Giving every child a merit
“storeroom”
By Jia Jingqi and Le Hui
Although the school near a prosperous commercial centre
in Shanghai is small, every child in the primary school has
been given a spacious “storeroom” for their merits.
A website named “flying with children’s hearts,” which
is an electronic archive that rcords the performance of its
589 students, was recently set up in the Third Primary School
in Luwan District of Shanghai.
“Each archive witnesses the cherished growth of the child,”
said Jia Lili, headmaster of the school.
“These precious memories will be transferred to compact
disks and presented to them as a gift from their mother school
when they graduate,” Jia added.
Browsing the website, visitors may find the appraisal system
puts more of an emphasis on encouragement rather than criticism.
The academic performance section of the website records
only the students’ study level instead of concrete examination
marks.
If any students find their appraisal result is not good
enough, they can apply for a re-evaluation.
The practice is well received by both students and parents,
who are also co-builders of the website.
The students feel privileged to be able to put their “masterpieces”
on the website, whether they are their compositions, inventions,
paintings, or photos that they have taken. Parents have access
to the website to make comments
on their contributions.
In order to help the students to foster a sense of self-confidence,
teachers are always busy picking up more of their merits by
the use of cameras.
“I would like to record the progress of every student,
no matter how trivial it is,” said Zhang Yejun, a second-grade
teacher of the school.
Moments such as children working hard in the orange-picking-up
festival in autumn, when there are new discoveries in laboratories,
and even when introverted students raise their hands to answer
questions in class, are all recorded by the camera and saved
into the student’s archive as an award.
“It really makes me happy when students can see their progress
and achievements on the web,” a teacher said.
《CHINA DAILY》 2004.08.26
CHINA DAILY 2004.11.26
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