel the challenges of different themes of their peers, experience the process of teamwork and common growth, and open American college preparatory courses and Chinese advanced courses for children, so that they have more channels to challenge themselves and develop in diversity.
More than 20 years of exploratory practice and curriculum reform that returns "land" to students have not only optimized the way of school education, but also promoted the quality improvement of students' growth. We have seen the "stars shining" in the personality development of many students, and at the same time, the quality of education in the school has also changed dramatically.
In the past three years, Wuxi Dibang Liberal Arts School has launched an "extended curriculum" in addition to the national curriculum, and we have described the meaning and design principle of "the land freely chosen by students" - "extended curriculum system": rich choice of extracurricular activities is the guarantee for the personalized development of students. We offer more than 100 extracurricular activities such as academic, artistic, sports, interest and creativity, and community service to cultivate students' social and emotional skills and leadership skills. Guide students to build deep friendships in mutual cooperation and friendly competition, laying a solid foundation for future learning and career development. Establish students' identity within and enhance their sense of well-being, sense of mission, and leadership, giving students the opportunity to contribute to the healthy development of communities inside and outside the school.
When children have more "free land", they grow up with a real sense of happiness. It can be said that it should be "subtracted" and "more", and the rich curriculum will have more land for free growth, and it can be confirmed that the butterflies that fly freely are the most beautiful.
Do it first, then do it wonderfully
Tian Bingbing, Chief Principal of Chunhui Primary School Education Group in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province
The past year has been a year that is particularly worth sorting out and growing for the Chunhui team. This is the end of Chunhui's first three-year plan, reviewing the team's growth code, and feeling the growth and transformation of Chunhui's teacher team behind the breakthrough in affairs.
Standing on the stage first, and then standing on the stage, this is a distinctive feature in the process from the construction of Chunhui Primary School to the construction of Chunhui Primary School Education Group. In 2021, the Chunhui team often faces many sudden opportunities and challenges. I am always willing to choose to try, use the task to force myself to lead the team to connect the past scattered research practices into a line, broaden the territory of the top-level design in actual combat, and steadily walk through the construction process from 0 to 1.
Chunhui has not lacked heat since the establishment of the school, and what is valuable is that the team has always had the calm and concentration of research, so that the school maintains a relatively calm character between "hot" and "cold". This year, Chunhui formed a wonderful curriculum case designed with long-term significance, which is intended to leave a clear spiritual foundation for children.
How to root the seeds of patriotism in the hearts of children and become a lifelong basic literacy? In addition to the series of courses, in 2021, we will add a flag-raising ceremony every morning to tell children the simplest Chunhui rule - to salute when they hear the national anthem. In the past year, the flag-raising ceremony at the school gate every day during school hours has made parents and teachers and students develop good habits, stopping to watch the five-star red flag rising, which has become our common daily homework.
To plan a curriculum is to plan a life. The Nutrition Doctoral Program that everyone can participate in, the Huibao Pop-up Stage that everyone can participate in, the Huibao Spring Wind Action that everyone can participate in, the Huibao Recycling Station that everyone can participate in... The curriculum is changing the lives of Chunhui children. Curriculum activities should not only seek a momentary simple heat, but to design the curriculum from the foundation of value significance, seek long-term significance and value in curriculum construction, pay attention to analyzing the path pattern of course growth from the growth process of typical course cases, and find an action path worth copying, so as to promote the construction of the school curriculum system to be more stable and solid.
Doing it first, and then doing it wonderfully, is an important password for the growth of chunhui team. What has been done is not to stop here, but to be good at this and that, timely review, and promote the update of version 2.0, which is also a good habit for the Chunhui team to complement each other.
This year, the Chunhui team gradually developed a lot of different habits. For example, the principal team is very familiar with the fact that PPT is not for guests, but for the top-level design of the school. Send away the guests, continue to practice along the design line, continue to think. Because of this, many friends who are familiar with Chunhui say that the most different place about this school is that every time you come, you can find a different place than the last time.
Stressing the implementation of the landing is the unremitting value pursuit of the Chunhui team. From a momentary brilliance to a normal state, this is a good habit worth adhering to in the construction process of the Chunhui curriculum in 2021. Gratitude stands at the cusp of the development of Riverside education, giving the team that wants to do things and can do things the opportunity to grow together. Looking ahead, let us enjoy it, grow together, and greet the magnificent opening of 2022 with firm steps.
At the very least, be a kind ordinary person
Zhang Pengcheng is the principal of Erlangmiao Primary School in Qingji Town, Taikang County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province
I am a principal of a rural primary school, and netizens call me "white-haired principal". In 2021, the happiest thing for me is that our campus is getting more and more beautiful, and the children's food is getting better and better. In the past year, in addition to government subsidies, many people have learned about the Erlangmiao Primary School in Qingji Town, Taikang County, Zhoukou, Henan Province, through short videos and media reports, and sent us daily necessities such as rice, flour, oil, milk and so on. In other words, the food in our canteen is getting better and better, better than the food in many children's homes, which is the story of children bringing meals home.
The "chicken leg girl" who wants to take home the chicken leg issued by the school to her mother to eat, and the "shrimp girl" who wants to keep the shrimp from the school lunch and bring it back to her mother, are all children of our school. In the past year, what has comforted me the most is that the children have the ability to love, and they love their parents, classmates, teachers, and countries even more. In my opinion, children know that filial piety to their parents, kindness, and gratitude are inseparable from everyone's help, and of course, the harvest of education.
As a principal of a rural school, I think there are two things I can't afford to lose: the first is that the children eat the food in their stomachs, which is related to the present of each child. Most of the students in our schools are left-behind children, and when parents go out to work, children are not better cared for. Rural children always need someone to accompany them, so we decided to let the children live in the school, transform the classrooms into dormitories and kitchens, cook for them, they have enough to eat, and with a healthy body, they can study well.
The second thing that cannot be lost is the training of teachers, which is the future of children. Erlangmiao Village, where our school is located, is where I was born, the children in the village are not the same as the children in the city, the children in the city will be exposed to many things and can see the wider world, but for children in rural areas, many students do not even have mobile phones, so the teacher is their window to see the world, only the teacher can see farther, will make the child's vision wider and go farther.
For teachers in rural schools, in addition to teaching children the knowledge in books, they also need to give them emotional companionship. Because of the lack of parental attention and proper guidance, left-behind children often lack a sense of security and emotional sensitivity. In the past few years, I have eaten and lived with my children, I will not scold and punish them for a small problem, I hope to have a teacher-student relationship with them, but also a friend they can talk to, and a family member who accompanies them to grow up.
I hope that children can go out of the countryside and go far away through reading, at least to be a kind ordinary person, with stable emotions and good communication. When the country is in difficulty, it can bravely stand up, and when others have difficulties, it can reach out without hesitation. If children can do this, then our society must be civilized, and the future of our country will be better and better.
Original title: Listening to the Voice of Struggle and Finding The Driving Force – Five Principals Answered the Year-End of 2021
Article source: China Education News, January 19, 2022, 5th edition title: Principal Weekly
Source: China Education News Network