How to take an open class in reading and expression English for senior high school students

1. A rational view of open courses

The current positioning of open courses is a bit misplaced and alienated. In the eyes of some educational administrative leaders and teachers, open English courses are "face projects." It represents the overall English teaching level of a school or even a region, and there is no room for error.

For teachers, open classes are a good opportunity to stand out, gain attention, and win honors. Therefore, there are some teachers who want to make a name for themselves by taking advantage of the open class, and become an educational star who "becomes famous all over the world in one class".

In this context, open classes are no longer a teacher's personal teaching or teaching and research behavior, but a "model show" that has been repeatedly rehearsed and carefully crafted, bringing together local experts and teaching colleagues. The collective wisdom of the school embodies the educational will of the school and local administrative leaders. Teachers and students have long been reduced to actors who act in harmony with the situation. However, as young English teachers, we must have an objective and rational understanding of open classes.

1. Correct positioning and highlight research awareness.

Although the educational community has strongly questioned the various and carefully packaged open courses, with mixed reviews and criticisms, one thing is certain, that is, open courses are an efficient platform for evaluating and improving teachers’ basic teaching skills. They will be irreplaceable for a long time. Many young teachers have grown up rapidly by absorbing the nutrients of open classes.

Open classes have the dual nature of display and research. They can be used for class competitions and awards to demonstrate teachers’ classroom teaching level. They can also be used as a discussion method to compare teaching skills among peers. It is more conducive to the professional growth of young teachers.

The culture and practice of over-emphasizing the display and selection nature of open classes will definitely induce and strengthen teachers’ external motivation, and is an important reason for the formalization, performance and show-off of open classes. We must realize that the main function of open classes is to explore teaching rules, research teaching methods, promote teaching experience, and improve teaching quality.

Young English teachers should strive to attend more seminars, strengthen their awareness of classroom research, and demonstrate individual exploration; on the other hand, they also call on the organizers of open courses to downplay their evaluation functions and not regard open classes as The stage of the outstanding teacher selection competition serves as the only basis for evaluating teaching. Otherwise, open classes will become a mere formality and deviate from the intrinsic value of classroom teaching research.

2. Be truthful and pragmatic and reflect the true nature of teaching.

Open classes should be a kind of condensation and refinement of teachers’ daily teaching wisdom. However, the current open classes either pay too much attention to packaging and are too rouge-like; Some "fancy skills and embroidered legs" that are not useful but are difficult to transplant into daily teaching practice.

Therefore, when designing teaching, teachers should pay attention to the relationship between open classes and regular classes, based on their own daily teaching experience and abilities. If the open class design is too different from the usual teaching and exceeds the scope of their own abilities, it will be difficult for teachers to perform well. Therefore, young English teachers should establish the concept that "only by focusing on the accumulation of daily teaching wisdom and experience can we teach open classes well."

A good lesson should have original ecological characteristics. A real class should have shortcomings. The most prominent problem in classroom teaching is that there are no problems. Only by facing the problem squarely can we return to the true nature of teaching. Only if it is true can classroom teaching research draw scientific and credible conclusions.

3. Be proactive and cherish the opportunity to start classes.

A survey shows [1] that the number of people with teaching experience (1-3 years) and teaching experience (4-6 years) who have taken open classes is far less than those with teaching experience (7-18 years) and teaching experience (19-30 years) teachers. There are two main reasons why there are not many opportunities for young teachers to take open classes:

First, allowing a certain teacher to take open classes is a recognition of the school. Older teachers with rich experience and good teaching results tend to get more opportunities, while young teachers have relatively fewer opportunities to take public classes.

Second, "Only success is allowed, no failure is allowed." This unspoken rule about the evaluation standards of open courses makes many young teachers worry that failure in class will bring shame to themselves and the school, and thus they have a negative attitude toward open courses. Intimidated.

If the main function of open classes is positioned as display, it is natural and reasonable to allow experienced teachers to teach open classes. However, considering that open courses have a more important research function, young teachers should be given more opportunities to exercise. Because young teachers are in the stage of exploring and trying new things and have stronger motivation for development, taking open classes is more important for their professional development.

