How to stay focused in class

【小题1】 No matter how much you want to sit with your friends during the class, try your best to stay away from them. Talking with friends is not going to help you stay focused (集中注意力的) in class and will cause trouble, too.

Look at the teacher. Your teacher is not just standing up there talking — they’re trying to give you an acceptable education. Show the teacher that he or she has your full attention, by looking him or her in the eye. 【小题2】

Take notes. By taking notes, you’ll be able to “get into” the lesson. 【小题3】 Listen for key phrases such as, “This is important,” “This is the main idea,” etc. This can help you listen more carefully; you’ll have something to do and focus on.

Join in class discussions. This is a wonderful way to become a more focused, successful student. When a teacher asks a question, offer to answer it. 【小题4】 This shows the teacher that you’re listening carefully during the class.

Ask a question. 【小题5】 This really shows your teacher that you want to be better, and can recognize the things you’re having difficulty with. Maybe someone else in the class has the same question but he or she is too afraid to ask. When the question is asked by you, he or she will be relaxed and so will you.

“The gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam, is winning more recognition as a way for universities overseas to evaluate Chinese students,” recruiting officers said.

Stanley Nel, vice-president of international relations at the University of San Francisco in the United States, who is responsible for the university’s admissions from China, said he had had several inquiries from US universities about how to recruit Chinese students on the basis of their gaokao scores.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) have long been two musts for students from other counties, including China, to apply to study in the US.

USF, a private university in California, started a pilot program to accept Chinese students based on their gaokao scores in 2015. The idea came from USF President Paul Fitzgerald's belief that standardized tests like the SAT are not very good predictors of how well students will do at the university. "We are aware of the many criticisms that have been made of the gaokao, but it has the advantage of being what educational experts call a ' criterion - referenced ' exam: It tests whether students are able to master a given body of knowledge,"he said.

Currently, at least four higher education institutions in the US are recruiting Chinese students based on their gaokao performances.The Illinois Institute of Technology, a private institution in Chicago, started the practice first, in 2009.Outside the US,countries including Spain,Italy,Singapore,France and Australia also recognize gaokao scores.

More than 200 students from China requested an interview with USF last year.74 of them were selected for a follow-up interview,44 received offers and 20 accepted the invitation and joined USF for the 2015 fall semester. Students admitted in this way have done "exceptionally well" in the past academic year,Nel added."The average GPA for all gaokao students is about 3.5 out of 4.For all other students—American and non-gaokao international students—American and non-gaokao international students—the average GPA is 3.2,"he said.

Zhu Zihao gained admission in computer sciences at USF in 2015 through the program and performed well in his first academic year.He said that students who had experienced China's gaokao usually had comprehensive basic knowledge,which helps them excel in studies.

Nel said,"students admitted through China's gaokao are not only smart but extremely conscientious（认真的）and hardworking."

"This year we hope to recruit about 50 students in this way,and even more in years to come,"he said.

Students should be able to show what they know. Many folks take this as a self-evident truth. But I think it demands closer examination.

Possessing a skill or piece of knowledge is not the same thing as being able to show it. This is why many smart young people hate school. Understanding, figuring out, and getting a handle on a piece of knowledge is really exciting, but having to prove to somebody else that you understand is a big fat pain in the neck.

Finding proof of student learning is a huge part of the teacher's job, and whether it is done poorly or not makes all the difference in that teacher's effectiveness. There is a huge difference between “How do I figure out if this student understands” and “How do I make this student prove to me he gets it.” The first is a valuable approach; the second is the first step on the road toward wasting everybody's time.

And there's the problem. If we start with the assumption（假定）that a student who knows must be able to show his knowledge to our satisfaction, we will be traveling down the wrong road. The more we demand that students prove to us that they know the stuff, the more we will design artificial tasks that demand a set of skills and knowledge entirely different from the skills and knowledge we really want to measure.

As a classroom teacher, I have to remember that the burden is on me to find a way to see what my students know; the burden is not on them to put on whatever trained monkey show I design for my own ease and convenience.

It may not be the worst thing ever to say “Students should be able to show what they know.” But I think it's far more useful to say, “Teachers should be able to discover what students know.”