At the beginning of last month, Liu Fang's autobiographical youth inspirational novel Pomegranate Qingqing, which took three years to conceive and write, was published.
This170,000-word novel, based on rural education in western China in the early 1990s, depicts the ideals, work, love and friendship of a group of young teachers engaged in rural education, including Liu Fang's daily stories and her students' experiences in rural education.
"Someone asked me what novel I wrote when my eyes were out of sight and who read it. I firmly say, write to yourself, to the discerning, to the blind, to those who have gone through youth and dreams, to see a lost youth and to see the bright world in the eyes of a blind person. " Liu Fang wrote this in the preface to Pomegranate Green. She hopes that this book can bring more normal college students and future teachers touch and think, and make more people pay attention to rural education.
Not long ago, our reporter walked into Liu Fang's new home in Dijing Jiayuan Community, Baiyun District. The sunshine on the balcony makes the clean and tidy room particularly bright. Liu Fang is wearing a long cotton skirt embroidered with white flowers and a black belt with a golden metal chain. Her long hair was tied in a low ponytail at the back of her head, and she came out of the room slowly with a smile on her face, gentle and beautiful.
She warmly greeted us to sit down in Mandarin, and her accent remained unchanged. Although her eyes are invisible, she is very energetic. In the interview, her humorous words made us laugh again and again.
★ Character file
Liu Fang, 1970, a native of Hubei. When she was 5 years old, she and her mother came to Baiyun District with her father to support the construction of the third line in Guiyang. I used to be a first-class Chinese teacher in Guiyang Baiyun No.3 Middle School, and now I am a psychological counseling teacher in this school. Director of China Disabled Persons' Federation Blind Literature Association, member of Guizhou Disabled Persons' Federation.
Rooted in rural education for 2 1 year, 1997 began to become blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, but still insisted on practicing the three-foot platform. Won the title of "Moral Model of Dedicated Service in Guiyang" and "Good People Around Guiyang" in the 2nd session of 20 10.
★ Dialogue with Liu Fang
Reporter: Although you have lost your eyesight, you are so optimistic, humorous, cheerful and strong. What is the biggest pain you face?
Liu Fang: Actually, I am not optimistic myself, but I am optimistic and strong for others. I just found out that when I was sick, I had a great psychological influence and couldn't sleep at night. It is very painful to think about what parents, children and husbands should do if they are really blind in the future.
When I encounter specific difficulties, I will also be very painful. For example, other teachers use pens to correct papers and exercise books quickly, but I have to get close to see them clearly. It feels so simple that it can be so laborious; When I accidentally fall into a ditch while walking, I feel so sad.
When my eyesight is declining and my son is growing up, I find that other pains are not pains. The most painful thing is that I can't see what the child looks like. Because the most selfless love in the world is maternal love, how can you show maternal love when children can't see it? I don't know what my son looks like after he is six or seven years old. I heard that he is handsome and has heavy eyes, but I can't see him.
Everyone has his own ideal, but I can't see it, and I can't do many things I want to do. I still feel sorry.
Reporter: You wrote pomegranate green to appeal to the society to pay attention to rural education and rural students. What do you think rural education needs now, and what should society and individuals do?
Liu Fang: I have been engaged in rural education for 2 1 year, and I really feel a lot. At present, the uneven development of education is most prominent in rural areas, unlike schools in cities, where teachers, hardware and equipment are balanced.
I think rural education needs teachers first. At present, many normal college students have no firm belief in teaching in rural areas. If every normal student doesn't want to go to the countryside, how can rural teachers balance?
Secondly, public opinion should give more positive publicity to rural education. Nowadays, we always publicize good famous schools and famous teachers, and few people pay attention to why we can't build a good school in the countryside and lead famous teachers to the countryside. It is because the countryside has trained a good teacher and sent him to the city that public opinion has neglected the "propaganda" of rural education.
Third, rural students need to be concerned. Now in the class where I am the deputy head teacher, 26 of the 44 children are left-behind children, and 30 of the 50 children in a class in the school are single-parent families. Who will supervise and care about their mental health after returning home? Many children go to internet cafes and are swallowed up by demons in many black internet cafes in society.
