A Preliminary Study on the Teaching Method of “Three Embeddings and Three Styles” in Ideological and Political Education Curriculum
—Taking the Course of “Music Appreciation” as an Example ()
1. Introduction
Ideological and Political Curriculum, as a new concept and new measure of education and teaching reform, has been widely promoted and used in the education field. Our school’s ideological and political curriculum reform practice has achieved fruitful results and won the National Teaching Achievement Award. The ideological and political reform of the “Music Appreciation” course adopts the “Three Embeddings and Three Styles” teaching method of the achievement award, and incorporates the ideological and political elements within the teaching process. Therefore, the affinity and quality of teaching are greatly improved. As a result, the course is beloved by the students.
1.1. What Is “Three Embeddings and Three Styles”
“Three Embeddings and Three Styles” refers to the “path and method of fusion of ideological and political and professional courses” (Teng, 2018). “Three Embeddings” means “embedding Tao in education”, “embedding virtues in education” and “embedding fun in education”, and it is the general idea of the ideological and political curriculum, whose core is a kind of “hidden education” (Teng, 2019), which embodies influence in silence and subtlety. The “Tao” of the “Three Embeddings” refers to the “rules, norms and guidelines”, and we must follow objective laws and abide by the code of conduct. “Virtue” refers to the cultivation of character and the foundation of being a person, which must be cultivated and promoted vigorously. “Fun” refers to happy teaching. Happy teaching will invigorate the classroom atmosphere and make teaching more effective. The “three styles” refers to the teaching methods of ideological and political courses. They are “the finishing touch style, the embedding theme style, and the compound element style”. “The finishing touch style” refers to the way that “in the teaching of the knowledge and skill points of the course, the ideological and political elements are touched subtly” (Teaching and Research of Shanghai Publishing and Printing College, 2019); “the embedding theme style” refers to the way that the ideological and political elements are incorporated in the form of “blocks” (several elements combined) in the teaching of curriculum knowledge points and skill points; “the compound element style” refers to the combination of knowledge points, skill points and ideological and political elements to produce the education effect of “compound” (Teaching and Research of Shanghai Publishing and Printing College, 2018a). The purpose of the “Three Styles” is to avoid “mechanical copying” (Teaching and Research of Shanghai Publishing and Printing College, 2018b) and to achieve the state of natural generation.
1.2. Introduction to the Course
This course is a general art and aesthetic education course for college students. Involving instrumental music, piano, vocal music, folk music and other aspects, the course follows the historical context and travels through the cultural time and space of the East and the West, leading students to appreciate classic Chinese and foreign music masterpieces, and experience different music styles and rich music culture. Through the appreciation of relevant pictures, audio and audiovisual materials of Chinese and foreign music and art works, as well as theoretical explanations of representative figures, musical characteristics, historical environment, and cultural background, students are guided to appreciate and analyze musical works, and therefore are to expand their musical vision, have a good artistic aesthetics, and improve their ability to feel, express, appreciate, and create beauty.
1.3. Paths and Methods of Ideological and Political Construction of “Music Appreciation” Course
1) Teaching methods based on “inquiry”
In the folk music appreciation chapter, the majestic and hugely structured “Ambush on Ten Sides”, the simple and moving, tear-jerking “Fortress Song”, and the exquisite and elegant “Sunset Xiaogu” are used to enhance students’ national confidence while adding “Exploratory-style” elements to guide students to understand the internal factors of music and the characteristics and laws of music style caused by internal factors from the perspectives of structure, rhythm, function, texture, and aesthetics of music.
2) The implementation of the teaching methods based on “the compound element style”
“The compound element style” refers to the combination of knowledge points, skill points and ideological and political elements to produce a “all in one” education effect, which avoids “mechanical copying” and achieves the realm of natural generation. In the teaching of “national music”, the lecturer organically combines different elements together, such as western music and musical instruments, music and musical instruments, and patriotism. For example, in the appreciation of Johann Strauss Sr.’s “Radetzky March”, two versions were selected. One is the version of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the other is the version of the Chinese National Symphony. With two completely different bands performing the same work, the version of the Chinese National Orchestra is special in that their performance reflects the strength of the Chinese folk music team, and has a significant effect on stimulating students’ patriotism.
