Valedictorian of Nghe An province: 'Students are the motivation to try'

Don't be afraid to encounter "different" situations.

Provincial Excellent Teacher Competition for Secondary School LevelIt has been over 3 weeks but up to now, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien still feels surprised with the results she has achieved. The title along with the youngest "miracle" of the competition is also the motivation for her to try and wish to convey confidence to her young colleagues.

Recalling the recent exam, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien remembers the practical exam the most because she drew lots for one of the most difficult lessons in the 6th grade Geography program - the lesson "Causes and manifestations of the phenomenon of day and night lengthening according to the seasons".

For a teacher with many years of experience in teaching, the knowledge part of the test is not difficult for her, but what worries her most is the students because she has to "understand the students and grasp their abilities in order to design appropriate lessons".

Teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a former student of Pham Hong Thai High School (Hung Nguyen). After graduating with honors from Vinh University, she was recruited by Vinh City to work at Ha Huy Tap Secondary School. Photo: MH

From the time of drawing lots to the time of the official exam, she only had 2 nights and 1 day to prepare. Meanwhile, she was assigned to teach a 6th grade class at Dien Hong Secondary School (Dien Chau) - a school where she had never taught before.

"When I received the lecture, the afternoon class only had about 30 minutes left. At this time, I hurried from Dien Chau town to Dien Hong to get to know the students. Luckily for me, even though it was only my first time meeting them, the students were very cooperative. Some learning methods such as "group discussion, doing collective exercises" were also well received by the students because they had been familiar with them before," Ms. Hien confided.

Receiving positive “signals” from her students, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien spent a day preparing lesson plans and giving them to her colleagues. But because she was a worrier by nature, she stayed up almost all night before the exam. Even though there were only a few hours left before the exam, she decided to change the lesson plan because she believed that the new plan would be suitable for the students of the school.

Before that, although she had only known the students for a very short time, she had already memorized the class diagram, names and even the “nicknames” of some special students in the class. Therefore, when she started teaching, she and the class “got into the rhythm” very quickly and followed the lesson plan.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien and students of Dien Hong Secondary School at the 2020 Provincial Excellent Teacher Competition. Photo: PV

The incident only occurred when in a situation where students were required to correct their homework, they did not complete their homework. Or in the part of using electronic lesson plans, the lectures were integrated according to the program distribution that was not suitable for the school's electronic devices. However, these situations that arose were later the factors for her to score points because of her flexible and quick handling while still ensuring pedagogical factors.

In this lecture, she also used worksheets to help students do the exercises proficiently and enthusiastically, overcoming the limitations of a long lecture with a lot of knowledge and difficult to remember. The lecture was immediately evaluated by the judges as creative, not following a pattern, knowledge presented clearly and organized many activities between teachers and students.

The main goal of a teacher is to direct the students.

The 2020 Provincial Excellent Teacher Competition for Secondary School Level is also the first competition to be implemented in a new format. In addition to the practical competition, the report on measures to improve the quality of education by teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien was also highly appreciated because the issue she raised "differentiated teaching to improve the quality of teaching" is a familiar issue that she applies every day. This is also one of the experiences that helps her organize successful teaching sessions and is loved by many students.

Although a young teacher, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien has had many achievements in training excellent students. Photo: MH

Returning after the competition, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien returned to the familiar image of a Geography teacher atHa Huy Tap Secondary School.The school has the largest number of students in the province with more than 2,000 students and is one of the schools highly appreciated for its teaching quality. In 8 years working at this school, although there is a lot of pressure on her professionally, she said she has learned a lot from her senior colleagues. More importantly, she is trusted and supported here, even though compared to many other teachers, she is younger, less experienced and has not had much contact with students.

Over the past 8 years, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a new graduate of Vinh University, has had many opportunities to grow. She remembers that when she was first admitted to the school, she had to spend nearly the first year observing classes, teaching demonstrations, and gaining experience. Later, when she officially taught a class, she had to face a lot of pressure.

Our school has a lot of students and in one class there are many different subjects and abilities. Therefore, to organize an effective and interesting lesson is very difficult because if the teaching is too easy, the good students will be subjective. But if the teaching is too difficult, the weaker students will be discouraged and neglect the subject...

Participating in exams is also a way for her to share difficulties with her students and have the opportunity to improve her professional skills. Photo: PV

Because of these concerns, even though she had not been a homeroom teacher, teaching Geography, which was considered a “minor subject”, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien was never easy on herself. One memory she still remembers is the first class she attended and she was 5 minutes late. However, the reason for this delay is easy to understand because “the teacher was busy looking for a tool to support the lesson”. Later, her students were excited about Geography because she invested in each lesson, renewed it, and taught it in an easy-to-understand, easy-to-remember way.

Although she has not been teaching for long, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien is also a person who has a talent for nurturing excellent students. To do this, since she first started to classify students, she has built sets of questions to differentiate students. In the process of selecting students for the team, she puts "passion" first and tries to convey her passion and love to her students.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien and the team of excellent Geography students from Ha Huy Tap Secondary School. Photo: MH

During the teaching process, there were times when students had to study continuously for many months, so to motivate students, she changed the teaching method, the learning method and the marking method regularly and even let students correct and mark each other's papers. Through that, students knew their own strengths and weaknesses and could also learn from their friends.

As a teacher, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien is also a friend, a sister and a relative who is trusted and loved by students. Therefore, the decision to participate in the excellent teacher competitions is also a way for her to accompany her students and share their hardships during the competitions. The greatest joy was when she won first prize at the city-level excellent teacher competition and later the first prize at the provincial level excellent teacher competition. Her students also achieved many successes when some students won second and third prizes in the province and now two students studying at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted have entered the school's national team...

Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh awarded teachers with the highest scores at the Provincial Excellent Teacher Competition (teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, yellow shirt, 6th from right). Photo: MH

With many successes, at the age of 30, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Hien seems to have reached her "destination". However, after the successes, the teacher born in the 9X year knows that it is only "the result of a moment" and the long-term goal she is aiming for is her students, to create exciting lessons.

This young teacher also told herself "never to be satisfied with myself but to continue to cultivate, expand, and improve my professional capacity". And, that is also the way for her to respect herself, respect the school that has supported her, respect her students, respect the ferry profession that she loves and wishes to follow for the rest of her life...