The turning point of life from "white" to "black"
When she was in Guiyang Normal University, Liu Fang was a little night blind, but she didn't pay much attention. 1993, at the age of 23, she was assigned to Baiyun No.3 Middle School (then called Mai Jia Middle School) as a Chinese teacher and head teacher. She was absorbed in her work and didn't take night blindness seriously.
However, night blindness is getting worse and worse, and ripples begin to appear in front of your eyes during the day.
One day in August, 1997, she came to the provincial doctor. "You have retinitis pigmentosa. This is a world medical problem. No medicine or surgery can cure it. In the future, you will gradually become blind and become blind. " The doctor's conclusion was like a bolt from the blue hitting Liu Fang on the head. She was stunned and weak. ...
After returning home, Liu Fang didn't tell her family about her illness. "Some pains will be magnified when they are said, which will make more people suffer together." She works, does housework and takes care of the children as usual, but with the aggravation of eye diseases, she will be caught on the edge of the bowl and the table when picking vegetables, even if she is wearing short-sighted glasses.
1999, Liu Fang's invisibility has spread from night to day. She wanted to see the most beautiful scenery before she was completely blind, and went to the World Horticultural Exposition being held in Kunming alone. So far, she still remembers the beautiful scenery that made her "amazing".
In 2000, the family learned about Liu Fang's illness. In order not to let her family worry too much, she tried to make herself stronger.
In 2006, Liu Fang got a disability certificate. But she believes that although her eyes are disabled, she can still take care of herself in work and life. "I am not invisible at once, and many living habits are gradually formed." She walks freely at home now, washing clothes, cleaning and bathing the dog herself. She is not blind at all.
Don't give up the "three-foot podium dream"
"The primary school teacher taught me to love, the junior high school teacher taught me to be rigorous and demanding, the senior high school Chinese teacher taught me to read, love books, and revel in teaching. The introduction teacher of college literature made me understand that I should constantly cultivate myself." Liu Fang said that when I first joined the work, my goal was to "be a good teacher like my favorite teacher".
Therefore, she never gave up the "three-foot podium dream".
200 1 September, after reading Jin Yong's the legendary swordsman, Liu Fang could hardly read it. She started listening to books on MP3 and radio, and installed software for blind people to read books on the computer. A year later, she "read" more than 20 books.
Before, Liu Fang memorized all the key points and difficulties in the three-year Chinese textbook for junior high school with her only remaining eyesight.
She fumbled out a set of her own teaching methods, such as composition class. Her composition evaluation is very rich, and some students wrote "Miss Liu, looking forward to reading comments" at the back of the composition. Later, it was difficult to correct the composition, so she took the students' compositions to the classroom for them to read first, and then the whole class evaluated and graded them together. ...
When writing on the blackboard is difficult, she uses her strong imitation ability to combine the stories and jokes she has heard with teaching and tell them vividly to students. Speaking, learning, teasing and singing in cross talk, and life, Dan, purity and ugliness in Beijing opera are also skillfully used in teaching. There is always laughter in the class, and the students all say, "I am very happy to attend Teacher Liu's class."
During the teaching career of 2 1 year, Liu Fang became the head teacher of 14 years, teaching mostly "double-difference classes" and "problem classes". However, in the senior high school entrance examination, these classes often ranked first in the parallel classes in the school, especially in the senior high school entrance examination in 2005, and the top three grades were in her class.
Transforming into a "spiritual mentor"
In June 2008, the last senior high school entrance examination led by Liu Fang ended. At the beginning of the new semester, she stopped attending classes and teaching Chinese, but transformed into a psychological counseling teacher in the school.
"Eyes can't see, exercise books, compositions and papers can't be changed. The new Chinese textbooks have changed and become more and more. If I continue to teach, I will teach a language that is lacking. " Although it was painful to give up the Chinese teaching that she loved, with the encouragement of school leaders and colleagues and the trust of students, Liu Fang chose to transform.
"Some people don't need you to help them solve their problems. They just want to find a psychological spillway. " To this end, Liu Fang had the idea of establishing a "growth record bag" for students. The students designed the cover of the file bag themselves and put their hearts in it. "Just put your thoughts and secrets in and let them go."
Nowadays, in Liu Fang's psychological counseling room, rows of "growth record bags" with different covers are neatly placed. Some students took it away after graduation, while others stayed in the counseling room. There have been hundreds in recent years.
