<<窗边的小豆豆>>书评

当了爹以后，一直想着怎样才能把‘爹’这个角色当好，有一些想法但不系统，所以一直花时间看一些教育类书籍。

读完了黑柳彻子的<<窗边的小豆豆>>，不由的让我想起前段时间TED上看的那段视频<<Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion>>，不管是黑柳彻子还是Rita Pierson，都在用朴素的语言描述着父母(老师)应该和孩子怎样相处。

<<窗边的小豆豆>>的作者黑柳彻子，是联合国儿童基金会的第7任亲善大使。这本讲述作者童年生活的自传性的小书。全书没有讲什么大道理，都是从孩子的视角说着巴学校里的故事，以及令人敬爱的校长小林宗作。小林宗作没有像普通学校的老师一样，严格的要求孩子必须怎样，不能怎样，他给孩子充分的自由，让孩子天性自由的发挥。

不光是这点，他对孩子的耐心和真诚也是令人赞赏的，在豆豆第一次来到巴学园时，小豆豆就觉得校长很让人放心。校长先生说：“把想说的话，全部说给老师听！”小豆豆很开心地打开了话匣子，一口气讲了4个小时！“这个时候，小豆豆感到，生平第一次遇到了真正喜欢自己的人！因为，从小豆豆出生以后直到现在，还从来没有一个人这么长时间地听她说话呢。而且，这么长的时间里，校长先生一次也没有打哈欠，一次也没有露出不耐烦的样子。他也像小豆豆那样，把身体探出来，专注地听着……”第一天，小豆豆在先生的艺术的亲切的倾听中，感觉非常安心，非常温暖，觉得学校非常有趣。这不正是现代教育所追求的吗？

限于经验，无法给<<窗边的小豆豆>>非常恰当的评价，但隐隐觉得Rita Pierson在TED的那段视频说的一些话是这本书完美的注脚。 摘抄几句:
You know, kids don't learn from people they don't like.

no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.

Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.

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TED <<Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion>>演讲的英文字幕（加了些标注，和少量词汇的翻译）

I have spent my entire life either at the schoolhouse(校舍), on the way to the schoolhouse, or talking about what happens in the schoolhouse. Both my parents were educators, my maternal grandparents were educators, and for the past 40 years I've done the same thing. And so, needless to say, over those years I've had a chance to look at education reform(教育改革) from a lot of perspectives. Some of those reforms have been good. Some of them have been not so good. And we know why kids drop out(辍学). We know why kids don't learn. It's either poverty(贫困), low attendance, negative peer influences. We know why. But one of the things that we never discuss or we rarely（很少） discuss is the value and importance of human connection, relationships.

 

James Comer says that no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship. George Washington Carver says all learning is understanding relationships. Everyone in this room has been affected by a teacher or an adult. For years, I have watched people teach. I have looked at the best and I've look at some of the worst.

 

A colleague said to me one time, "They don't pay me to like the kids. They pay me to teach a lesson. The kids should learn it. I should teach it. They should learn it. Case closed."

 

Well, I said to her, "You know, kids don't learn from people they don't like."

 

(Laughter) (Applause)

 

She said, "That's just a bunch of hooey.（一派胡言）"

 

And I said to her, "Well, your year is going to be long and arduous, dear."

 

Needless to say it was. Some people think that you can either have it in you to build a relationship or you don't. I think Stephen Covey

had the right idea. He said you ought to just throw in a few simple things, like seeking first to understand as opposed to being understood, simple things like apologizing. You ever thought about that? Tell a kid you're sorry, they're in shock.

 

I taught a lesson once on ratios. I'm not real good with math, but I was working on it. And I got back and looked at that teacher edition. I'd taught the whole lesson wrong. (Laughter)

 

So I came back to class the next day, and I said, "Look, guys, I need to apologize. I taught the whole lesson wrong. I'm so sorry."

 

They said, "That's okay, Ms. Pierson. You were so excited, we just let you go." (Laughter) (Applause)

 

I have had classes that were so low, so academically deficient that I cried. I wondered, how am I going to take this group in nine months from where they are to where they need to be? And it was difficult. It was awfully hard. How do I raise the self-esteem of a child and his academic achievement at the same time?

 

One year I came up with a bright idea（好点子）. I told all my students, "You were chosen to be in my class because I am the best teacher and you are the best students, they put us all together so we could show everybody else how to do it."

 

One of the students said, "Really?" (Laughter)

 

I said, "Really. We have to show the other classes how to do it, so when we walk down the hall, people will notice us, so you can't make noise. You just have to strut." And I gave them a saying to say: "I am somebody. I was somebody when I came. I'll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful, and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go."

 

And they said, "Yeah!"

 

You say it long enough, it starts to be a part of you.

 

And so — (Applause) I gave a quiz, 20 questions. A student missed 18. I put a "+2" on his paper and a big smiley face.

 

He said, "Ms. Pierson, is this an F?"

 

I said, "Yes."

 

He said, "Then why'd you put a smiley face?"

 

I said, "Because you're on a roll. You got two right. You didn't miss them all." I said, "And when we review this, won't you do better?"

 

He said, "Yes, ma'am, I can do better."

 

You see, "-18" sucks all the life out of you. "+2" said, "I am't all bad." (Laughter) (Applause)

 

For years I watched my mother take the time at recess to review, go on home visits in the afternoon, buy combs and brushes and peanut butter and crackers to put in her desk drawer for kids that needed to eat, and a washcloth and some soap for the kids who didn't smell so good. See, it's hard to teach kids who stink. And kids can be cruel. And so she kept those things in her desk, and years later, after she retired, I watched some of those same kids come through and say to her, "You know, Ms. Walker, you made a difference in my life. You made it work for me. You made me feel like I was somebody, when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn't. And I want you to just see what I've become."

 

And when my mama died two years ago at 92, there were so many former students at her funeral（葬礼）, it brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone, but because she left a legacy of relationships that could never disappear.

 

Can we stand to have more relationships? Absolutely. Will you like all your children? Of course not. And you know your toughest kids are never absent. (Laughter) Never. You won't like them all, and the tough ones show up for a reason. It's the connection. It's the relationships. And while you won't like them all, the key is, they can never, ever know it. So teachers become great actors and great actresses, and we come to work when we don't feel like it, and we're listening to policy that doesn't make sense, and we teach anyway. We teach anyway, because that's what we do.

 

Teaching and learning should bring joy. How powerful would our world be if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks, who were not afraid to think, and who had a champion? Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.

 

Is this job tough? You betcha（这还用说么）. Oh God, you betcha. But it is not impossible. We can do this. We're educators. We're born to make a difference.

 

Thank you so much.

 

(Applause)