3 rules to spark learning | Ramsey Musallam

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Wei Zeng 校对人员: Echo Liao

I teach chemistry.

我是一名化学老师。

(Explosion)

（爆炸声）

All right, all right.

大家没吓着吧！

So more than just explosions,

除了爆炸，

chemistry is everywhere.

化学在我们生活中随处可见。

Have you ever found yourself at a restaurant spacing out

你有没有试过在餐厅里空闲无聊时

just doing this over and over?

一遍又一遍的玩这个东西呢？

Some people nodding yes.

我看到有人点头了。

Recently, I showed this to my students,

最近，我给我的学生们做了上面那个实验，

and I just asked them to try and explain why it happened.

并要求学生们自己动手去体验并解析这一现象为何发生。

The questions and conversations that followed

在实验中，学生们提出的问题和进行的对话

were fascinating.

很有意思。

Check out this video that Maddie

请看一下这个视频，

from my period three class sent me that evening.

这是我第三节课上的学生Maddie，在当天晚上发给我的。

(Clang) (Laughs)

（铛）（笑声）

Now obviously, as Maddie's chemistry teacher,

当然了，作为Maddie的化学老师，

I love that she went home and continued to geek out

我非常欣慰她放学回家后还继续研究，

about this kind of ridiculous demonstration

并演示了一个这么好玩的实验。

that we did in class.

这个实验跟我们在课堂上做的差不多。

But what fascinated me more is that Maddie's curiosity

但最吸引我的是，

took her to a new level.

Maddie的好奇心将她的化学学习提升到了一个新的高度。

If you look inside that beaker,

如果你认真看一下那个烧杯，

you might see a candle.

你会看到一根蜡烛。

Maddie's using temperature to extend this phenomenon

Maddie在实验中使用了温度，

to a new scenario.

对课堂上学到的实验赋予了新意。

You know, questions and curiosity like Maddie's

要知道，像Maddie这样带着疑问并怀有一颗好奇心，

are magnets that draw us towards our teachers,

是让学生更亲近老师的一种魔力

and they transcend all technology

他们超脱了所有教学技术

or buzzwords in education.

和高大空的流行语。

But if we place these technologies before student inquiry,

如果我们在学生提问之前，就把这些技术呈现出来

we can be robbing ourselves

我们将毁掉我们作为老师

of our greatest tool as teachers: our students' questions.

手中最强大的武器——学生们的疑问。

For example, flipping a boring lecture from the classroom

比如说，在教室里借助移动电子设备

to the screen of a mobile device

将一堂沉闷的课快速讲完

might save instructional time,

或许会节省些老师进行指导的时间，

but if it is the focus of our students' experience,

但是，如果这是学生在课堂上所能收获的体验，

it's the same dehumanizing chatter

那这种照本宣科的无趣

just wrapped up in fancy clothing.

只是华而不实的教学罢了。

But if instead we have the guts

但是，如果我们有胆量

to confuse our students, perplex them,

去引起学生们的疑问，让他们感到困惑，

and evoke real questions,

唤起他们提出真正的问题，

through those questions, we as teachers have information

然后从他们的问题里，老师可以得到很多信息

that we can use to tailor robust

来帮助作些调整教学

and informed methods of blended instruction.

采用多样化的教学方法

So, 21st-century lingo jargon mumbo jumbo aside,

这样，21世纪的那些术语行话就不会像魔咒一样难懂了。

the truth is, I've been teaching for 13 years now,

事实是，今年是我从教的第13个年头，

and it took a life-threatening situation

我曾碰到过一件生死悠关的事

to snap me out of 10 years of pseudo-teaching

才将我从10年的伪教学中拉了出来

and help me realize that student questions

我这才明白，学生带着疑问来学习的心态

are the seeds of real learning,

才能使他们学习到真正有意义的东西

not some scripted curriculum

而不是照本宣科的课程，

that gave them tidbits of random information.

课程本身只能给学生提供一些随机的信息而已。

In May of 2010, at 35 years old,

2010年5月份，当时我35岁，

with a two-year-old at home and my second child on the way,

我已经有个2岁大的孩子，我的第二个孩子也即将出生，

I was diagnosed with a large aneurysm

当时我被诊断为患有大动脉瘤

at the base of my thoracic aorta.

这个肿瘤长在我的胸主动脉上。

This led to open-heart surgery. This is the actual real email

因此，我要需做一个开腔手术。

from my doctor right there.

这就是当时我的医生写给我的电子邮件。

Now, when I got this, I was -- press Caps Lock --

当我收到他的邮件时，我的头都大了

absolutely freaked out, okay?

当时真的完全被吓坏了！

But I found surprising moments of comfort

但我还是得到些许意外的安慰

in the confidence that my surgeon embodied.

