The summer vacation is coming. Ms. Zhang, a parent of a fourth-year primary school student, has signed up her children for calligraphy classes at a training institution. Although the price is expensive, Ms. Zhang thinks it is worth it, "to make up for the fact that the children cannot eat enough in the school calligraphy classes." "It's a pity that my children like writing, especially official script, but there is only one calligraphy class a week, which is really too little."
Some parents believe that calligraphy classes are "a course that should be accepted emotionally but is actually useless." Ms. Liu, a parent of a second-grade primary school student, told reporters, "The school has a calligraphy class every week, and they also leave printed homework for the children to go back and copy. I choose not to print every time. For me, the child's handwriting is Writing neatly is enough. There are so many primary school classes and there is too little blank space for the child. I looked at his curriculum and decided to use calligraphy class as our blank time.”
1. "Let teachers fall in love with calligraphy first, and then lead children to like this art"
Wu Jian, the principal of the high-quality education resource belt of Heizhima Hutong Primary School in Beijing, said that in their school, calligraphy classes are the most important thing for children A course that we really love. "The characters are like the person they are. Calligraphy is an integral part of China's excellent traditional culture. Practicing good calligraphy lays a solid foundation for life. This cannot be replaced by computers at any time."
“We have a calligraphy class once a week. In addition, we also stimulate students’ interest through competitions, exhibitions, etc., post their results, and invite children who enter the exhibition to participate. The flag-raising ceremony uses incentives to make children fall in love with calligraphy classes," Wu Jian said.
Incentive is one thing, and subtle influence is another. "Calligraphy is a beautiful enjoyment that can cultivate sentiment. For some naughty children and children who can't sit still in class, practicing calligraphy will help their mental growth. We give free copybooks to every teacher, and they have used up You can pick it up at the school at any time. Last semester, we also held a calligraphy competition for all teachers to let the teachers fall in love with calligraphy first and then encourage the children to like this art," Wu Jian said.
The calligraphy class is not assessed, and the homework is voluntary. "There are no requirements on the number of words or pages." However, despite this, many students will still take the initiative to complete it, and some children even exceed the quota, Wu Jian said.
Yi Yandan, principal of the Primary School Affiliated to Nanchang Normal University, believes that "in Chinese classrooms, calligraphy classes should of course exist."
The approach of Nanchang Normal University Affiliated Primary School is to break the "three-fold door": "The first gate is teaching materials. We opened calligraphy classes one year ahead of the national plan. At first, we compiled our own teaching materials, and later we used unified teaching materials. However, we are not limited to the content framed in the textbooks, and will prepare some school-based textbooks for students to expand their exercises; the second important door is teachers. We lack full-time calligraphy teachers, and will supplement part-time teachers in the school through teacher self-recommendation, selection and training, etc. To alleviate the problem of teacher shortage; the third level is hardware conditions. In our classroom, we emphasize calligraphy culture and combine it with campus culture. What we focus on is not technique, but spirit. In addition to calligraphy classes, we also use themed activities and other methods to make students fall in love with writing."
2. "The combination of art, calligraphy, etc. with the main courses truly constitutes a colorful school life."
I liked calligraphy when I took it, but I still felt it was useless. This is the mentality of some parents. Ms. Liu, who chose to leave her children "blank", expressed her feelings. "In elementary school, there is actually a lot of homework. If the child can finish his homework in advance, I am willing to let him practice calligraphy."
Some parents expressed similar views. Zhang Yan’s daughter is in the second grade of a primary school in Haidian District, Beijing. She also chose to give up calligraphy because “the time is occupied by the main course.” "Take English class as an example. One-third of the children in the class have a basic foundation in English, one-third are fluent in oral English, and only one-third need to start learning from ABC, and we are the one-third who have no foundation. The other subjects are generally similar. Some children can already do vertical calculations, and some are still learning addition and subtraction within ten. Those of us who have not attended kindergarten bridging classes have poor performance in all subjects.
In order to catch up, we had no choice but to skip the calligraphy class, which was usually scheduled on Fridays. We occasionally let the children miss the class to study other things. "
Regarding parents' views, Yi Yandan said that the most important thing in primary school is to fully understand and perceive all aspects of knowledge and culture. "Education is a process of awakening, which encourages children to understand themselves and become better people. Own. Therefore, primary school should give them more possibilities and even allow them to try and make mistakes. This is better for the future of the children. Children can write well, feel proud of traditional culture, and develop feelings about their family and country in every moment. This lesson is absolutely indispensable. ”
“At the same time, a child’s growth is a reflection of his overall quality and should not be represented by a test paper or main course results. Our suggestion is to arrange homework reasonably and arrange homework in layers according to students' academic ability to avoid repeated copying by some students and to prevent some students who cannot keep up from being tired of catching up. Every child can jump up and pick the ‘peaches’, this is our goal. "Yi Yandan said.
Layered homework has been promoted in many schools. At Guangzhou Zhixin Middle School, Li Yiyin, a first-grade student, told reporters that she has more than ten personal hobbies, including ballet, Chinese dance, jazz dance, electric guitar, etc., because of the layered homework, she can set aside time to develop her personal interests.
“Art, calligraphy and other courses are important, and they are together with the main course. It constitutes the colorful school life in the basic education stage and lays the foundation for children's future. If you abandon them in exchange for a moment of main course study time, the gain outweighs the loss. "Wu Jian said.
3. "Establish a multi-evaluation system to allow students to do what they like with confidence."
Most schools hold the view that "calligraphy classes are indispensable" , but what makes the calligraphy class awkward is that in addition to the time incompatibility with the main class, there is also the problem of "shortage of calligraphy teachers".
Yi Yandan said that according to regulations, their school should have 3~. There are actually only 1 or 2 of the 4 full-time calligraphy teachers. “And the calligraphy teachers are all young and have childbirth needs, so maternity leave-related absences often occur. Some part-time teachers are art teachers and some are Chinese teachers, but art and Chinese classes also need people, and it is difficult to leave their jobs. Sometimes there is a phenomenon that cannot be adjusted. Comprehensive quality classes are like jars. Each jar needs a lid (teacher), but the lid is not enough. If one is covered, the other will be missing. "Yi Yandan said.
Sometimes, they will choose software to assist teaching and pass the transition period through calligraphy software demonstrations. However, the role of software is limited, and the teacher's personal guidance is the most important. This Yi Yandan began to miss the normal secondary school in the 1980s and 1990s. “At that time, all secondary school students had to complete calligraphy classes, music classes, art classes, etc., otherwise they would not be able to graduate. With good basic skills, one person can teach multiple courses. At present, when we recruit teachers, we also specify that they must have "calligraphy expertise," but the actual situation of the teachers we select is not ideal. We have also had some exchanges with the Normal College. We hope that the Normal College will pay attention to basic skills when training teachers, and truly alleviate the current shortage of calligraphy teachers in primary and secondary schools. "Yi Yandan said.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the China Education Research Institute, believes that the previous teaching content of secondary normal education was relatively small, leaving time for calligraphy, art and other courses. The current knowledge volume of normal colleges He believes that the starting point to solve the current shortage of calligraphy teachers should be to “first develop some teachers who are interested in calligraphy, and then gradually solve the problem of teachers from the entrance. Salary issues attract more calligraphy talents to campus. ”