Tan Ky: Many solutions to 'solve difficulties' for the Grade 1 Textbook program

Enhance professional activities

On the morning of November 4, at the town's Primary School, Ky Tan Primary School and Tien Ky Primary School simultaneously organized 12 experimental teaching periods for students.Grade 1with 2 subjects Math and Vietnamese.

In this program, in addition to 12 teachers randomly selected from schools, there are also 116 staff and teachers from 22 primary schools in the district. With a duration of 45 minutes and not much preparation (because teachers have not yet become familiar with students), but through observing the lessons, students are quite interested in the lessons.

Experimental Math lesson for first graders at the town's Primary School. Photo: MH

In particular, in these lessons, to help students understand, remember and be interested in the lesson, teachers have used a variety of teaching aids. In particular, in Math lessons, to learn calculations within 10, teachers have simultaneously used many illustrations, both visual in nature such as pictures and toys, and at the same time used electronic illustrative materials along with textbooks. In addition to listening to lectures directly, some lessons are also organized in the form of discussions and doing group exercises quite lively.

Students participate in group exercises with a math lesson. Photo: MH.

In Vietnamese class, although students had to learn the lesson about “Hugging and Clapping” with a lot of content, the lesson was carried out smoothly because the teacher organized the lesson quite flexibly. The exchange and communication between the teacher and students took place regularly. After each lesson, the overall assessment was that students had understood the lesson and the lesson achieved the set objectives.

As one of the teachers selected to teach the experimental lesson, teacher Hoang Thi Huyen - Nghia Hanh Primary School said: Our school is located in a difficult area, so up to now, we have not equipped the classrooms with projectors or televisions. However, in this experimental lesson, I still boldly used electronic learning materials to bring students lively and attractive lessons. Through that, I will also learn from experience so that after returning to school, I will make appropriate adjustments to suit my students.

Teaching session by teacher Nguyen Thi Huyen - Nghia Hanh Primary School. Photo: MH

Immediately after the experimental lessons, a professional activity session was also held at the schools. Through direct comments on the lectures, teachers and fellow students analyzed and dissected the strengths and weaknesses and gave suggestions to make the lectures more effective. The frank and responsible comments of the teachers also showed the responsibility and dedication of the teachers.

Previously, before entering the new school year, many units organized teaching sessions, experiential activities and invited first grade parents to visit classes, observe classes, and participate in educational activities with students to learn about the content and curriculum of first grade textbooks and the current innovation in teaching methods and forms; schools and classes coordinated with parents to create pages and groups on Zalo, Facebook, Messenger... and regularly updated educational activities of the school and class.

The positive signal is that although in the past, there were still concerns about the implementation of the new program, the experimental teaching sessions were highly appreciated by teachers and staff of the schools, from the stage of designing lesson plans, preparing teaching aids to organizing teaching and learning in the classroom; the teaching sessions ensured the requirements of the program, especially promoting the qualities and abilities of students.

Students practice on teaching aids in Vietnamese class. Photo: MH

On behalf of the District Department of Education and TrainingTan KyThrough this program, it has contributed to supporting primary schools in effectively implementing the program, textbooks for grade 1 and topics on innovative teaching methods towards developing students' qualities and abilities.

Be proactive in class

Tan Ky district has 22 primary schools distributed at 50 locations. Currently, first graders account for 21% of the district's primary school population.

Mr. Hoang Dinh Son - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Tan Ky district spoke at the conference to deploy the new program. Photo: MH

Implementing the new textbook program, primary schools in Tan Ky district also face difficulties when the ratio of cultural teachers in the district is only 1.1 teachers/class. Up to now, the whole district has installed 310 computers, 62 new TVs to serve teaching classes (mainly grade 1). However, many schools have limited physical conditions and teaching equipment and only about 1/3 of schools meet the requirements of the new program.

With the above reality, in the first 8 weeks of implementing the new program, the district's education sector has directed schools to simultaneously implement many contents such as focusing on propaganda so that parents are fully aware of changing textbooks.

