A class exposed the "shortcomings" of the teaching profession, and the judges of the "Amazing Teacher" competition told the truth

"In a public class, the teacher couldn't even name the students in the class", "Copying the script, the performance traces are heavy"..... Nowadays, the trend of "open classes" is prevalent. On the one hand, this is one of the important ways to examine the professional teaching level of teachers, and on the other hand, the use of open classes as a cutting angle exposes many problems. What does good classroom teaching look like? What are the dimensions of the teacher's teaching level? With the change of the educational environment, what core competencies do teachers need to have? In this issue, the senior judges of the "Wonder Teacher" competition hosted by Dingsi told the truth......

01 "Copying scripts" and "form is greater than content", classroom teaching falls into misunderstandings

"When listening to the class, if I see that the teacher keenly grasps the real problems of the students in the class, and plays on the spot, so that the class does not completely follow the 'preset script', I will tend to give high marks in such a class." Wu Xiaoli, founding principal of the International Department of Shenzhen Chinese International School and senior advisor of Avenues World School Shenzhen, recalled years of experience in listening to and evaluating classes, saying that in such a classroom, you can feel the real love of teachers for students, inspire lives, ignite and care for children's interests, and focus on teaching more than knowledge.

I remember that during a large public class that year, a student suddenly had a nosebleed, Wu Xiaoli immediately asked a classmate to accompany him to the infirmary, and then immediately adjusted the teaching content, so that the rest of the children could use the nutrition and food knowledge they were learning to provide a recipe to prevent nosebleeds in English. This kind of "on-the-spot play" made the faculty and researchers at that time shine. Because of such an "emergency", Wu Xiaoli guided the class in a new direction, originally preparing a virtual scene, which finally evolved into a vivid case. Let education happen naturally has become Wu Xiaoli's proposition.

Wu Xiaoli found that "teaching language as knowledge" is one of the common problems faced by language disciplines. In fact, language teaching is also one of the important ways to cultivate students' core literacy, and the teaching should be infiltrated with the education of emotions, attitudes and values, and also teach students how to learn and how to use language to solve problems encountered in real life. Many of the participating teachers are still stuck in the traditional framework and lack the ability to continue learning and innovating.

Shan Yijun, dean of the School of Performing Arts of Guangzhou Fettes School, has also served as a judge in the art subject group of the "Wonder Teacher" competition sponsored by Dingsi for many times. In the process of teaching review, he found a lot of very creative teaching cases, and also found some common problems, such as-

1. Lack of balance and rationality in teaching methods: some teachers' teaching methods are more traditional and single, while some teachers' teaching methods are too rich, resulting in more "form" than "content" in the classroom
2. Insufficient application of digital technology: Today, with the development of various artificial intelligence technologies and digital applications, some teachers are still limited to traditional PPT, whiteboard display and other means, and lack the attention and application of digital application technology
3. Lack of personalized care: The teaching objectives and processes of most of the teaching plans are still relatively unified, and there is a lack of relevant goal settings for individual students, and the practice of personalized education is not in place

02 In the eyes of the principal and expert judges, what does a high-quality classroom look like?

In Shan's view, a high-quality performing arts classroom should be passionate and inspiring, and teachers should stimulate students' creativity and desire to perform, so as to guide them to explore their own potential. At the same time, the classroom content should not only impart knowledge and skills, but also encourage students to challenge themselves, cultivate creativity and critical thinking, and make classroom teaching a stage for students' all-round development.

Zhu Yumin, the academic principal of Haidian District Youth School, is a judge of the science and technology group of the 6th "Magic Cup" Teacher Competition, and he believes that high-quality classroom teaching should be student-centered first. In science and technology, the classroom is not only the transmission of knowledge, but also the cultivation of scientific literacy and ability. At the same time, a good class should first have clear learning goals and specific activities to help students achieve specific learning goals. At the beginning of each lesson, the pre-existing knowledge related to the lesson should be reviewed to ensure that students are able to build new knowledge on the basis of existing knowledge.

In addition, a good science classroom should also focus on the application of science in real life to stimulate students' interest in science. By combining experiments, simulations and real-life phenomena to explain knowledge, students can observe, record, and analyze experimental results by themselves, helping students better construct and understand knowledge and develop their abilities. Lessons should incorporate a variety of assessment methods, especially formative assessment, to help teachers keep abreast of students' learning progress and adjust teaching strategies according to the situation.

Quality classroom teaching also takes care of different types of learners, ensuring that they are all engaged and benefit from the lesson. For example, BIBS School's philosophy is "Love, Care, Support", which focuses on the needs of each student in the classroom, gives them full support, and encourages students to express their ideas and create a positive learning environment. Finally, a good classroom should also help students develop metacognitive skills, such as providing relevant learning tasks after class to help students reflect on and summarize their own learning progress.

The evaluation dimensions of teachers' teaching level are diverse. Zhu Yumin believes that the evaluation of teachers should examine the following aspects:

Expertise: Teachers have an in-depth understanding of the subject being taught

Teaching Methods: Teachers are able to use a variety of teaching strategies to meet the learning needs of different students

Classroom management: Teachers are able to effectively organize classroom activities, build good relationships with students, and work together to create a positive learning environment

Self-growth: Teachers are able to engage in continuous self-reflection and professional development to continuously improve their teaching and learning

Shan Yijun said that in general, there can be multiple dimensions and standards for evaluating teachers' teaching level, such as the novelty and appropriateness of teaching content design, the diversity and flexibility of teaching methods, the interactivity and guidance of the teaching process, etc., as well as the evaluation and feedback of students' learning effects, the attention to students' individual needs, and the ability of teaching research and innovation. "However, in the specific operation process, we still need to analyze the actual scenarios and needs, and cannot be 'routine' or 'model', so as to ensure that teachers can be comprehensively and objectively evaluated and 'seen'."

Wu Xiaoli specifically mentioned that teachers should not only be limited to this lesson when designing the curriculum, but also be able to listen to this lesson, so that the judges can see the teacher's consistent teaching logic and education pattern.

03 How do teachers win in competition with AI?

Nowadays, with the rapid change of society and the popularization of AI technology, what core competitiveness should teachers have? Several teaching experts and judges of the "Wonder Teacher" competition believe that these abilities are essential:

• Professional Teaching Ability: A teacher's professional teaching ability is the most basic ability, how to guide students, how to impart knowledge and skills, and how to influence students
• Digital Teaching Ability: Ability to master digital teaching tools and technologies such as artificial intelligence, so as to effectively use these tools to assist teaching, distance teaching or blended teaching, etc
• Interdisciplinary competence: Teachers need to be able to integrate knowledge from different disciplines to help students understand and solve problems from multiple dimensions, for example, global warming requires a combination of science, sociology, and science and other multidisciplinary knowledge to discuss
• Innovation: Teachers need to embrace and use new technologies and tools, such as AI, data analytics, and image production
• Personalized teaching ability: pay attention to the individual differences of students, implement personalized teaching, and meet the learning needs of different students
• Emotional support skills: Teachers need to pay attention to and identify students' mental health, provide emotional support to students, and build trusting relationships with students
• Cooperative communication skills: Teachers need to establish long-term and stable cooperative relationships with schools and parents to jointly support the growth of students in school
• Global Perspective: Teachers need to have a global perspective to prepare students to thrive in a globalized society
• Lifelong learning ability: Teachers need to be continuous learners, including professional knowledge and teaching methods, to be research-oriented teachers to adapt to the changing educational environment.