The public classes of famous teachers should focus on its demonstration, publicity and learning functions, while the public classes of young teachers should focus on discussion and promotion of their professional development. It is recommended that the organizers of open courses should reasonably set up these two types of open courses and appropriately favor young teachers. In addition, young English teachers should not be afraid of hardships and tiredness, and proactively take on open classes. Regardless of whether the level of the open class is high or low, they must complete the course opening tasks with high quality and high standards, and never shirk the responsibility.

2. Do a good job in preparing lessons before class

Tight time, heavy tasks, and having trouble sleeping and eating are the common feelings of all teachers before open classes. For young teachers with little experience in teaching courses, it is even more of a severe test. We must learn to think calmly and arrange various preparations before the open class in an orderly manner, which generally include the following aspects:

1. Regulate emotions and maintain moderate anxiety.

Because they have to expose themselves to the public eye, many teachers will show varying degrees of anxiety, such as nervousness, worry, fear, hesitation, etc. when facing open class tasks. This is a natural reaction state and a manifestation of teachers' self-discipline and sense of responsibility.

Everyone will experience anxiety and fear when facing an important task, which originates from the individual’s normal and mature self-awareness. Psychological research shows that moderate anxiety can help teachers maintain moderate excitement, improve attention and reaction speed, stimulate physical potential, and thus better complete teaching activities.

Of course, anxiety cannot be excessive, otherwise it will only bring fear, upset and low morale. Anxiety is like a rubber band. If you pull it too tight, it will snap; if you pull it not tight enough, the tension will not be maximized. To prepare for open classes, we must learn to find a balance and maintain appropriate anxiety.

2. Find a new approach and choose a new entry point.

Currently, the content of open courses is somewhat rigid. Most teachers like to set up courses that teach text reading; the teaching methods are also old-fashioned and are the same for everyone, and they are nothing more than asking students to skim and scan. , answer a few questions, do some True or False exercises, no new breakthroughs.

If you have the opportunity to choose your own class content, I suggest that young English teachers can boldly try and explore some teaching content that no one cares about. For example, during an experience exchange event on classroom teaching reform in our city, a young teacher dared to be the first to choose the language knowledge of the text that no one cared about as the teaching content. Normally, teachers avoid language knowledge because this type of class usually focuses on explanations and mechanical drills, making it difficult to highlight the main role of students, and the classroom atmosphere can easily become dull.

However, this open class was surprisingly successful due to its bold selection of teaching content and novel teaching design. The contextualized teaching method of language knowledge used in this class was well received by lecture experts and teachers, so much so that after this event, the teacher was invited to demonstrate in other middle schools many times. It should be said that this lesson has great research value. The same stone stirs up thousands of waves, stimulating active thinking and fierce debate among English teachers in our city on the teaching of language knowledge.

When arranging the teaching content of open courses, schools or teaching and research units must make overall arrangements and ensure systematic and continuous teaching.

For example, Suzhou City now advocates a unit series of open classes, which divides the teaching content of a certain unit into multiple classes and is taught by different teachers. These classes are guided by the same topic and are connected to each other. It well presents the overall picture of unit teaching and the correlation between different classes. This series of open classes is very conducive to the professional growth of young teachers.

3. Show individuality and absorb collective wisdom.

Public classes must have content worthy of being "public", must have independent thinking from the teacher, and have original ideas that are eye-catching, and cannot be a simple repetition or reproduction of ordinary classes. Teachers can't just act when the situation arises, they can only act out ready-made "teaching plan scripts".

When teachers prepare lessons, it is best for them to think independently first, and then refer to online resources or listen to the opinions of collective lesson preparation. When integrating resources and soliciting opinions, you must know how to choose. The most beautiful may not necessarily be the best. You must choose the one that best suits your teaching style. Otherwise, the following three types of failed lessons will easily occur.

The first is the "shirt-matching class". In the observation activities of heterogeneous classes with the same topic, there are often similarities in the teaching steps of some teachers, and even the pictures and questions are exactly the same. It was originally the same topic, but it was interpreted by different teachers from different angles. It turned out to be "the same topic and the same structure", which caused an uproar among the teachers attending the class, wondering who plagiarized whom. After asking after class, I learned that they had referred to the same online resource. The reason is very simple. If you can easily find resources, others can also search for them effortlessly.