3) The teaching method of “the compound element style” based on “making foreign things serve China”
As the so-called idiom—“stones from other mountains can be used for jade”—goes, the world-renowned Chinese music master Tan Dun, who has gone abroad, takes his unique “Chinese elements” as the core of his music works and incorporates the essence of Western music as well. In the film and television music appreciation chapter of the course, the lecturer introduced his film and television music work “Martial Arts Trilogy” (the movie “Hero”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and “Night Banquet”). Tan Dun perfectly explained his understanding of Chinese and Western music in his works. He integrated Chinese Zen, drum culture, and the flexibility of national folk instruments into Western symphony, and appropriately “incorporated” in various musical elements of Western symphony, and forged a unique musical style. His music is not only a perfect combination of Chinese martial arts philosophy and audio-visual art, but also contributes a wealth of Chinese humanistic spirit and traditional philosophy to the world stage. Through the study of this chapter, students not only know the Western music language, but also understand the music characteristics of their own nation. Furthermore, they promote their own nation’s long-standing music culture, and unknowingly enhance their cultural self-confidence.
4) The ubiquitous “Happy Teaching” method
Teaching through fun is to adopt “happy teaching” methods, such as “heuristic teaching”, “interactive model”, “case-based study” and so on. Teachers introduce “role swapping” in the classroom, and students will be teachers, and they will do some special case analysis to enhance students’ initiative and sense of gain. At the same time, “the competition-style” teaching is adopted, with competition being introduced into the classroom and used to promote training. As a result, the students’ interest in learning and exploration ability will be stimulated. What’s more, students can also be invited to show their work in the classroom, and teachers and students will score together on the spot, which can subtly implant ideological and political elements to activate the classroom teaching atmosphere, and further deepen the understanding of knowledge points and improve the quality of teaching.
5) Cloud teaching, flowers blooming on the cloud
During the epidemic, under the call of the Ministry of Education to “suspend classes without stopping school, and without stopping teaching”, teachers and students living in various places of the city made full use of various online education platforms to carry out online education, and started a battle for online teaching. In the course of teaching, the methods of “three embeddings, three styles”, and “five transformations and five types” are applied to the cloud, and a new model of “four clouds” has been explored in the teaching. “Cloud connection”-the use of the Internet to build a bridge between teachers and students; “cloud sharing”-teachers use “cloud classroom” to preach, students use “cloud research”, “cloud work” and other forms to complete homework; “Cloud deep” encourages students to dig deeper in the multi-dimensional online world, boldly trying, and pursuing the essence of the problem; “cloud experience”-online class + live broadcast, where the teacher becomes the anchor and there is nothing impossible but the unexpected. The teaching methods of “three embeddings and three styles” and “five transformations and five types” are “flowers blooming” under the impetus of the “four clouds” model. This innovation not only enhances the vitality of teachers’ online teaching, but also optimizes the content of teaching. It is to realize the ideological and political goals in the curriculum, and to shape the curriculum through ideological and political perspective, while making the classroom a powerful means to spread knowledge and shape the soul position. For example, in the short-film music appreciation content, the theme of “Stay Strong, Wuhan” is embedded in series. The immersive teaching method greatly enhances students’ curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
2. Concluding Remarks
Ideological and Political Curriculum reform has been proposed in the National College Ideological and Political Conference in December 2016. As a systematic and long-term education policy, it has been elevated to an unprecedented historical new height. Like what the idiom “Ten years to plant trees and 100 years to shape people” says, the ideological and political curriculum is an important part of the implementation of the “full staff, whole process, and all-round” (Xi, 2018). We should follow good methods, improve old methods, explore new methods, and continuously improve the pertinence and affinity of education (Chen, 2018), so that students can actively and happily receive ideological and political education in professional teaching, so that professional courses are both “high” and with “temperature” (Xinhua News Agency, 2019), ideological and political courses and various courses do not wrestle with each other, break the “island effect”, and go in the same direction and complement each other with the education reform of ideological and political courses. Ideological and political curriculum is the first hymn to promote the core values of socialism, and it is also the eternal melody of talent training. Our professional teachers should constantly sing consciously. This is also the mission and responsibility of our contemporary teachers.