Teacher Pan Xiaolin is teaching

Reporter from "Ban Yue Tan" Original Bi Xia

Currently, parents are rushing to send their children to market-oriented educational institutions to study, which has become a major social phenomenon. This is not only due to the blind pursuit of parents and the single evaluation standard of education, but also because some public education in certain areas has been weakened and cannot meet the diverse needs of parents for education. Why are educational and training institutions able to attract parents and children? Can public education learn from their experience? Recently, a reporter from "Ban Yue Tan" visited Youdao, a K12 educational institution under TAL Education Group, to explore its classrooms, teaching research, and teacher training.

Spark interest, design each class by the minute

In a Chinese language class for first-grade students at the Youdao Beijing Yuanji Campus, the Chinese language teacher Pan Xiaolin constantly interacted with more than 10 children in the classroom, and the children eagerly raised their hands to answer the teacher's questions.

These six or seven-year-old children were studying the poem "Leaving the Mountains" by Wang Wei in class. In addition to the interactive explanations by the teacher, they also used forms such as playing animated films and rehearsing small stage plays to teach. Tian Tian (pseudonym) always raised her hand the fastest in class. In the subsequent stage play, she was selected by the teacher to play the role of "door," and the child playing "Wang Wei" turned to her lightly, portraying the action of "covering the thatched door". Other children played roles such as "friends" and "little grass," and the children's naive performance brought bursts of laughter.

Although there were many observers in the classroom, the children rarely lost focus during the 45-minute class. "Throughout the class, it looks like the teacher is improvising on the spot, but in fact, every knowledge point taught by the teacher and every interaction in the classroom have been polished multiple times before the class," said Zhang Mingsong, headmaster of Youdao Beijing Campus, to the "Ban Yue Tan" reporter after the class.

"We design every class by the minute, including various humorous and bright spots," said Ning Kehui, head of the teaching department of Youdao Beijing Branch. During the 15 to 25 minute period of the class, children are especially prone to losing focus, so at this stage, a very good bright spot should be designed to keep the children more focused.

Reporter's comment: The recently released "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Education and Teaching to Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education" (referred to as the "Opinions") emphasizes the need to strengthen the role of the classroom as the main stronghold and effectively improve the quality of classroom teaching. I hope that every school can take each class seriously, carefully plan and design each class, demand efficiency within the 45 minutes, transform the purely rote educational approach into an enlightening, interactive, and exploratory style, promote a revolution in the classroom, and make students more fulfilled and rewarded in class.

The most stringent teacher training, excellent teachers are cultivated

During the class, the "Ban Yue Tan" reporter saw that Pan Xiaolin's enthusiasm emanated from within. "I used to study at a normal university. When chatting with classmates at a gathering, everyone said that I had changed the most and was in the best state. Teaching here has allowed me to grow more," said Pan Xiaolin.

"In order to give students a cup of water, a teacher must first have a bucket of water, or even become an ocean," said Zhang Mingsong.

Youdao requires teachers to possess four abilities: "teaching well," being able to design classes in a fun way, increase the children's participation and interest in the curriculum, and make learning more efficient; "having a strong foundation," solid knowledge is the basis for becoming a qualified teacher; "being responsible," ensuring that every child not only gains knowledge, but also develops habits and builds character through learning; "nurturing a sense of caring," loving education, and helping children expand their horizons, boost their confidence, achieve a sense of accomplishment, and gain motivation.

Of course, possessing these abilities not only requires a good foundation, but also rigorous training. For new teachers, Youdao helps them improve their professional skills from basic teaching methods such as practice teaching and writing on the board to how to write lesson plans and control the rhythm of the classroom. After pre-job training, they must undergo a six-month internal training program, including "practice teaching, attending classes, preparing lessons, writing lesson plans, and trial teaching," before starting formal teaching.

"After joining, we continue to provide uninterrupted examinations and training for young teachers," said Ning Kehui of the teaching department of Youdao Beijing Branch. "Each teacher has their own style and characteristics, so we have organized training sessions such as humor training camps and other programs tailored to different teachers. Teachers then apply what they've learned in the classroom and are well-received by students."

Reporter's comment: The importance of teachers in educational practice is self-evident. A professional, dedicated, passionate, and caring teacher can change a student's life. The "Opinions" proposes to build a high-quality, professional teacher team in accordance with the standard of "having good teachers" (having ideal beliefs, moral sentiments, solid knowledge, and a compassionate heart). Of course, good teachers cannot be expected to just emerge on their own. Only by selecting outstanding teaching talent, improving teachers' professional skills through rigorous training, and taking necessary incentive measures to keep teachers away from professional fatigue, and providing excellent teachers with more sense of accomplishment, honor, and recognition, can this goal be achieved.

Empowering with technology, making individualized instruction possible

Open the database, click create-search-lectures/add-search-images/add-search-videos/add-generate... a complete lesson plan containing lectures, videos, exercises, etc. can be completed.

This is the research and development platform that Youdao has been working on since 2010. By using it, a researcher can quickly generate different lesson plans based on the region and the actual situation of the students, saving a lot of time searching for materials and editing documents, and putting more effort into teaching design.

Ji Yunying, the senior director of Youdao's research platform, used chemistry teaching as an example: "In the past, when describing something, we would do so through words, but some things are difficult to describe in words. We have recorded some chemical experiment processes into very high-definition videos with key prompts, making it very intuitive for children to understand."

In addition to the research platform, Youdao has further explored personalized teaching services leveraging intelligent technology and big data.

Since 2007, Youdao has been developing an intelligent teaching system. Currently, this system, combined with the latest application technology such as somatosensory and 3D, is compatible with multimedia formats such as videos and voice, enabling various interactive operations and making traditional classrooms more exciting. Students in the classroom can not only listen and watch, but also perform hands-on experiments. Teachers can use the huge database to diagnose students during class and provide feedback at any time.

Reporter's comment: With the empowerment of technology, the education industry can reduce the burden and improve efficiency, and can solve many long-standing problems. High-quality educational resources can be shared over a larger scope, making more targeted and personalized education possible. The teaching methods of teachers will also change. In the long run, the change that technology brings to education may be revolutionary. The "Opinions" also proposes to promote the integration and application of information technology in education and teaching. The education system should adapt to this trend, break through conventional thinking, and better utilize the power of technology to promote equal and high-quality education.