The second is, "Chowder Class". In some inappropriate group lesson preparations, young teachers are ignored because they speak little and their opinions are not taken seriously. The senior teachers have the final say on what kind of teaching design to adopt. become. These ideas are beautiful individually, but there is no unified soul master between them, so they look awkward no matter how you look at them. This is like taking the most beautiful facial features of multiple female stars and putting them together into one face. Not only is this face not beautiful, but it is also probably uncoordinated. This kind of collective lesson preparation method is not advisable. It stifles the personality and creativity of the coach. The coach has long been reduced to a mouthpiece that follows the script.

The third is, "imitation show". Some teachers adopt the "use-it-all" approach, comparing ready-made classic classroom cases by famous teachers and learning to do them step by step. However, because the teaching style of the teacher in class did not match the lesson plan of the famous teacher, he looked like a person who was originally suitable for wearing a jacket casually, but ended up wearing a crisp suit, which was so weird. Or because the teacher's personal ability is limited and he is unable to master such a profound lesson plan, he looks like a kid wearing clothes one size too big, which is so awkward.

4. Dig resources and carefully create designs

For a teaching topic, we can often collect a lot of relevant information. This requires teachers to be discerning, select the most relevant materials, cut out the complex and simplify it, and even reluctantly cut out the material when necessary. "The classroom is not a basket, everything should be put into it." We must understand this, otherwise materials will accumulate, and students will only get visual and auditory bombardment. space and time for thinking.

Faced with different teaching content and course resources, we must learn to tailor our teachings and set up matching teaching activities: some materials are suitable for discussion and analysis, some are suitable for role-playing, and some are suitable for watching film and television works. , some are suitable for appreciation and understanding. The selected teaching activities must also conform to the characteristics of the students in the class. Some classes are good at performing, and some classes are willing to think. These are factors that teachers must consider. Activity design should pursue effectiveness and avoid activities for the sake of activities.

When making courseware, we must pursue a simple, elegant, and bright style, and strive to pay attention to the following points: ⑴ Do not blindly pursue advanced software. Courseware made with ppt can fully meet the needs of open courses. ; ⑵ But it should be effective and practical. Too fancy courseware will distract students and ignore the teaching content; ⑶ The courseware process should be smooth and easy to operate. Don't do it in a confusing way, turning forward for a while and flipping back for a while. The fluency of teaching; ⑷Choose contrasting colors for the courseware background and text. It is best to choose one or two colors. Do not use red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple all at once, which will cause visual fatigue; ⑸The time to use the courseware in a class It should not be too long, and the entire teaching process and teaching content should not be typed word for word on the PPT, turning the class into "watching a movie."

5. A good "class" requires a lot of hard work to develop new ideas

Do you want to work on open classes? The answer is yes, the key is to see how you grind it. If we treat a class as a research topic, adopt various forms, and apply scientific methods to make the class more polished and newer, becoming a high-level quality course, what's wrong with this kind of scientific research-style grinding?

In fact, the polishing process of open classes is the process of teachers’ own development and further improvement. Regular polishing can better promote the professional development of teachers and researchers, allowing them to hear constructive opinions from many aspects to modify their teaching behaviors and designs. We need to have a correct dialectical understanding of the word "polishing" and reflect on two questions: What to polish? How to polish?

First of all, teachers must understand that what needs to be polished is the teacher himself and the teaching design, not the "grinding" of the students, nor the pre-class "rehearsal" between the teacher and the class. On the contrary, teachers in class have a rough expectation and understanding of teaching material processing, blackboard design, language expression, classroom control, etc. through polishing, and make some fine adjustments to the lesson plans when necessary.

Secondly, the polishing of public courses mainly includes two processes: trial class and discussion class. Trial classes can be held in multiple classes, but the second trial class must be held in a different class, and it should not be a "reenactment of the same tricks" with the same students. It is required that every time a lecture is given, there should be improvements or new breakthroughs in teaching or learning methods. As for class discussions, teachers in class can discuss with teachers attending classes to find out the highlights, mistakes and their causes, control measures, etc. Coaches listen humbly to other people's comments, sum up experiences and lessons, and selectively absorb other people's suggestions.

