Mistake in betting: An unexpected encounter between a geography teacher and a student
Before an exam, many students often place their hopes on the questions, hoping to grasp the key points of the exam by guessing. Although this practice has historically been controversial and seen as opportunistic, even contrary to the true meaning of learning, students still enjoy it.
In an ordinary sophomore semester of high school, the geography exam is approaching. Students don't pay much attention to this minor subject, but when they realize that the grades in this subject will be directly related to future college entrance exams and university admissions, anxiety begins to spread. Some students, who don't like geography or don't want to put in too much effort, start to seek help from their teachers, hoping to cope with the exam by asking questions.
At this time, a young and vigorous geography teacher, who had just graduated from university, confidently agreed to the student's request. He recalls his experience of successfully passing exams in college, and believes that he has a wealth of experience. When the students heard the news, they seemed to see a savior and had high hopes for this teacher.
So, the geography teacher decided to take on the task of betting on the students. He allows students to concentrate on revising for other subjects, while he summarises the key points of the exam for them. Two weeks before the exam, he made a list of key points for the exam and encouraged them to easily achieve a grade B or higher just by memorizing the list.
However, when the exam results were announced, an unexpected situation arose. The school's geography exam score was a full 10 points lower than that of similar schools. Many students only received a grade of C or even lower. Faced with this result, the students were very disappointed and blamed the teacher for making a mistake. The teacher, on the other hand, was confused, feeling that he had given his all and should not take full responsibility.
Eventually, the principal intervened and asked a teaching expert to analyze the syllabus. It turned out that the geography teacher was based on his experience and scope of college questions, and the content and requirements of the high school geography exam were very different from those in college. In this way, it is naturally difficult to achieve good results.
This story teaches us that rhyming is not a reliable way to learn. It may lead to short-term success, but in the long run, it can deprive students of their ability to truly understand and apply knowledge. As educators, we should guide students to establish a correct concept of learning, and encourage them to master knowledge through diligent study and in-depth thinking, rather than hoping for opportunistic shortcuts.
This teacher has a commendable courage but an unscientific approach, from which we can draw at least two lessons. First, relying on one's own subjective experience to bet on the question, without considering the current learning status of the current subject, that is, the student's so-called exam**, is likely to fail. In the same geography subject, the requirements of the university are different from the requirements of the middle school, and the key points and difficulties that the student has to master are also different.
The teacher's questions should be determined according to the rules of the discipline and the teaching object, and the questions should also be based on the characteristics of the subject itself and the actual situation of the students, and should be carried out according to the examination requirements of the year. Second, the scope is too small. Each person has a review point, and memorize it accordingly, how can you bet so accurately? For example, if you look at the climate characteristics, you can guess that the Mediterranean climate is the focus, if you identify the climate characteristics of a certain country in the Mediterranean, it is bold, if you identify a certain city in a certain country, then there is a chance that you will make a mistake, because there is not such a high hit rate at all.
Even at such a high risk, students like to bet on questions to solve the dilemma of insufficient time allocation, so as to achieve the best results with the least amount of effort. If you determine the focus of revision and improve the efficiency of the exam when you are reviewing for the exam, then it is not opportunistic. Do some ** to make your review more targeted.
In the ocean of learning, betting is often seen as an act of chance, however, when done correctly, it can also be a strategy. An experienced Chinese teacher and a father who is well versed in education shared with me how he skillfully helped his son cope with the composition of the high school entrance examination.
His son is about to face the high school entrance examination, and composition has always been his weakness. Faced with an important exam related to whether they can enter a key high school, both father and son are under pressure. The Chinese teacher knows that the questions are not simply guessing, but need to deeply understand the requirements and content of the exam, and then combine the actual situation of the students for targeted preparation.
At that time, the essay topics of the high school entrance examination were relatively stable, mainly focusing on "good people and good deeds". Based on years of teaching experience, the teacher prepared two model essays for his son, one focusing on the image of a good person and the other narrating the story of good deeds. He understands that simply memorizing model texts does not guarantee success, and the key is to teach his son how to use these materials flexibly.
Therefore, he taught his son how to "act on the opportunity" and flexibly adjust the content of the essay according to the requirements of the topic. Whether he is writing about classmates or friends, his son can choose the right parts from the prepared materials in advance, and skillfully stitch and reorganize them to construct an essay that is closely related to the topic.
Finally, the day of the high school entrance examination has arrived. The essay question asks candidates to write a continuation of a school cleaning scene and describe how students responded positively when they did not have cleaning tools. Faced with such a topic, the son remembered that there was a description of school cleaning in the model essay that his father had prepared for him. However, the plot of "all the cleaning tools are not available" in the title does not match the model text.
At this critical moment, the son was in a hurry. He cleverly wrote: "Everyone was looking around for cleaning tools, and when I turned around, I saw a large pile of broom and mops behind the door, and all the cleaning tools were there......Through this twist, he succeeded in skillfully combining the requirements of the topic with the content of the sample essay, and wrote an essay that not only met the requirements of the topic, but was also full of vivid details.
This story teaches us that betting is not a simple guess, but requires deep understanding and flexible application of what has been learned. When done correctly, betting on questions can also be an effective learning strategy. The Chinese teacher and his son, through clever shifts and flexible applications, have succeeded in turning the proposition into an advantage, providing us with a model of successful proposition.
On the journey of learning, the act of betting on the question has always been controversial. Students expect it to find a clear direction for the exam, and teachers often warn of the risks and uncertainties. However, I believe that the key to betting questions is not whether you can accurately test the questions, but how to use the appropriate methods to review and prepare.
First of all, the scope of the question should not be too narrow. Students often want to know exactly what the test is, but this precision actually takes away the meaning of the test. Rather, we should think of the proposition as a process of delineating the approximate range of propositions. Experienced teachers know that being too specific often comes with great risks.
So, how can you bet more effectively? A practical approach is for teachers and students to review past questions and conduct a comprehensive analysis. There is a lot of valuable information hidden in the past exam questions, such as the proportion of knowledge points, the distribution of scores, and the ideas for solving the questions. By comparing several years of exam papers, we can more easily grasp the focus of the exam. Of course, this also requires us to keep an eye on the dynamics of exam reform, because reform often leads to significant changes in exam questions.
In addition, in-depth study of the exam syllabus is also key. Although the content of the syllabus may seem general, as long as we carefully study and compare repeatedly, we can find the deep meaning. For example, the words "to know" and "to master" have very different meanings. The former only requires us to know a certain knowledge point, while the latter means that we need to be able to use this knowledge point to solve practical problems. The experience of a senior faculty member is also worth learning from: "When the syllabus comes out every year, compared with last year, there is no doubt that there are different mentions or new contents!" ”
As teachers, we should look at students' betting behavior from a dialectical perspective. At the very least, this shows that they are engaged, serious, and critically minded. We should be good at guiding them and teaching them the right methods, so as to help them change their blind speculation and improve their learning efficiency.
Finally, if we still can't accept the concept of pre-test questions, we might as well think of it as a way to summarize the focus of the review before the test. In this way, we may be able to face it more calmly, so that we can really play an active role in learning.
If you really can't accept this method of betting before the exam, then don't use it as a bet, but as a pre-exam summary review point, maybe everything will become more relieved.