Formation Of Patriotic Attitude To Small Homeland In Primary School

Abstract

The paper defines the relevance of spiritual and moral development of an individual in the modern world. The system of values includes personal ideals and life attitudes learned by a person through social activity, as a result of life experience, formation of mental functions and personal development in general. The paper considers the formation of moral values such as patriotism and citizenship through extracurricular activities in primary school. The process of patriotic education of younger schoolchildren is based on their personal and value attitude to the small and large motherland. The concept of “patriotic feelings” includes cognitive, emotional-sensual and activity components. The literature reading classes, as well as extracurricular activities in literature enriching universal human values offer great opportunities for the development of moral values. As means of formation, we have chosen the works of Siberian writers. The following types of works are included in the program of forming the values-based attitude to the small homeland in primary schoolchildren: familiarizing with life and creative work of a writer; using different types of reading; adapting for the stage; various types of retelling, answering questions; assessing acts and motives of behavior of literary heroes from the point of view of morality. The paper also describes the types of extracurricular activities such as literary evenings, “an hour of quiet reading”, question and answer evenings. The diagnostic study made it possible to conclude that the level of formation of cognitive, emotional and activity components of “patriotism” in primary school has increased.

Keywords: Moral valuespatriotismprimary schoolchildrenextracurricular activities

Introduction

In his annual address to the Federal Assembly of 1 December 2016, the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin touched upon the issue of education and its basic tasks. Following D.S. Likhachev, Putin ( 2016) noted the importance of raising a moral person, because morality is a determining factor of economic, state and creative life of the society.

Needless to say that the fundamental changes in modern Russian society determine the changes in the field of education due to the development of public views and changes in state requirements.

In addition to key and positive changes that took place in Russia at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, there were destructive phenomena in the development of the country, which had a negative impact on morality, civic consciousness and social relations. “In the conditions of spiritual disintegration of the society, devaluation of values of the older generation and blurring of life guidelines, one of the key tasks of education is to ensure the moral development of schoolchildren” ( Danilyuk et al., 2009, p. 91).

In the light of spiritual and moral development of an individual there are several blocks of all-cultural national values: patriotism, citizenship, social solidarity, work and creativity, scientific ideas, family, etc.

The scientific literature notes that in the process of human learning of social activity and the formation of life experience the values become values-based orientations, i.e. personal ideals and life attitudes ( Valeeva & Valeeva, 2017).

The concept of “values-based orientations” in sociology is defined as the attitude of a personality on certain social values ( Kravchenko, 2007; Steinel, 2015), as a specific understanding of the purpose of human existence, life preferences about the due ( Lee et al., 2017).

Patriotism and citizenship are important national values. The need to teach citizenship and love for the motherland, to instill moral values among Russian schoolchildren is reflected in the State Policy in the field of Education within the Concept of Spiritual and Moral Education and in Federal Law No. 273-FZ On Education in the Russian Federation of 29.12.2012.

Problem Statement

The foundations of moral behavior and the system of values of an individual shall be laid at the initial educational stage. “The sensitivity of this age to learning and appropriation of moral values is caused by the increasing arbitrariness of mental phenomena, the formation of an internal action plan, the willed regulation of its activities, the ability to generalize experiences and reflections” ( Gonina, 2015, p. 67).

As a result of the internalization of normative knowledge and moral feelings, a student of primary school age is more aware, analyzes the essence of moral categories, learns under the influence of an adult who assesses his behavior.

In modern education the task of ensuring the spiritual and moral development of students, the formation of civil identity as the basis for the development of civil society, is purposefully solved within the framework of the Federal State Educational Standard of Primary General Education (FSES PGE).

The FSES PGE requirements to personal results also reflect “the formation of foundations of Russian civic identity, sense of pride for one’s homeland, Russian people and history of Russia, awareness of one’s ethnicity and national affiliation; values of multinational Russian society; establishment of humanistic and democratic value orientations”, “the formation of a coherent, socially oriented view of the world in its organic unity and diversity of nature, peoples, cultures and religions”, “the formation of a respectful attitude towards other opinion, history and culture of other peoples”.

Research Questions

The patriot is a person whose main characteristic is love for the motherland. There is a concept of “natural foundations of patriotic feelings”, which is related to the characteristics of the spiritual life of a person: love for the native land, language, people, traditions and customs ( Cojocariu, 2013).