3. Do a good job in the implementation of the class

In the classroom, the teacher is like a eloquent tour guide, presenting the beautiful mountains and waters to the tourists. Different explanation methods will cause tourists to have completely opposite feelings about the same scenic spot. "Whether my hometown is beautiful or not depends entirely on the tour guide's words." Therefore, the implementation stage of the open class is a crucial teaching link, which can best It reflects the teacher’s basic teaching skills and personal charm.

1. Create an aura

Psychological research has found that [2] emotions, whether good or bad, are highly contagious. The emotions of students in the classroom are, to a large extent, influenced and dominated by the emotions of the teachers. Therefore, no matter how nervous we are, we must adjust our emotions and master our expressions, movements and tone before entering the classroom.

Some people say that to teach open classes well, teachers need a kind of "people come crazy" energy and cannot be timid or worry too much. The more teachers we attend, the stronger our desire to show off. When guests come to the house, children like to have fun and express themselves to attract the attention of the guests. This is the so-called "people come crazy".

When attending large-scale open classes, our English teachers also need this kind of "spirit" to be free and charming, creating a strong aura to infect students and let them enter the "human class" The perfect environment of "unity", ignoring the existence of the teacher attending the class next to you. During the entire class, always keep smiling and keep your eyes only on the students. Otherwise, a casual yawn from the teacher can disrupt your high mood and clear thinking.

2． Approach students

Before class, teachers can chat with students about light topics or tell English jokes to relieve tension.

When communicating with students, use the personal pronoun we more often and less you, which makes people feel unfamiliar. If possible, try to use a remote-controlled mouse so that teachers can break away from the shackles of a wired mouse and walk from the podium to the students.

In class, don’t always let a few outstanding students speak or answer questions. This will easily exclude most other students. Teachers should know in advance about seven or eight students with average English proficiency and extroverted personality. The questions should start with these students to gradually lighten the mood.

If we don’t know the list of students, we can also judge from the students’ eyes. If the students’ eyes actively cater to you, it means they already know the answer and have the desire to speak. Otherwise, they will hesitate. See others. When asking students we don't know to speak, we should not stand on the podium and point randomly with our fingers. It is best to walk up to them and tap the edge of the table. This will appear cordial and allow you to hear the students' speeches clearly. Teachers can also use some interesting words to address students based on their appearance and class performance to achieve humorous effects, such as the smart boy, that handsome gentleman, the pretty girl, the girl with beautiful eyes.

In class, if there are students who perform well, use personalized language to praise and encourage them. It is best to be more specific and sensational, for example, I love the end of your story. It is so surprising. Another example is, You did a great job. I'm proud of you.

3. Shake the "baggage"

Shaking the baggage is cross talk, sketch, one-man show, Shandong express book, etc. The method of organizing jokes in music. When a joke is brewing and organized, it is called "tie baggage", and when it bursts out, it is called "shaking baggage". Similarly, our classes must also have "baggage", humor, suspense, touching points and finishing touches.

Teachers in class must learn to guide students in an emotional way, lay the groundwork step by step, advance step by step, tell the key parts that have been prepared before, shake off the baggage, and give people a sense of enlightenment. feeling. Whether the "baggage" can be shaken off, the flexible use of language is the key. We must carefully consider the psychological conditions of students, use language patiently and skillfully at the right time, and achieve "paving the ground", so that we can suddenly shake off the baggage and have the whole room resound. effect.

Of course, this requires teachers to have solid basic teaching skills, such as refreshing pronunciation and intonation, and free oral expression. One minute on stage, ten years of hard work off stage. The demeanor of teachers in the open classroom comes from daily practice and bit by bit accumulation. It will not work to rely on improvising. Therefore, no matter how busy they are, English teachers should pay attention to the imitation of pronunciation and intonation and the practice of oral expression, and not neglect oral English.

4. Give clear instructions

Clear classroom instructions will give students confidence and make them more willing to cooperate. When borrowing classes, teachers often complain about how lifeless and uncooperative the students are. In fact, many times, the problem lies with ourselves. It is the teachers' vague classroom instructions that make students confused.

