How to Be a Teacher Today--Commentary on 1001 Educational Cases (Secondary School) (Xiaxia Book Series. Teacher Professional Development)

Author: Wang Xiaochun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The author has over 40 years of teaching experience and has long been engaged in family education counseling. He understands teachers, understands children, and understands parents, and is well-versed in the problems of primary and secondary school education. Therefore, his comments on the cases are profound and enlightening. Through the Q&A format, today we should be teachers, where does the wisdom of education come from, and readers may find enlightenment. What is rare is that the author's writing style is humorous and concise, often making people laugh out loud. The "Education Online" website, chaired by teacher Li Zhenxi, is one I often visit. There are many voices and discussions, but in fact, they mainly discuss one question: How should we be teachers today. Many people feel that it is very difficult to be a teacher now, often feeling lost and helpless. I have made many comments on this, which has attracted some attention from netizens.
Last October, Mr. Ji Shi, the moderator of the "Homeroom Teacher Forum" on Education Online, sent me a text message asking if I could open a small column to answer the questions that young homeroom teachers are confused about, and to comment on some cases. I agreed. As a result, a pinned post titled "Guidance from the Elder—Wang Xiaochun Teacher Points Us!" signed "Ji Shi" appeared on the "Homeroom Teacher Forum." Ji Shi said in the opening remarks, "Today, I will use this post as a growth ground for our homeroom teacher case studies, as Wang Teacher's own land for guiding young homeroom teachers."
On this website, there are not many people like me in their sixties, so I have to admit that being called a "" (elder) is acceptable, but I dare not take "" (guidance) and "" (pointing) seriously. With the young teachers' humility in discussing issues, I can only grit my teeth and avoid making a statement. I remind myself that when discussing issues, I am just a speaker. I will always speak frankly about my opinions, but I must do my best to avoid a lecturing tone. What others call "" is a courtesy, and if I take it seriously, I would be too naive.
In summary, this old man's "" (private plot) has begun to be cultivated. With favorable conditions, the crops are growing well. In less than half a year, I have commented on nearly 200 educational cases, and the click-through rate has reached 15,000. It's quite "lush"!
On March 2005, Mr. Wu Fayuan, an editor from East China Normal University Press, sent me an email saying that a teacher named He Ping (who is my online friend but whom I have never met) recommended me to him. He Ping wrote a book titled "The Art of Managing Homeroom Teachers," and I had some differing opinions on it. Mr. Wu had also read some of my case comments and was very interested, asking if a book of case comments could be published. I agreed.
Thus, this book has appeared before the readers.
The cases selected for this book, except for a few, are from middle and high schools, totaling 100. Some were brought to me, while others I brought myself. All cases where I did not indicate the source but only the author (net name) were selected from "Education Online," mainly from the "Homeroom Teacher Forum," but also from the "School Management Forum," "Macro Educational Thinking," "Teacher's Friend Forum," "Li Zhenxi's Home," and "Teacher's Reflections" sections. I visit the K12 educational teaching forums frequently and selected some cases from there. To save readers' time, I shortened or excerpted the longer cases. Here, I sincerely thank all these netizens and moderators.
After commenting on so many cases, my overall feeling is that a significant number of primary and secondary school teachers' work methods are too simple and have not changed much over the years. Essentially, they are either "strictly managing" or "dedicating love." When strict management doesn't work, they try to move the students with love. If love doesn't work, they become even stricter. If it still doesn't work, they resort to the parents' help to "fix" the problem. However, students that schools can't manage often have parents who have already lost control long ago, and parents are still hoping that the teacher can handle their child. Then there's nothing left but complaints, helplessness, and exhaustion. Moreover, the simpler the work method, the more tired the teacher feels, because low-tech, low-efficiency repetitive labor wears down the soul. I feel that with such professional skills, it's inevitable to be overwhelmed by the ever-changing society and the increasingly unconventional new generation.
Why are the work methods so simple? Because the thinking is simple. The subjective impression in their work methods far outweighs wisdom, leading to a severe imbalance. When teachers encounter student problems, they rarely assume multiple possibilities and only make single attributions, and they do this to everyone. In many cases, teachers don't even ask for reasons or even don't want to know them. As long as you don't meet my requirements, they immediately start managing and scolding. Therefore, their educational methods rarely have a professional touch, meaning that even someone who hasn't studied education can work this way. For example, losing one's temper, making comparisons, punishing students for copying homework, not letting them go home, expelling them from the classroom, or calling parents to complain
This is "non-research-based" education, "non-professional" education. To say this is education is better than saying it's "managing children."
Therefore, to be a new-generation teacher who keeps up with the times and improves professional skills, increasing the "technology content" and "wisdom content" of work is an urgent task.
To improve teachers' professional skills, simply assigning work targets is not enough, relying solely on various rules and regulations to control, suppress, and pressure teachers is not enough, and merely conducting emotional moral education campaigns is not enough. These are all "peripheral warfare." Just like in a hospital, loudly emphasizing medical ethics and strictly implementing rigid management systems cannot improve a doctor's medical skills. Many leaders always want to use purely administrative means to solve professional skill problems, but this is not the right approach. Academic issues can only be solved with academic means, and administrative management is just about creating some conditions.
There are many ways to improve teachers' professional skills, and I believe that case studies are a good method and worth promoting.
The current situation is that, on one side, experts always lecture on abstract theories that make teachers feel drowsy; on the other side, teachers are busy summarizing superficial, surface-level experiences. The two are on completely different paths, like two parallel lines extending into the distance.
Case studies can perfectly connect the two.
The characteristic of case studies is "discussing principles based on facts."
Because it "discusses based on facts," it starts from cases, so it is not detached from reality and teachers find it relatable. At the same time, because it must "discuss principles," it must draw rational conclusions from the cases, so it does not become purely descriptive text. It discusses common occurrences, but the conclusions often differ greatly from teachers' usual thinking, leading to enlightenment after being shaken.
"Discussing principles based on facts" is the approach of this book.
Case studies are somewhat different from formal case studies. Formal case studies often require researchers to be personally involved. However, the cases in this book are not ones I personally witnessed or experienced, and I can only understand the situation indirectly through teachers' narratives. This is a shortcoming, increasing the possibility of judgment errors. Therefore, I welcome readers' criticism.
How should we be teachers today? In a nutshell: good moral character is not enough, and passion alone is not enough; we must also have scientific thinking and true professional skills.
Wang Xiaochun
May 23, 2005