I am a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

The time was May 5th, and this was the first real victory of Miss Shinohara in the head-on confrontation with Amamiya Yoru.

A historic moment worth remembering.

"Shinohara-san, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

The tone was also exceptionally brisk.

Chapter 117 Problems with the Wind Ensemble

Tetsufumi Hirakawa soon arrived at the activity room of the wind orchestra.

After witnessing it with my own eyes and listening to Shinohara Shiori's explanation beside me -

"Teacher Hirakawa, you should know what the problem is with the wind orchestra, right?"

In the corridor at the entrance of the activity room, Hirakawa Tetsufumi withdrew his gaze from the concert hall and looked beside him. Shinohara Shiori looked up at him and asked him.

A drizzle of rain drifted in from the sky outside the corridor along with a sudden breeze, bringing a little cold moisture to my face.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa took half a step back.

"Shinohara-san, I can already guess this without even coming here."

It’s true. I guessed the specific situation yesterday.

The problem is——

"The last time Shinohara and I came to the orchestra in the morning, there were about -"

Shinohara Shiori answered quickly: "Less than thirty."

"Yes, less than thirty."

Hirakawa Tetsufumi nodded.

That was more than a month ago, when Shinohara Shiori asked him to come to the wind orchestra for the first time.

This is where the problem arises.

More than a month ago, the number of people doing self-training was less than 30, which was not a large number in the first place.

"But today..."

Tetsufumi Hirakawa also glanced at the wind band's activity room.

"There are about twenty people left."

That's right. After the sound was unified and the official competition was getting closer, the number of people willing to come to the wind orchestra for independent practice in the morning did not increase, but decreased.

This is where the problem lies.

"As for the reasons, there should be many aspects."

Tetsuo Hirakawa faced Shiori Shinohara's delicate face. The girl did not express any opinion, so he continued speaking.

"First of all, the school had just started and the spring break had just ended, and some students who had just joined the wind band were still quite interested in wind music... But obviously, more than a month later, their interest is no longer enough to support their own training in the morning."

Because he had already guessed the situation and had analyzed it in his mind, when Tetsufumi Hirakawa began to explain the reasons, he basically did not pause.

"Secondly, it should be because of the training camp. Some students who were training on their own out of interest have withdrawn from the national competition. In any case, such a change may also affect their motivation to contact each other on their own."

"Again, is it because of practice time?"

Although it is a question sentence, it does not contain much question tone.

"If the practice time is extended to 7pm, some people may feel that the afternoon practice is already hard enough and there is no need to continue practicing in the morning."

I can only say that this is a very normal thought. And human energy is limited.

Although it is obviously unnecessary from an outsider's perspective, many people have done it. Stay up late at night and go to bed the next day.

This is just the simplest example.

"at last--"

Tetsufumi Hirakawa paused here and emphasized his point.

“And the most important thing is that persistence is a very difficult thing.”

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be a lot of students who train on their own in the morning right after returning from the training camp, right?"

Hirakawa Tetsufumi looked at Shinohara Shiori.

The girl, who had been calm for a long time, finally reacted and responded to his gaze.

"The week after we returned from the training camp, there were about 40 students who trained on their own in the morning."

There are 40 people in the wind orchestra, and there are only 73 people in total. If the 12 people in group B are excluded, there are only 61 people in group A.

In this case, it is really great that 40 people can come to the wind band for training in the morning according to their own goals without any external constraints.

But, the training camp was in early May, and now it is the end of May.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa looked at the rainy sky and realized that the rainy season had already arrived.

When the training camp was over, the sound that had echoed throughout the car had faded away in our ears.

Perseverance is valuable precisely because it is difficult.

Nothing is difficult in the world as long as you are willing to give up - the emergence of this reverse chicken soup can also highlight this truth.

Insistence on being absolute and categorical is a rather rare quality.

This is also true at Moriya, a prestigious private university with a good student intake.

Not everyone is like the young lady in front of him, who has a very determined goal in her heart. Even if her parents try to stop her, she can find her own interests in that environment and never give up.

"Ok?"

Miss Shinohara met his gaze with a puzzled look.

Hirakawa Tetsufumi smiled.

This young lady is truly remarkable in this respect.

But let’s get back to the point now -

From the beginning of May to the end of May, within a month, the number of students training on their own dropped sharply from forty to twenty.

At first glance, it does not seem that this is a big problem, and it is not at all a "very serious problem" as Shinohara Shiori previously said.

But, if you look beyond the phenomenon to the essence and think carefully, you will understand——

At the entrance of the wind orchestra's concert hall, the voice of Tetsufumi Hirakawa sounded faintly amid the melodious background music:

"So in the end, even if we come back from the training camp and resolve the differences among the students, this problem still hasn't been solved."