这种安慰来源于我的外科医生的自信心。

Where did this guy get this confidence, the audacity of it?

他的自信心来是打哪儿来的呢？来自于他的大胆吗？

So when I asked him, he told me three things.

我问他这个问题，他跟我讲了三件事情。

He said first, his curiosity drove him

他说，第一，他的好奇心驱使他去

to ask hard questions about the procedure,

就手术的程序预设了很多硬性问题，

about what worked and what didn't work.

把各种可行和不可行的方案全都想遍了。

Second, he embraced, and didn't fear,

第二，不要害怕逃避，要勇于面对

the messy process of trial and error,

尝试与错误中的各种冗杂问题，

the inevitable process of trial and error.

和不可避免的过程。

And third, through intense reflection,

第三，通过紧张有致的综合思考，

he gathered the information that he needed

他获取了他所需的信息

to design and revise the procedure,

以此来设计和修改手术的进程，

and then, with a steady hand, he saved my life.

最后，他胸有成竹地帮我做了手术，救了我一命。

Now I absorbed a lot from these words of wisdom,

我从他充满智慧的言语中学到很多，

and before I went back into the classroom that fall,

那年秋季，在我回校上课前，

I wrote down three rules of my own

我也给自己的教学定了三条规则，

that I bring to my lesson planning still today.

至今，我一直在我的教学中遵循这三条规则。

Rule number one: Curiosity comes first.

第一条规则：把学生的好奇心放在第一位。

Questions can be windows to great instruction,

学生的问题是帮助教师进行重要学习指导的窗口，

but not the other way around.

而不是反其道而行之。

Rule number two: Embrace the mess.

第二条规则：勇于面对各种冗杂。

We're all teachers. We know learning is ugly.

我们都是教师。我们知道学习绝非易事。

And just because the scientific method is allocated

这是因为，科学的方法已经写在

to page five of section 1.2 of chapter one

课本第五页的第一章第一部分的第二节里了

of the one that we all skip, okay,

而这章又刚好是我们跳过不讲的：

trial and error can still be an informal part

试错法（通过反复试验来消除误差）。 这种方法仍然是

of what we do every single day

我们每天在圣心大教堂206室里

at Sacred Heart Cathedral in room 206.

所采用的一种非正规方法。

And rule number three: Practice reflection.

第三条：实践反思。

What we do is important. It deserves our care,

我们做的是重要的事。它值得我们关注，

but it also deserves our revision.

而且也值得我们去进行修正。

Can we be the surgeons of our classrooms?

我们这些老师能不能成为课堂中的外科医生呢？

As if what we are doing one day will save lives.

我们所教的东西或许在将来的某一天可能会救别人一命。

Our students our worth it.

我们的学生，我们得珍惜。

And each case is different.

而每个个体都是不同的。

(Explosion)

（爆炸声）

All right. Sorry.

对不起，太大声了。

The chemistry teacher in me just needed to get that

作为化学老师，我得先做好这三点

out of my system before we move on.

然后才能教好学生。

So these are my daughters.

这是我的两个女儿的照片。

On the right we have little Emmalou -- Southern family.

右边那个是Emmalou——南方家族的人。

And, on the left, Riley.

左边那位是Riley。

Now Riley's going to be a big girl in a couple weeks here.

再过几周，Riley就要成为一个大女孩了。

She's going to be four years old,

她的4岁生日快到了，

and anyone who knows a four-year-old

众所周知，一个4岁的孩子

knows that they love to ask, "Why?"

总是喜欢问：“为什么？”

Yeah. Why.

对。他们喜欢问这个问题。

I could teach this kid anything

我可以教给我女儿任何东西

because she is curious about everything.

因为她对什么都感兴趣。

We all were at that age.

我们所有人在4岁时都这样的。

But the challenge is really for Riley's future teachers,

但是Riley未来的老师

the ones she has yet to meet.

将要面临很大的挑战了，

How will they grow this curiosity?

他们会怎样来培养她的好奇心呢？

You see, I would argue that Riley is a metaphor for all kids,

其实，我在用Rildy来喻指所有的孩子。

and I think dropping out of school comes in many different forms --

我知道，辍学会以各种形式出现——

to the senior who's checked out before the year's even begun

比如高中学生还没开学就辍学了，

or that empty desk in the back of an urban middle school's classroom.

或者市区中学教室里后排空着的课桌。

But if we as educators leave behind

但是如果我们不仅仅是扮演

this simple role as disseminators of content

知识传播者的角色，

and embrace a new paradigm

而且还开创一种新的教学模式

as cultivators of curiosity and inquiry,

去激发学生的好奇心和探究兴趣，

we just might bring a little bit more meaning

我们将会为学生的求学带来更多意义

to their school day, and spark their imagination.

唤醒他们的想象力。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢你们。

(Applause)

（掌声）