How to Observe and Discuss Lessons

Author: Chen Dawei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Having been a middle school teacher for fifteen years and then working in teacher training for nine years, I experienced the most profound and comprehensive basic education curriculum reform since the founding of the country. When examining the lives of teachers, the effectiveness of the new curriculum reform, and the teacher training involved, I believe that two things intertwined must be given attention and resolved: one is the survival status and aspirations of teachers, and the other is classroom teaching. These two are closely interconnected. For teachers, without a change in their survival aspirations, there can be no internal motivation for classroom teaching reform, and continuous improvement in classroom teaching will be impossible. Teachers live in the classroom, interacting with students every day. Without high-quality classroom teaching and the ability to experience the meaning and joy of educational creativity in teaching activities, the happiness of teachers' lives will inevitably be compromised. It can be said that pursuing a happy teacher life is a driving force of thought and spirit, while high-quality, high-professional-achievement classroom teaching is the foundation and basis of a teacher's happy life. "When communicating with primary and secondary school teachers, I truly felt their pressure and distress. I always believe that happiness and well-being are human rights, and teachers are no exception. At the same time, only happy teachers can cultivate happy students—first the happy teachers, then the happy students. Therefore, the happiness of teachers is particularly important and urgent. To contribute to the happiness of teachers has become my responsibility and mission." In the preface to the second edition of Creating a Happy Teacher Life in 2005, I expressed my ideals in this way. It helped me resolve a knot in the pursuit of a happy teacher life. I have been studying the classroom long before and more consciously than focusing on teacher happiness: naturally, as a teacher, one must focus on it; as a team leader, colleagues also focus on it; as the head of the teaching and research office, one begins to consciously study the classroom; and as a principal, it becomes a key focus. After becoming a trainer, I seized every opportunity to study and discuss the classroom with primary and secondary school teachers. But the classroom is mysterious, like a brilliant starry sky—fascinating, profound, and full of complexity and uncertainty. Writing a resource for primary and secondary school teachers to study and improve their classroom teaching became an unresolved knot in my mind that had been weighing on me for years. This knot became heavier as the basic education curriculum reform entered the critical stage and teacher training work continued to deepen. The new curriculum reform entering the critical stage was not just moving from experimentation to widespread implementation, from pioneers to full participation, or from compulsory education to senior high school. More importantly, it was moving from conference rooms to classrooms, from concepts to practice, and from benefit prediction to outcome evaluation. In 2005, there were debates about the new curriculum reform and a re-examination of quality education. Examining these phenomena, one could not but urgently turn one's attention to teachers and classroom teaching. The demands of the era for promoting quality education, the objective reality of the new curriculum reform, and the new tasks and challenges they posed for teacher training. How to implement the concept of "human-centeredness" in teacher education work? How to effectively develop teachers' practical knowledge? How to transform and improve teacher education models? How to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of teacher education and lay the foundation for their "reflective growth"? These questions are intertwined, and the final knot also lies in "classroom teaching"—how to help primary and secondary school teachers solve problems and confusion in their classroom teaching? How to cultivate teachers' reflective ability and critical spirit by taking reflection on classroom teaching as the core? How to develop teachers' practical knowledge primarily through classroom teaching practice? Collecting these questions together, the problem we want to solve is: How to use the classroom to develop teachers? How to continuously improve classroom quality and effectiveness through the development of teachers? How to enable teachers to experience professional happiness and personal achievement brought by their own development and creative teaching? The days entangled in these problems were both painful and joyful, and they were not easy. In 2005, I began to communicate with primary and secondary school teachers through classroom observation and discussion rather than the traditional method of listening to and evaluating lessons. First in Chengdu, then in Mianzhu, Sichuan, Zibo, Shandong, Jiyuan, Henan, and Zigui, Hubei—whenever I had the chance, I would enter the classroom, observe teachers teaching, discuss lessons with them, and occasionally teach some primary and secondary school students myself. I immersed myself in the classroom, studied it, understood primary and secondary school teachers, and grasped classroom practice to test and refine my understanding and practice of classroom observation and discussion. At the same time, I also recommended this approach to many friends through presentations and exchanges. I felt their acceptance and appreciation for this method, as well as the changes it brought not only to teachers' teaching methods but also to their work and life styles. I was excited by my efforts. "When one achieves success, one should also benefit others." To provide a way of thinking for more friends, this book How to Observe and Discuss Lessons was born.