Hefei Teacher Uses Anonymous Diaries to Support Classroom Mental Health
Wang Jing, a teacher at Hefei No.38 Middle School, has found a creative way to help her students process their emotions and facilitate better communication. Wang provided her students with diaries, which are numbered and distributed randomly, for them to anonymously communicate any concerns they might have with her. The process allows Wang better to understand her students and provide them with support when needed.
“When reading their diaries, I can better understand how they feel. When I write my comments, I try to show empathy for what they are feeling,” Wang said. She added that she often quotes excerpts from classic works in her comments according to the students’ situations.
The weekly diary has proved popular with her students as a way to more honestly discuss their feelings and has even encouraged a voluntary dialogue outside of the diaries.
Wang uses what she has learned about her students to inform her interactions with the class and provide advice and encouragement in subtle ways.
Wang also attaches importance to long-term cultivation of the children through continuous reading tasks while attending to her students’ emotional needs.
Students read literature every day and write down excerpts from the texts and their thoughts in notebooks to share with the class. They use the Smart Classroom Tablet developed by iFLYTEK to organize various activities and solicit different ideas.
Thanks to her empathetic approach and creative teaching approach, Wang has won multiple prizes, including the “Most Outstanding Teacher” and being recognized among the “Top 10 Teachers” of Anhui Province. Despite the accolades, she says that these acknowledgements cannot replace the satisfaction she has from earning the respect of her students.
“Each student needs care and attention to fully understand them, and they will reward you in turn for your efforts,” she said.