The concept of “patriotic feelings” includes cognitive, emotional-sensual (views, beliefs, emotions) and activity components ( Bykov, 2006).

The core of patriotic consciousness is knowledge (cognitive component), which is the basis for the generation and development of patriotic views. It is noteworthy that the unity of moral knowledge and feelings of a person is embodied in beliefs. Emotional, rational and cognitive beginnings of patriotism are caused by the development of the emotional-sensual component. However, knowledge turns into personal beliefs only in the process of human practical activities.

Civic patriotism is an ideologically large concept characterized by love for the motherland, history, values and traditions, people, culture ( Kolesnikov, 2013). The formation of a civic political culture correlates closely with the notion of civic patriotism. The readiness to serve their country, to strengthen, develop and protect it are manifestations of the sense of patriotism. Consequently, an important factor in the patriotic education of younger schoolchildren is the development of personal and value attitude towards the small and large motherland.

The efficiency of students’ moral values is influenced by playing, working activities, and, above all, a purposeful and organized educational process thus engaging a child. However, in modern primary education, pedagogical conditions for the formation of moral values of younger schoolchildren, in particular, the formation of patriotic attitude towards the small homeland, are not sufficiently developed.

The literary reading classes, as well as extracurricular literature assignments, open great opportunities for the development of moral values. They reveal the feeling of a person, the world of human relations thus mastering universal human values.

High artistic merit, positive influence on spiritual and moral qualities of a student’s personality, education of a sense of love for the small homeland are key criteria for the selection of literary works of Siberian writers. The works of the writers of the Angara Region chosen by us tell about the uniqueness, beauty and singularity of Siberian nature, love for the motherland, native places, family. The poems about the war written by Irkutsk front-line poets describe the fate of children deprived of childhood, their grief, fear, early adulthood, when they observed all the horror of war every day: death of their beloved ones, famine, deprivation of shelter. These works address such universal human values as “love for nature”, “humane treatment of animals”, “human life”, “fatherland”, “childhood”, “family”. While analyzing the works reflecting such subject matter, the students will certainly learn to empathize and sympathize with their heroic peers – children of war, to express their assessment judgment to the oral and written reading, and, hence, will be inspired with love for their small homeland.

It shall be noted that the language of these works is quite simple for children of primary school age and corresponds to their development. The program of forming the value attitude to the small homeland among primary schoolchildren is devoted to the analysis of works of Siberian writers through extracurricular activities. It includes such types of work as familiarity with life and creative work of a writer; mastery of different types of reading (individual reading aloud; role reading; adapting for the stage; performing creative tasks). Important activities also include the assessment of acts and motives of behavior of literary heroes from the point of view of morality; writing an essay-review about a piece of work.

Extracurricular activities are caused by a variety of off-school classes – literary evenings, “an hour of quiet reading”, question and answer evenings, writing essays on the read work.

Literary evening is considered one of the most effective forms of extracurricular reading at school. Literary evenings are held not often, 2-3 times a year, and usually coincide with the anniversary of a writer. They deepen the familiarity of schoolchildren with life, creative work, literary environment of a writer, create an emotional idea of his personality and creative work. This form of work requires careful preparation: strict selection of material for the evening, excerpts of literary works for expressive reading, drawings of students on the studied work for the exhibition. When organizing this event, it is necessary to consider the content of the evening, its educational and pedagogical objectives. Schoolchildren are involved in the preparation and holding of the event, thus emotionally passing through bright moments. New literary sources are being found, new material is being collected. The result of such activities is drawings prepared for the exhibition, a wall literary newspaper.

This form of extracurricular activity can be used in the organization of a literary evening dedicated to the recent 100 ^th anniversary of the outstanding writer of the Angara Region Alexey Zverev ( 1981). The literary evening shall include the children’s familiarity with the writer’s biography; listening to the song Chaldonushka with the writer’s lyrics; literary analysis of Zverev’s (1981) Swallows ; staging of an episode from the literary work; exhibition of drawings illustrating the most remembered episodes of the story, expressive reading of passages, a short cognitive film about swallows. When studying Zverev’s (1981) story Swallows , it is possible to use the method of moral and ethical assessment, which allows evaluating the actions of heroes, motives of their behavior, “fitting into the image”, putting yourself in the place of heroes. The literary analysis of the Swallows allows developing the value of the “nature of Siberia” – one of the components of the “small homeland” value.

