【国际高中部】 Collaboration and Creativity in Literature 文学,带你合作与创新

Hello, I am Emily. In my classroom, individual work as well as collaborative work are two meaningful and efficacious avenues for students’ academic learning and personal development. In American Literature, students have recently been challenged to collaborate and cooperate on a particularly creative level. 

大家好,我是Emily。在我的课堂上,我认为个人作业以及团队合作是学生学术学习和个人发展的两个有意义且有效的途径。在美国文学中,我最近要求学生们在创新的层面上进行合作,他们也从中感受到了一些挑战。

With a recent text, “The Awakening,” students collaborated in small groups to design an artistic illustration that captured an abstract theme inside the text. “The Awakening” revolves around a main character’s internal struggle for independence and external conformity to nineteenth-century society. Tasked with capturing the complex dichotomy of the central theme, students were given no regulations or restrictions other than to demonstrate their comprehension, creativity, and cooperation. 

在最近的一篇课文《觉醒》中,学生们分成小组,设计一幅可以捕捉文章抽象主题的艺术插图。《觉醒》讲述了一个主角为了独立与十九世纪社会的外部一致而进行的内部斗争。学生们需要捕捉中心主题的复杂二分法,学生们需要展示他们对文章的理解、他们的创造力和他们的合作能力,除此之外,我没有给学生设定其他的要求和限制。

Students began by exchanging ideas through discussion and organizing their various roles in fulfilling the assignment. Through communication and delegation of responsibility, students agreed upon a central image and its various symbolic components that captured the theme of the text. Students then collaborated to complete the illustration and share a verbal analysis with the class. Ultimately, students in their small groups produced exceedingly impressive, thoughtful, intelligent and creative approaches to the complex task of “illustrating” and analyzing theme.  

学生首先通过讨论互相交流思想,并有组织地在完成作业的过程中发挥他们各自的作用。通过沟通和布置各自的任务,学生定下来代表中心思想的图片及其各种象征性的组成部分,抓住了文章的主题。然后,学生合作完成插图,并口头与全班同学分享插图的介绍。最终,对于本次设计插图和这类分析文章主题性质的复杂任务,小组中的学生们给出了极其令人印象深刻的、深思熟虑的、智慧的和具有创造性的方法。

Beyond this particular task, students weekly engage in collaborative assignments, such as group discussions, pair discussions, Socratic seminars, writing exchanges, group presentations, and peer-editing. The ultimate goal of the collaborative classroom is to develop the individual through the challenging and meaningful dynamic of working alongside others. 

除此特定任务外,学生每周还参与合作性的作业,如小组讨论、组合讨论、苏格拉底式研讨会、写作交流、小组演示和同学互评。合作课堂的最终目标是希望与他人一起合作,从而通过这一具有挑战性和有意义的动态来发展个人能力。

Collaboration trains students in developing a host of essential skills that are increasingly meaningful in higher education, as well as the professional world. On a macro-level, group work and peer collaboration foster students abilities to delegate roles, organize ideas, communicate effectively, cooperate kindly, as well as lead and follow. Collaboration in the classroom not only fosters intellectual and academic skills but life skills and relational skills – such as communicating through differences, managing time, offering constructive feedback, offering social support, as well as developing one’s own personal voice. 

团队合作锻炼学生培养许多基本技能,而这些技能在高等教育领域和专业领域越来越有意义。在宏观层面上,团队合作和同伴协作培养学生分配角色、组织想法、有效沟通、友好合作以及领导和服从的能力。课堂合作不仅培养了学生们的智力和学术能力,还培养了生活技能和建立关系技能,例如通过差异进行沟通、管理时间、提供建设性反馈、提供社会支持以及发展自己的想法。

Classroom collaboration develops skills in students that go beyond academic performance. Collaboration requires personal responsibility, a cooperative attitude, a critical mind, and a willingness to listen and lead that shapes students’ personally and individually. Education must not only target academic excellence, but also develop students’ moral character, sense of identity, and ability to live alongside others. The qualities collaboration fosters can shape individuals to become great leaders and listeners – a long-term goal and passion of this institution. 

课堂协作培养了学生们学习成绩以外的技能。团队合作要求学生的个人责任、合作态度、批判性思维以及去倾听和去领导的意愿,这些都塑造了学生的个人素质。教育不仅要以学术卓越为目标,而且要培养学生的道德品质、认同感和与人共存的能力。合作所培养的品质可以塑造个人成为伟大的领导者和倾听者——这是文学课堂的长期目标和热情所在。


作者:高中部文学课外教 Emily
Author:Emily
翻译:沈晓云
Translation:Doris
图片:Emily
Image:Emily