The principal and her innovative experiences

(Baonghean) - Teacher Phan Thi Hong Mai was born in 1967 in a family with a father who was a teacher. Following her father's career, in 1988, after graduating from Nghe An Lowland Pedagogical College, she was assigned to teach at Hung Dung 1 Primary School (Vinh City).

Here, she used to be the secretary of the Youth Union and the head of the professional group. In September 2004, she was assigned a new task and transferred to become the Vice Principal of Hung Loc Primary School (Vinh City). But perhaps teachers and educational administrators have had many good impressions of her since she became the principal of this school (in 2008) and proactively started to innovate the school's educational activities.

"We must change the way primary education is done, we must innovate and not follow the old ways", she determinedly turned that concern into the school's program of activities. According to Ms. Mai, in primary school, we must definitely implement comprehensive education and not just focus on cultural subjects, we cannot educate in the style of "raising fighting cocks". Because only by taking care of comprehensive education can we achieve the goal of the school level which is "to help students form the initial foundations for the proper and long-term development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and basic skills for students to continue studying in secondary school".

Ms. Phan Thi Hong Mai.

Ms. Mai and the school leadership team selected one class from each grade as a pilot. Before the end of the first semester of that school year, the results in the pilot classes surprised everyone: students were more confident, more active in activities and communication; they knew how to be polite, loving, and tolerant of each other; they knew how to serve themselves and their learning quality improved. From this reality, teachers were no longer concerned with the solutions that the school leadership had proposed; on the contrary, everyone was enthusiastic and dedicated to implementing that innovation. As for the students' parents, they supported the way the school organized educational activities; many people collected and made toys for the students and brought them to the school as gifts.

To effectively innovate the school's educational activities, according to Ms. Phan Thi Hong Mai, the important thing is to build a team of teachers who are united, have good professional capacity and always care about innovating teaching methods. Her way of doing things is to create conditions for teachers in the school to participate in giving opinions and suggestions to all programs and plans of the school (usually through pedagogical council activities, professional group activities, and mass organization activities); to approach new issues of education in general, and primary education in particular.

In the 2012-2013 school year, she directed professional groups to differentiate subjects in teaching; then applied the "Hand-kneading dough" method to teaching activities to promote students' intelligence. This is a new teaching method of the "Vietnam New School Model" (which the Nghe An Department of Education and Training is piloting in two primary schools in Vinh City) for everyone to study, apply, and combine with the "Hand-kneading dough" method that the school is implementing. Instructing teachers to self-study to improve their professional capacity and involve them in innovative teaching methods, teacher Mai herself is always a role model in these tasks. From a person with only a secondary level of pedagogy, in 2010, Ms. Mai successfully defended her master's thesis (majoring in Primary Education); she is an experienced "innovative tree" with many topics recognized at the provincial level: "Researching primary school students' interest in learning"; “Some measures to guide moral education in primary schools”; “Using Graph in teaching vocabulary expansion lessons in grades 4 and 5”;…

With her dynamism and enthusiasm, teacher Phan Thi Hong Mai and the staff and teachers have made Hung Loc Primary School a bright spot in Vinh City. For three consecutive years (2009-2012), it was recognized as an excellent working collective and a national standard primary school at level 2 (2010). Since October 2012, teacher Phan Thi Hong Mai has been transferred to become the Principal of Hong Son Primary School (Vinh City). Under her leadership, at the end of the 2012-2013 school year, Hong Son Primary School has made significant changes; the school was evaluated by the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City as one of the top schools in the city. She herself was recognized as a provincial-level emulation fighter (2008-2011); Received a Certificate of Merit from the People's Committee of Nghe An province for outstanding achievements in the emulation movement "Creative labor, excellent labor in the period 2007-2012"; selected to participate in two conferences to honor excellent primary school managers organized by the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An and the Ministry of Education and Training (in 2012).

Mr. Tran The Son - Head of Primary Education Department, Nghe An Department of Education and Training commented: “Ms. Mai is a manager with many good qualities: dedicated, always looking towards the interests of students; the solutions Ms. Mai proposed all demonstrate creating conditions for primary school students to enjoy the best education. When she was the Principal of Hung Loc Primary School - a suburban school, Ms. Mai had many suggestions to build the school into a good educational environment. Many people who visited the school wished to have an educational environment like Hung Loc Primary School. Ms. Mai is also very inquisitive and willing to learn from colleagues and friends; knows how to accumulate and turn the experiences of colleagues and other units into her own.”

Minh Duc