Magic Essay Camp

Author: Guan Jiangang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Telling the stories of Chinese teachers, moving Chinese educators with their remarkable lives. — Dou Guimei
True educational narrative research, true teacher growth archives. — Li Zhenxi
Here, you will see the dream stories, emotional stories, and classroom stories of Chinese teachers, witness their footsteps, and experience their joys and sorrows. — Gao Wansxiang
“My Education Stories” series is edited by the renowned contemporary educator and psychologist Zhu Yongxin, who is dedicated to “studying education, researching education, and managing education.” The series is part of the “New Education Library” and consists of 5 books: “Walking on the Path of Education,” “Stories from Education Online,” “Spicy Students, Cool Teachers,” “Guarding the Days of Senior High,” and “Magical Composition Camp.” Published by Fujian Education Press in January 2005, this series is a true Chinese “educational narrative research.”
Educational narrative research is a research activity where teachers record their teaching processes from a unique perspective, narrate their educational stories, and improve teaching efficiency and promote professional development through continuous reflection. Its main characteristics are narrative and reflective:
Narrative — Teachers, as the subjects of educational narrative research, describe specific teaching events with a certain plot and readability.
Reflective — Teachers improve their educational practice through continuous reflection, enriching and enhancing their practical and theoretical research capabilities, thereby fostering professional development.
Educational narrative research is closely aligned with teachers' educational lives and is the most direct and effective action-oriented way for teachers to conduct teaching research.
The “New Education Library?My Education Stories” series authentically records the vivid and real educational stories that take place under the “New Education Experiment.”
In September 2002, Zhu Yongxin launched the “New Education Experiment” with the mission of “pursuing ideals and reviving humanity” at Yu Feng Experimental School in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. The system of the “New Education Experiment” primarily includes five key beliefs: believing in students' potential, emphasizing mental state, creating successful experiences, emphasizing individual development, and focusing on distinctive education. Over the six years of primary school education, it integrates six major actions: “creating a bookish campus,” “teachers and students writing diaries together,” “listening to the outside world,” “proficient use of bilingual education,” “building a digital community,” and “creating distinctive schools,” thereby realizing the educational philosophy of “human-centered, teaching according to learning, leveraging strengths and addressing weaknesses, and harmonious development.”
To cultivate children’s basic skills such as “seeing, listening, reading, writing, and calculating,” the “New Education Experiment” has additional requirements alongside its successful completion of basic curriculum teaching. The basic idea of these requirements is to tailor teaching to each student’s interests, use advanced teaching facilities, and, under the guidance of professional teachers, develop their talents in science, art, aesthetics, and literature, making every student feel like a genius and striving to achieve excellence.
Over the past two years, the experiment has expanded to over 200 schools in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country. Many media outlets and education professionals have called it a potential “New Hope Project,” following the success of the “Hope Project,” if it can withstand the tests of time and space.
At the same time, Zhu Yongxin founded the Education Online website (www.eduol.com.cn) with the mission of “building a spiritual home for Chinese teachers.” It proposed a new development philosophy of “expert guidance, online mutual assistance, and self-reflection.” In just over two years, it has attracted over 80,000 frontline primary and secondary school teachers and education media professionals from 21 provinces and cities, becoming an important vehicle and development platform for the “New Education Experiment” and creating a true “online teachers' university.”
Inspired by the philosophy of the New Education Movement and guided by renowned educators such as Li Zhenxi, Dou Guimei, and Lu Zhiwen, many teachers have had their educational passion ignited, their potential unlocked, and their educational philosophy elevated.
“Education Online, an Unbreakable Network Bond,” one of the series, narrates moving stories that take place in this virtual space. It inspires and provokes deep reflection.
“Spicy Students, Cool Teachers” is an educational mood journal by the young teacher Su Jing, who is renowned for her “poetic education.” It is a genuine work that combines the survival status of the new generation of teachers, new teacher-student relationships, and the expression of educational individuality. With dazzling scenes, bold themes, and light, flowing prose, the book showcases a group of students and teachers from primary to university, from mainland China to Hong Kong, in different life spaces. The youthful energy and exceptional educational philosophy complement each other, while the inspiration that transcends time and space contrasts with scattered memory fragments. The author is both recording a spiritual journey and planning the next one, allowing every educator immersed in the book to understand and enjoy the extraordinary charm of the New Education Movement.
“Guarding the Days of Senior High” adopts a detailed narrative style, introducing a common educator in Shenzhen’s special economic zone who pursues exam scores while upholding educational philosophy in senior high education. It highlights meaningful details and contexts, reflecting typical teaching events, and authentically describes the author’s confusion, difficult psychological state, and reflections while navigating the gap between education and ideal education.
“Magical Composition Camp” uses poetic language to introduce the author’s explorations in composition teaching reform, which have practical operational significance and broad reference value. Through storytelling, the author shares her new insights and reflections on composition teaching, making the book feel warm and fresh. Teachers can gain emotional appeal in composition teaching and effective methods to motivate students’ passion for writing.
The “New Education Library?My Education Stories” series is also the “action research” of the “New Education Experiment.” It records the exploration of the New Education Movement and its brilliance.
“Walking on the Path of Education” records Zhu Yongxin’s experiences as an “education mayor” who studies, researches, and manages education. He often conducts educational surveys during business trips, reflects deeply, and seeks the essence and brilliance of education from different “educational landscapes,” identifies current problems in education, and writes reports with experts to discuss issues in Chinese education.
“My Education Stories” are written so brilliantly because they live and act brilliantly! They have stepped out these traces of growth with their feet, composed this life's melody with their hearts, and painted this splendid and colorful educational journey with their thoughts.
Let us read “My Education Stories” with our hearts! If we read with our hearts, we will understand what growth is, and we will feel passion and life!