It is advisable to apply such forms of extracurricular activity with literary works as “an hour of quiet reading” and the evening of questions and answers. The program of “an hour of quiet reading” implies reading of the piece of work by each student separately, analysis of the read. The teacher shall be careful selecting the material thus engaging in work on expressive reading. “An hour of quiet reading” instills love for the book, for the literary word and expands the outlook. The use of this form of extracurricular activity is considered reasonable when studying the stories of Siberian writer Moskovenko ( 1994) from his collection Grandfather Stories . The stories from this collection are small in volume and represent sketches from paintings of Siberian nature and its inhabitants.

It shall also be noted that in order to accompany the reading of stories aloud, it is necessary to actively use any visual aids, which include reproductions of paintings of famous artists, book or album illustrations, thematic postcards. When reading works with new words, the natural object or its illustration will give children a clearer idea and understanding, since younger schoolchildren perceive with difficulty the verbal description-explanation of an unfamiliar object.

We believe that the purpose of extracurricular activities is to give a child the opportunity to identify the qualities of heroes, to assess their manner of behavior and actions, to “get into the character”. Moral and ethical assessment of characters can help a child to correlate his own judgment and moral values, to show active personal position to the surrounding world ( Mikhailova, 2007).

In order to form an experience of moral-oriented behavior, it is advisable to write essays on the studied works of Siberian writers.

The essay is a prosaic discursive essay of small volume characterized by free composition and representing a free interpretation of the proposed problem. It is necessary to take into account that in the essay a child expresses his own thoughts and impressions about the topic proposed by a teacher and does not claim a decisive interpretation of the subject ( Milojević & Izgarjan, 2014). The essay suggests a new, subjectivity-colored word about something. The main role in the essay belongs not to the reproduction of facts, but to the image of thoughts, associations, impressions ( O’Keefe & Benyon, 2015). The essay shall contain a clear statement of the essence of the problem, include an independent analysis.

In order to assess the level of children’s mastery of practical skills and skills in the application of knowledge about the small homeland, the ability to give a moral assessment of the actions of heroes, it is possible to propose to write an essay-review on the story of Zverev ( 1981), Swallows . This form of work will make children be inspired with love for the nature of their native region, empathize with birds who have lost their nest, criticize the abusive handling of birds, feel delight with the changed attitude of the main hero towards Siberian birds.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to provide theoretical justification and experimental verification of pedagogical conditions for the formation of value-based attitude to the small homeland (Siberia) in primary school through extracurricular activities.

Extracurricular activities in literature is an integral part of the educational process and aims at raising the level of linguistic culture, forming a positive attitude to reading, increasing interest in literature as a subject. The above-mentioned goals define the tasks of extracurricular work, which allow achieving the following results:

• students learn to work independently with additional materials;

• students’ knowledge, skills and abilities acquired in the lessons are significantly improved;

• students develop love for reading;

• students perceive printed media (in particular books) as one of the available sources of knowledge;

• students develop their creative abilities.

Moreover, all types of extracurricular work, provided they are properly organized, perform an educational function.

We believe that extracurricular study of Siberian literature will significantly increase the interest in Siberian writers, enhance the sense of love and respect for small homeland. In our opinion, the efficiency of forming the values-based attitude of younger schoolchildren to the small homeland will depend on certain pedagogical conditions within extracurricular activities.

In the process of literary analysis of children’s works of Siberian writers it is necessary to expand knowledge among younger schoolchildren about uniqueness and natural peculiarities of the native region, to help students to understand such moral value as “love for the small homeland” (cognitive component).

It is necessary to use various methods, forms of work and tasks in extracurricular classes that ensure moral and ethical assessment of actions of literary heroes, motives of their behavior, give an opportunity to put yourself in the place of a hero from the position of moral norms (emotional-sensual component). Essay writing will help to shape the experience of moral-oriented behavior (activity component).

Research Methods

Theoretical methods of study were used at the first stage of work: analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, synthesis of pedagogical experience in order to clarify the essence of such concepts as “moral values”, “moral relations” and “patriotism”.