“It’s true that we have unified our goals, but in the end, the goals are not firm.”

Not to mention being as determined as Shinohara Shiori, this level of determination is not even enough to sustain them in practicing for a month.

"The problem behind this is that the students lack internal motivation."

The lack of internal motivation does not seem to be that serious. As long as they are under the supervision of the teacher, they can also train seriously during the evening practice.

However, a very important point must be made clear here - the goal of the Moritani Wind Ensemble is the national gold medal.

With the national gold medal as his goal, given Moritani's current strength, it would be extremely difficult to break through the siege and win the gold medal in one fell swoop.

In this kind of team competition, the Moritani Wind Orchestra must exert its full potential to have a hope of winning gold - but only hope.

Well, considering this background, one can imagine how serious a problem lack of intrinsic motivation really is.

To put it nicely, this will greatly reduce Moritani's chances of winning the gold medal, but in reality...

"It can even be said that this has completely destroyed the Moritani Wind Orchestra's hopes of winning the gold medal."

Moriya was never a strong school in the wind orchestra.

Last year's result was that he only qualified for the national competition in Tokyo, a region where the playing ability is not considered top-notch.

Moreover, the best result in the school's history was the silver medal in the national competition.

Such a Moriya will not be able to win the gold medal if he does not stimulate all the potential of his students and if they do not have firm goals in their hearts and resolutely execute them.

This is the national gold medal.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa looked at Shinohara Shiori, who looked back at him with affirmation.

That’s the problem with Moriya.

Chapter 118 The winner of the bet between Hirakawa Tetsufumi and Hisada Masuki is——

This morning, after finishing his discussion with Shinohara Shiori at the entrance of the wind instrumental department, Tetsufumi Hirakawa returned to the office.

After that, he sat down at his desk, supporting his chin with one hand and spinning a pen with the other, thinking seriously about the wind section.

The problem with the wind section is actually really tricky.

Students lack motivation, or their subjective initiative is insufficient, and how to solve this problem and improve students' enthusiasm——

In education, especially educational psychology, it has always been an enduring and difficult issue.

There are many insights in the education community around this question, including "why" and "how".

Such as "expectancy-value theory", "success and failure attribution theory", "self-efficacy theory" and so on.

There are many ways to explore and solve this problem on paper. As a professional and certified teacher, Tetsufumi Hirakawa remembers the knowledge he had memorized from books.

But knowledge on paper is really just knowledge on paper. “Knowledge gained from books is shallow, and one must practice to fully understand it” is especially true for a subject as practical as education.

The individual differences among students are obviously not as simple as summarized in books, and when faced with such problems, teachers can only provide assistance no matter what they can do. Ultimately, lack of motivation is really a personal matter for students.

Let me give you a very clear example - in the previous life, almost all candidates understood the importance of the college entrance examination to themselves, and everyone around them emphasized this point so much.

However, the reality is clear to all. No matter what, there will always be students who give up.

Because humans are lazy, studying diligently is anti-human.

Even Tetsufumi Hirakawa himself often thinks of being lazy.

So in the final analysis, this is really not a problem that can be solved casually.

Shinohara Shiori had indeed given him a problem that was enough to rack his brains.

Thinking about this in his mind, Tetsufumi Hirakawa couldn't help but let out a long breath. The pen that was spinning in his hand suddenly flew out after a mistake, and fell to the ground with a "bang".

Fell at the feet of... Hisada Masu.

"Teacher Hirakawa?"

Hisada Masu straightened up and handed the pen she had picked up to Hirakawa Tetsufumi.

"Sorry." Hirakawa Tetsufumi smiled apologetically, took the pen, and thanked him again, "Thank you, Mr. Hisata."

"It's nothing." The female teacher's voice was always gentle. "It's just that Mr. Pingchuan seemed to be very worried after he came this morning. What's wrong?"

Hisada Masu looked at him with concern.

Tetsufumi Hirakawa took the pen and threw it on the table.

"Nothing's wrong, just something about the students."

"Student matters?...Okay." Hisada Masaki thought about it and decided not to ask any more questions.

However, the mention of students reminded Hisada Maki of something——

She smiled slightly: "Teacher Pingchuan, speaking of students, do you remember what we talked about last week?"

"..."

Just by looking at her little expression you can tell what she wants to say.

Last week, the two of them made a bet about their midterm exam results.

Putting the matter of the wind band behind him for the moment, Hirakawa Tetsufumi turned to Hisada Masuki, smiled back and said arrogantly, "About the bet on the midterm exam? Hisada-sensei dared to bring this up in front of me. It seems like he is full of confidence."

"Of course, I have great confidence in the students in my class."

"Of course I do too."

"The results are out now. We'll know when Mr. Nakazato comes."