"Some children come to me with psychological problems. After tutoring them, the teacher told me that the children were much better, and I felt particularly fulfilled. This is my happiest thing. " Every day, many students come to Liu Fang's psychological counseling room to chat with her.
Every semester, Liu Fang will attend at least two lectures in 25 classes in the whole school, give psychological counseling to students' common problems, give some lectures from time to time, and occasionally be invited by other teachers to be a guest teacher of composition. Every week, she goes to the moral lecture hall of the rural children's palace to tell students moral stories.
Support the blue sky of students with love
"Liu Ma, how have you been recently? You should take care of yourself! " Hu Xin often calls Liu Fang and sometimes buys a lot of fruit to visit her at school.
He is a student of Liu Fang's class of 2003, but he dropped out of school to work in the second grade. "Miss Liu is very kind to us. Since I dropped out of school, she has been urging me to continue my studies. Now I regret giving up my studies, but I am very grateful to Teacher Liu for his love for me. " Hu Xin, 27, runs an excavator in Baiyun District and often helps Liu Ma. Liu Fang wanted to refuse, so she said, "Teacher Liu, I am your son, and we are all your sons. It is right for her to help her. "
"Children will encounter troubles when they grow up, especially left-behind children, children of floating population, children of single-parent families and students with learning difficulties. Using' love' can help them and give them strength and courage. " As long as students are found to have difficulties, Liu Fang will help them, donate clothes and school supplies, and help them pay tuition and clothing expenses.
In the third grade of Yuan Dynasty, he was unfortunately orphaned. Liu Fang approached her, comforted her, supported her and gave her family warmth. A few years later, she was admitted to Beijing Normal University and chose to be a teacher. Now, as a teacher in West China Tsinghua Middle School, she often visits "Liu Ma". "Last year, I had an operation and she stayed with me all night. In the morning, she quietly stuffed 300 yuan under my pillow, which read' My daughter gave my mother money'. " Liu Fang said.
Today, Liu Fang is still as popular as ever in Baiyun No.3 Middle School. Before class, the students will take her to the classroom. If she appears in class early, the students will scream in surprise.
Simple life and dedicated writing
After getting up for breakfast every day, Liu Fang goes downstairs and goes to school with her colleagues who come to pick her up. After school in the afternoon, she was sent downstairs by her colleagues. After having a rest, she will exercise on the treadmill on the balcony for an hour, take a hot bath, sit quietly on the floating window of the bedroom and start writing novels. ...
This is Liu Fang's life now, simple but full.
"I like writing. I used to write mainly essays and poems. Later, I listened to more novels and began to write my own novels. " Liu Fang said that her second autobiographical novel, Ten Years of Flowers, has written 50,000 words. She arranged chapters according to flower language. The first chapter "Rose Blossoms" wrote about love, the second chapter "Lily Blossoms" wrote about newly married life, the third chapter "Sunflower Blossoms" wrote about the birth of children, and then there was "Jasmine Blossoms". ...
She said that she would write down her marriage, family and love in ten years that she could not see out of sight.
★ She in their eyes
Zhu (son of Liu Fang): In my heart, my mother is both strong and fragile. I want to be my mother's "crutch" all my life.
Ye (Vice President of Baiyun No.3 Middle School): Liu Fang is an excellent teacher with a strong knowledge of Chinese. Although she can't see, she still insists on attending classes, which is amazing and admirable. She regards school as her home and is very enthusiastic about her colleagues. She can remind me of something hard to say in a friendly way. She is a very wise person. She is very concerned about her students, and her classmates like her very much. She is called "Liu Fang's mother".
Zhou Libo (student of Liu Fang): "Liu Fang's mother" is a very kind and strong person. She is kind to every student. She can see the bright spots in us. She teaches Chinese best. She touched us with her heart, influenced us with love and brought us a lot of fun and warmth. She faced life bravely and was full of positive energy, which deeply influenced us. Thanks to fate, I met such a good teacher. Besides my mother, she is the person I admire most.
Mao (Liu Fang's colleague): Liu Fang is very thoughtful in teaching. She often gives us guidance in teaching methods and treating students. Her composition class is very distinctive. It's really a pity that she can't teach Chinese now. She has an open mind and a good attitude. Whenever her colleagues need help, she will lend a helping hand. She is charitable and enthusiastic about public welfare, and she is a helpful person.