16-bit Educators' Wisdom Archive

Author: Zhang Yanchun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Persistently writing articles to explore diverse perspectives has enhanced theoretical knowledge; keeping a diary has accumulated materials—these are merely preparatory work for scientific research. The primary form of scientific research is writing articles. The nature of the teaching profession ensures that every teacher has the opportunity to conduct research, but having the opportunity is one thing, while possessing research capabilities is another. Writing articles is an effective way to seize and utilize opportunities for research. Once a person views their work from a research perspective, no matter how ordinary their job may be, it will reveal endless research value and, consequently, endless joy.
Let’s not talk about grand or distant matters. Everyday teaching activities, extracurricular activities, and class management can all be written about as articles, such as research reports, teaching reflections, or experimental reports. For example: On the Rhythm of Today’s 6 Classes, A Record of the Math Class, Classification of Student Interests in the Chinese Class, Changes in Student Attention Over 45 Minutes, Similarities and Differences in Self-Study Performance Among Students with Different Personalities, Analysis of the Results of a 5-Minute Memory Contest, Comparison of Self-Discipline in Self-Study Among Male and Female Students, The Relationship Between Gymnastic Movements and Student Personality, Analysis of the Coordination Between Eye Exercises and Student Movements, Comparison of Endurance Among Students During Long-distance Running.
Even a single Chinese class can be chosen from multiple angles and perspectives to become the subject of numerous articles. For instance, students differ in gender, personality, intelligence, physical ability, interest, hobbies, and foundational knowledge, resulting in variations in their attention, observation, memory, imagination, and comprehension in class. This allows for the creation of dozens of articles. In short, it is not that life lacks research content, but rather that we often lack the ability to discover it.
Many people believe that writing is an act of output, something only those with experience and high levels of expertise do. Young people who write articles are often mocked by the ignorant: "Having eaten a blade of grass, they want to squeeze out two cups of milk; with only a cup of water in them, they want to pour out a barrel." I always argue that writing is both an act of output and an act of input. Because one writes to express one’s own views, it usually requires first understanding how others perceive the issue. For example, when I wrote Integrating Moral Education into Chinese Teaching, I had to examine how educational theorists discussed the topic, identify the different schools of thought, and observe how experienced teachers and predecessors approached it. I compared what I shared with others and what distinguished me. Clearly, learning theory and experience in this way is far more effective than casually flipping through materials and absorbing information.
Writing articles is also a way to input practical experience. People’s work plans and purposes are often not strong enough. If I were to write an article titled On Cultivating Students’ Sense of Efficiency, I would develop a series of plans and measures to improve learning efficiency and enhance students’ sense of efficiency during the semester. The teaching objectives and plans for the semester would become much clearer. After practicing for a semester, writing an article based on an outline to summarize the semester’s successes, failures, advantages, and disadvantages would help clarify the measures and plans for the next semester. As a result, the practical outcomes of the next semester would undoubtedly be better than those of the current one.
Persistently writing articles truly helps to input teaching capabilities, far from being the misconception that some people hold.