The second phase of the study covered the following empirical methods:

• testing using such methods as “From where the homeland begins”, “Incomplete Sentence” to identify the initial level of knowledge and perception of students about the small homeland, its history and symbols;

• testing using such method as “My attitude to the small homeland” and scaling to identify the degree of expression of patriotic emotions and feelings in relation to the small homeland;

• diagnostic method “Unfinished Abstract” to study the level of practical skills and abilities in applying knowledge about the small homeland, skills to characterize actions, behavior, interpersonal relations.

Students of the 3 ^rd grade of the Secondary School No. 18 of Bratsk took part in the experiment.

The diagnostic study was carried out at the ascertaining stage of the experiment (to determine the initial level of values-based attitude to the small homeland) and at the control stage (to determine the dynamics of values-based attitude to the small homeland and to state the efficiency of the developed program of extracurricular activity).

The initial stage of the study implied the development and testing of the program aimed at the formation of values-based attitude to the small homeland among primary schoolchildren through extracurricular activities. For this purpose, the following literary works of the writers of the Angara Region were chosen: Zverev ( 1981) Swallows ; Moskovenko ( 1994) Grandfather Stories.

Findings

The comparative analysis of the cognitive component study at the control stage makes it possible to conclude on positive dynamics. High level of knowledge and perception of the small homeland among schoolchildren increased by 36 %.

The number of students with the low level of knowledge decreased significantly – by 44 %. It shall be noted that the answers of children became more detailed, complete, children list several features characterizing a concept, can give examples, pick up synonyms, which demonstrates the increase in the active dictionary of school students. To explain the main concepts, the schoolchildren are able to use new terms (affection, hometown, small homeland, patriot, respect, pride, etc.). The ability of children to draw independent conclusions, to use concepts in speech allowed us concluding on the expansion of knowledge and perception about the small homeland.

At the final stage, the number of students with the high level of interest in the small homeland increased (from 8 to 34 %). It is also worth noting a significant decrease in the number of children with the low level of strive for patriotic activity (from 13 to 4 %). The children’s responses were quite detailed and complete. Students wrote about the fact that they like to walk along the streets of their native city, know songs about Bratsk, participate in city holidays with pleasure, are concerned about the fate of their native city. Many students visited museums and exhibitions of the city, were able to list several titles of songs about Bratsk, participated in environmental volunteer clean-up and city holidays with as a family.

Comparing the results of the activity component at ascertaining and control stages, it shall be noted that the number of students with the high level of practical skills and abilities in applying the knowledge about the native province increased (from 13 to 22 %). The number of children with the low level of these skills increased twice. The children expressed their desire to make their home city and its inhabitants better, their readiness to help and participate in the affairs of Bratsk, expressed concern about its fate and ecology.

Thus, the extracurricular activities on the works of Siberian writers develops values-based attitudes, helps children to make moral choices in assessing their actions in accordance with accepted personal-significant values. As a result of such work, students develop their moral stand.

Conclusion

The works of Siberian writers dedicated to the beauty of native nature contribute to the development of patriotic feelings. By introducing schoolchildren to the nature of Siberia, pictorially represented in the pieces works of our compatriots, we have an opportunity to teach children to pay attention to the beautiful, to convey their thoughts not with learned template phrases, but to define concepts in their own ways, be able to emphasize their own sensations and impressions from natural perfection. Extracurricular study of the authors of Eastern Siberia through discussions of personal perception of what has been read help children develop speech, enrich it with various stylistic means and techniques.

By reading the stories about the homeland nature, two important results can be achieved:

• children familiarize with local flora and fauna (which appears to be one of the main elements of patriotic attitude to the native region);

• children perceive their small homeland not only as an economically profitable raw material resource, but also as part of a living, sensitive and sensible world.

It shall be noted that modern children have superficial ideas about the historical past of their homeland. The work with poems about the Great Patriotic War, about the events of the great battles of the Russian people for the liberation of their country makes it possible to introduce students to the heroic pages of Russian history, to discuss the thoughts and feelings of people that experience the war, to instill a sense of patriotism, to increase the level of empathy for the losses of the homeland, to instill respect and love for the historical past of the country. Undoubtedly, the most striking example of patriotism and heroism of Russian people is the Great Patriotic War.

Thus, based on the works of Siberian writers studied in literary classes through extracurricular activities, the teacher instills love for small homeland, language, people, spiritual values. Children develop a respectful attitude not only towards people, but also towards other people’s opinion; learn the culture of a dialogue that correlates with tolerance as one of the most important personal qualities.

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