When changing teaching links, we need to use English that students can understand to give instructions. After all, we are taking classes in a borrowed class. Students need some time to get used to it and become familiar with the teacher’s expressions, speaking speed, Voice and intonation.

There should not be too many instructions in the classroom. The instructions that need to be given must be concise and to the point. After the instructions are given, they must be checked and implemented. When assigning a long task, the English teacher's language must be logical, the previous and subsequent information must be harmonious and coherent, and words such as first and second can be added between sentences to indicate order. This is more in line with students' way of thinking. When necessary, teachers can also use gestures, role models, repeated instructions, changing expressions, slowing down the speaking speed, etc. to help understanding.

5. Adapt to adaptability

Classroom teaching is open and creative, and unexpected incidents often occur. If not handled properly, a well-designed lesson will fall short. Common emergencies include:

⑴ Students have unintended consequences in class, do not follow the rules, and go beyond the preset track. At this time, the teacher Don't stick to the rules, go with the flow, protect this "dynamically generated" knowledge, and even allow students to go a short way, and then intervene and intervene in a timely manner;

Teachers should also pay attention to the failure of computers and other equipment. It is necessary to bring all the materials before class, debug the equipment, mainly check the audio, video and hyperlink conditions; and make plans just in case;

⑶ Since it is a borrowed class, there are If students don't understand the academic situation well enough, the teaching tasks set are too difficult, the teaching process is not smooth, and they get "stuck" at every turn. At this time, the teacher must be flexible, break down the tasks, and reduce the difficulty.

Everything has two sides. A small accident can mess up a carefully designed class, but it can also bring new vitality. Therefore, how to deal with unexpected events flexibly and properly is an important criterion for measuring a teacher's teaching acumen. It can reflect the level of the teacher's adaptability art. Suhomlinsky said: "The skill of education does not lie in being able to foresee all the details of the lesson, but in cleverly making corresponding changes without the students knowing it based on the specific situation at the time."

4. Do a good job in summarizing after class

Self-analysis and reflection by young English teachers after open classes is very important. It is a fast track for summarizing experience, optimizing classes, exploring patterns and forming characteristics. Lin Chongde, a famous psychologist in my country, once said, "Excellent teachers = reflection on the teaching process."

1. Participate in lesson evaluation and understand the implications

Lesson evaluation is an activity that evaluates the gains and losses of teachers’ classroom teaching and the success or failure. It is an important means to promote the improvement of teachers’ professional level. However, in public, it is often difficult for teachers to express their true feelings about the class openly and honestly due to human feelings. They usually only say good things, and even if there is criticism, it is understatement and tactful. Pass. As young English teachers, we must learn to understand the implicit meaning of other people's evaluations. If you have the opportunity, it is best to selectively communicate with the teacher in private.

2． After-class summary, only by accumulation can you make small achievements

The open class embodies the heavy efforts of the teachers in the class. It is necessary to make a summary to review whether the class was successful and whether it achieved the expected purpose, and conduct serious And comprehensively analyze, summarize and judge. When writing after-class summaries, we should pay attention to the following points: ⑴ Write realistically and seek truth from facts. The recorded content must be true and do not regard it as a form; ⑵ Write quickly and strike while the iron is hot. Over time, there will be Forgotten; ⑶ Write deeply, and when necessary, analyze it in conjunction with teaching theories such as pedagogy and psychology to discover and solve problems. After-class summaries are the best way for young teachers to accumulate experience and improve themselves. It can not only serve as a memorandum, but also improve their teaching level. It is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.

3. Seize the highlights and write a teaching paper

Open classes are the birthplace of teaching papers. This is my most profound personal experience. Every time I give or observe a large-scale open class, I publish a related teaching paper. When we first start writing a paper, we should not cover everything. We can only focus on a certain highlight of our open class, even if it is a small part of classroom teaching. All aspects of the classroom, big and small, are topics worthy of our study. For example, I had some thoughts on the blackboard writing design for an open class in the early days and wrote an article "Several Blackboard Writing Designs for English Text Teaching", which was published in "Foreign Language Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools" Issue 7, 2000.

Conclusion

For young English teachers, setting up a good open class is definitely a huge and physically exhausting project. However, every time after taking an open class, we will definitely feel completely transformed: I have made progress again! My teaching level has reached a new level.