A
Case Study of Xiong Xiaodong's Education——
A
JOURNEY OF LOVE
Five
years, five whole year.
Lots
of stormy days full of vicissitudes of life.
Five
years, heart-to-heart contacts between us enable us to have a thorough knowledge
of each other. As the call for personality and emphasis on moral education increases,
a review of Xiong Xiaodong and His Class 4, Senior Grade 3 as well as a
recall of the past five years struck me that my story of the past five years is
what moral educators should learn from. It suddenly occurred to me that my miraculous
contact with Mr. Xiong Xiaodong could provide us an excellent answer to what moral
education is.
Even when Mr.
Shi Liangfang was alive, he advised us four (who were admitted by ECNU to go on
a continuing study from bachelor degree to doctor degree in education) to write
our Ph.D dissertation on our education of senior high school, especially on typical
case studies of students' development from Class 4, Senior Grade 3. However, this
time I can't wait since I am willing to let everybody share the result of my search.
I'll let everybody know what has happened to us during 1995-2000, from the Chinese
wisteria garden of Nanyang Model High School to the Liwa River of East China Normal
University, which can be recorded in the history of world education.
The
episodes between the teacher and his students left an ineffaceable memory with
people.
MATHEMATICS
BRINGS US TOGETHER
It
was mathematics that brought Mr. Xiong and me together.
I
am always proud of my score and gift in mathematics. In the senior high school
entrance exam, I even got a good score of 97, the highest among my schoolmates,
in mathematics exam. During the second half term in the first year of senior high
school, my classmates and I had a very low learning motivation, and just under
this condition did Mr. Xiong begin to teach us mathematics. He took it as a historical
task to change our study motivation.
Among
all the subjects, mathematics is the one that requires the teacher's greatest
efforts and wisdom, for he must excel in systematic logic and active thinking
which can arouse great echo in students. Only in this way can he gain students'
respect and admiration. Mr. Xiong's class is insightful and interesting. What
distinguishes his class is that he could activate students' internal study motivation
through his impressive speech. Just as the old Chinese saying goes that "It is
more important to teach a man how to fish than to feed him with fish", Mr. Xiong
has a firm belief that knowledge is only a container, the key is to develop students'
thinking and cultivate their imagination and creativity. I remembered that Mr.
Xiong once gave us a test, which had only one question: If there are 75 cows and
34 sheep in the ship, how old is the captain? Such a question sounded fresh and
strange for us who had been accustomed to working with stereotyped mathematics
questions in great quantities. No mathematics teacher had ever done so before,
neither had teachers of other subjects. Later our class had a discussion over
the question, and through brainstorming, we came to a deep understanding of groovy
thinking. Mr. Xiong often told us that the purpose of study is to solve practical
problems. One should not lose his imagination and creativity in learning in that
these two factors are essential qualities in dealing with practical issues. When
a scientist loses his imagination and creativity, his scientific research life
will come to an end.
For us
top students who didn't have a strong motivation to learn, it was wise for Mr.
Xiong to take a circumlocutory strategy. In fact, no other teacher than him was
able to attract us to his words and accept him with admiration. On the contrary,
he never criticized nor disdained us. The kindness and sincerity he gave us is
very important and inseparable to the growth of sixteen-year-old students. That
was a perfect beginning and foundation for the change of our class in the 2nd
grade.
Mr. Xiong's first interview
with me is still vivid and clear in my memory. When I got a score of 94 (quite
high at that time) in analytic geometry exam, he asked me whether I'd like to
take part in the mathematics competition group, I agreed without any hesitation.
It was probably my high scores and my appropriate talk with him that impressed
him and began our five years' relationship.
As
a matter of fact, I wasn't born in an intellectual family and was far from being
a perfect and mature student who he was fond of. So the contact with him was a
turning point in my life.
Speaking
of opportunity, Mr. Wang Xinxiong is also a person worth mentioning. We have a
lot in common: similar cognitive aptitude, unique gift in mathematics and both
being Mr. Xiong's favorites. However, the difference between us is obvious, too.
Being a sober and steady type, he could make a balance between his social role
and social responsibility, self-consciousness and individual interests; whereas
I was much more innocent and straightforward, impressing people as sunny and brilliant.
Looking back now, I realize that I was ignorant then.
When
we were in Grade 2, Mr. Xiong initiated and took charge of our class reform. Just
as "Xiong Xiaodong and His Class 4, Senior Grade 3 " says, our class was gradually
onto the right track. Mr. Xiong had us realize the problems of top students in
advance, which aroused us self-conceited guys' anxiety as well as boundless enthusiasm
for the departure of muddle-headedness and ignorance. In the process, I was elected
his mathematics monitor. Everything went on smoothly and everyone in our class
saw hopes and found out our right path of self-development. However, it must be
admitted that our life is anything but boring. When we were getting closer and
knew each other better, my shortcomings turned up. As a consequence, conflicts
between us appeared inevitable. |