Grade 1 teachers across Tan Ky district attended a conference on implementing the new textbook program. Photo: MH

Despite difficulties in staffing, 22/22 primary education institutions have taught 30 to 32 periods per week for grade 1. Along with organizing compulsory subjects, units have prioritized foreign language teaching for grade 1 students and achieved a rate of 100%.

In particular, to help students have more time to review, in addition to the approved scheduled lessons, many schools and teachers have organized free extra lessons for students on weekdays to help students get acquainted and consolidate their knowledge, which has been approved and highly appreciated by parents for the schools.

The organization of classroom visits to advise and support teachers in solving difficulties in the teaching process is also regularly implemented.

Units also innovate professional activities such as discussing and developing lesson plans, especially difficult lessons, assigning teachers to demonstrate, organizing comments to unify implementation methods and organizing application to lesson types and subjects.

Discuss difficult and inappropriate content, agree on how to replace materials to suit local realities, and how to handle difficult sounds and rhymes that were not learned in the previous lesson but appear in the next lesson.

Discuss measures to overcome the problem of not having teaching aids for teachers because they are not available on the market (organize the production and collection of some teaching aids).

Some schools conduct surveys on the quality of students in each class, and work with teachers to classify each group of students, instructing teachers to have specific plans to help and support students, especially those who have not yet met the standards or have not yet met the standards firmly (paying more attention to students who have not yet grasped the 29 letters).

After 2 months of implementation, positive results have been achieved. Compared to last year, up to now, students generally read better. In particular, students are very excited when they find many new words containing the rhymes they have learned. They speak sentences containing the words and rhymes they have learned. Many students have beautiful handwriting. During the implementation process, there is always the attention and support of parents, as well as the close guidance of leaders and specialists of the Department of Education and Training as well as the attention of the whole society. Particularly for grade 1, the quality of teaching at schools receives high consensus from parents.

Regarding the implementation of the new program, Tan Ky Department of Education and Training has just organized a thematic conference "Implementing the program, textbooks for grade 1 and evaluating students according to Circular 27/2020/TT - BGDĐT".

At this conference, many presentations shared experiences in implementing the new program such as experiences in directing the implementation of the program, textbooks for grade 1, and the process of organizing the teaching of some types of Vietnamese lessons for grade 1. These were shared and actively discussed.

Using visual aids in lectures will help students absorb the lesson more easily. Photo: MH

Through the success of the program, Mr. Hoang Dinh Son - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Tan Ky district also said: This is the first year of implementing the program and textbooks for grade 1, so in the implementation process, it is obvious that there are inevitable shortcomings and difficulties. Therefore, in the coming time, in addition to continuing to innovate professional activities, we continue to direct the entire sector to continue to research and effectively apply the opinions, ideas and solutions at the Symposium to professional activities in schools.

In addition, on the basis of closely following the first grade curriculum and the selected textbooks, we encourage teachers to be proactive and flexible in researching and referring to other textbooks of the grade level to develop and supplement lessons with effective quality; research, select, and boldly replace inappropriate materials in textbooks, ensuring knowledge according to the requirements of the prescribed program...

Thanks to being equipped with modern teaching equipment, the application of electronic learning materials will help schools in Tan Ky district to be more convenient in the teaching process. Photo: MH.

Up to this point, Tan Ky is also one of the pioneering units in the whole province to organize a thematic conference on implementing new programs and textbooks.

Attending the conference, Mr. Dao Cong Loi - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training also highly appreciated the implementation and effectiveness of the program. This also demonstrates the responsibility of the Department of Education and Training towards schools, showing initiative and positivity in the implementation process. Although it is a district with a low starting point, Tan Ky district is now an excellent unit in the whole industry and is one of the districts that has done well in building standard schools with a rate of 80% (higher than the average of the whole province).

These efforts will also contribute significantly to the district's education sector proactively approaching the new program and overcoming shortcomings to achieve the set goals.