No homework for 34 years! Three principals relay ＂efficient classroom＂
Is there a contradiction between not leaving homework and improving grades? The Fifth Primary School of Shenyang Railway has given an almost perfect answer with 34 years’ practice.
When many parents are anxious to accompany their children to do homework after class, the three principals of this primary school insist on not leaving written homework for 34 years, and carry out the experiment of happy education reform, so that students can effectively integrate into learning under the guidance of interest and reduce the burden and improve the quality under the concept of happy education.
Ask for quality in a 40-minute class
"Only teachers who don’t understand, no children who can’t learn. There are so many knowledge points that there is no need to leave homework and practice repeatedly. " Zhang Xiujin, the old headmaster, said.
Railway five primary schools do not leave written homework, which originated in 1984. At that time, the students had a heavy burden, so Zhang Xiujin, then the principal, decided to reduce the burden in the whole school and started a pilot class first. The method is simple: be effective in the classroom, increase the interaction between teachers and students, and mobilize the enthusiasm of students. After half a year, the results of the pilot class are significantly higher than those of other classes. Since then, no homework has been left in the whole school from grade one to grade six.
"Efficient classroom" is a high-frequency word mentioned by teachers in the interview. "The sea tactics is a misunderstanding. Teachers should concentrate the most essential knowledge points in the classroom so that students can draw inferences from one another." Yu Ying, the current principal, said that teachers should ensure that all the knowledge learned by students in every class, every day and every stage can be absorbed and digested in the classroom. This is called the "three cleanups" system.
In order to realize the "Three Clearances", in Railway No.5 Primary School, teachers spend a lot of energy on preparing lessons and teaching exchanges to ensure the high quality of teaching. After Yu Miao, a fifth-grade teacher, came to Railway No.5 Primary School, all school leaders attended the class collectively, giving her suggestions and guiding the improvement of classroom teaching. In 2017, she won the title of senior Chinese subject in the "Evaluation of Good Classroom Teaching in Heping District".
In order to improve students’ ability to study efficiently, the school offers a 15-minute mini-training course every afternoon. From writing and memorizing in a limited time in junior grades to arranging and communicating mind maps in senior grades, students’ abilities of memorizing, listening and summarizing are greatly improved, and their thinking quality is greatly improved.
In the past 34 years, the tradition of not leaving written homework has been preserved. For Yu Ying, the current principal, the pressure to insist on not leaving homework has only increased over the years: although the junior high school has been cancelled, the pressure to enter a higher school has moved forward, parents have higher expectations for their children, and the difficulty of various exams has also been continuously improved. Can the trick of not leaving homework still be used?
"As long as the educational concept is correct and you have the determination to stick to it, ‘ Independent and efficient ’ If the classroom teaching is realized, there is no need for homework. " Yu Ying, who has been a teacher for 26 years since she joined the work, explored the educational idea that "students are the future", and made the school’s educational strategy and action plan with cultivating students’ core literacy and providing appropriate education for children as the core concept.
Today, there are 67 classes and more than 3,100 students in three campuses of Railway Five Primary Schools, and all of them still insist on leaving no written homework.
What do students do after school?
There is no written homework after class. What do students do when they go home? And the school doesn’t care at all
After school, Shi Diance, a fifth and second grader of the railway, did not go home directly, but once again devoted himself to his favorite ice hockey training ground. He has been practicing ice hockey for nearly a year, and he has performed brilliantly in the Liaoning Ice Hockey League. After two hours of training, he turned on the TV at home first, not to watch cartoons, but to watch the news on the hour. Before going to bed, he watched the extracurricular book Magic School Bus recommended by the head teacher for a while.
In Railway No.5 Primary School, there is no unified written homework, but every child will arrange his life after school according to his own interests and specialties: reading novels, doing handicrafts, practicing calligraphy, and dancing street dance … …
According to reports, in order to enrich students’ extracurricular activities, Railway Five Primary Schools recommend "books with words" and "books without words". "Books with characters" are traditional books. By recommending books regularly, offering one-hour reading class every week, reading exchange once a month and reading festival once a semester, students’ ability and quality of lifelong reading are cultivated. "Wordless book" is news, which guides students to read newspapers, listen to the radio and pay attention to online news every day, and carries out students’ independent "broadcast", "comment" and "debate" news every morning.
The school has set up 20 compulsory courses such as intelligent robot, Orff music and digital art, and more than 60 elective clubs such as science and technology, art, fitness, reading club and English club to help children locate themselves and find their own interests. At the same time, further enrich students’ life at school and after class, and prevent them from drowning in the sea of books and mountains.
Happy education makes students enjoy it endlessly.
"Everyday Dad", a fourth-grade parent of the fifth grade of the railway, said in the opening message to all parents of freshmen in 2016: "The school is characterized by not leaving homework, reading and broadcasting news. With these characteristics, children’s knowledge and learning efficiency will become unusual."
Li Jiaxi, a fourth-grade student, had an average academic record, and sometimes she showed hyperactivity, inattention and low learning efficiency in class. Since joining the school maker space club for one year, he has become a core member of the study group and a small star of science and technology. The innovative works he led the team members to study together — — "Portable One-stop Mobile Phone Companion" has been shortlisted for the 2018 Shenyang Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition.
Wang Hongliang, a graduate of the school in 2013, is now studying in Liaoning Experimental Middle School. In 2016, he was ranked third in the city with a score of 744 (out of 760) in the senior high school entrance examination. He benefited a lot from his study experience in Railway No.5 Primary School.
"High school is very stressful and hard. Whenever I encounter difficulties, I always think of the experience of primary school. A large number of books read at that time are still fresh in my memory until now; Watching the news broadcast every morning makes me develop the habit of paying attention to current affairs and politics, which is of great help to the study of politics and other subjects. " Wang Hongliang said, "What impressed me the most was the robot community, which cultivated my hands-on, innovation, spatial thinking and other abilities. Sometimes I don’t need to draw pictures to solve solid geometry problems, so I can see the form built by Lego in primary schools … … The education of Tiewu contains too many things that are useful for growth. It was only when I was in junior high school and high school that I slowly revealed it and let me enjoy it endlessly. "
Along the way, doubts and doubts were heard in not fade away. However, the five primary schools of the Railway did not change their minds, persisted in exploring new measures for running a happy education, and constantly introduced new curriculum systems such as micro-courses, science and technology courses, research and practice courses, and handed over beautiful transcripts: the quality monitoring of students’ subjects ranked among the best in the whole region, and the achievements in Chinese and English subjects ranked third and fourth among 55 primary schools in the experimental area of the city. In recent five years, they won hundreds of honors in science, technology, art and sports at or above the provincial level.
President Yu Ying said: "As basic educators, we will continue to inherit and carry forward the ideological essence of pleasant education, actively explore new fields under the conditions of information technology reform, start with students’ learning ability and study habits, and focus on students’ infinite possibilities in the future to improve the quality of life in childhood." (Reporter Wang Ying)
