When I first entered the society, my first stop for work was opposite the vegetable market in my hometown town. When I was a kid, my friends and I went there to play there, but not much. We were not very familiar with it, and I didn’t know the address of the elementary school where I was going to work.
I had no idea what kind of people I would meet in the future, what my work situation would be like, whether I would be able to adapt, etc. I was too young at that time and had no vision or goals for life. I only knew that after I graduated and returned to my parents, I could make money to support myself and start a completely different life from when I was a student.
Looking back on the five years I spent in this school, I suddenly realized that it was the period of time that had the greatest impact on my happiness in life.
The first day I walked into the campus, my memory was a bit blurry as to who brought me in. However, when I passed the aisle on the first floor of the first teaching building on campus, I still remembered the teacher’s personal calligraphy exhibition in the window. The teacher’s name was the same as the name of my internship school, and I remembered it at a glance. In the following years, this excellent calligraphy teacher and his lover gave me a lot of help, and our friendship has remained to this day.
When I walked to an office in the second bungalow, I met the older female principal. She was very kind and repeatedly expressed that she needed a professional teacher like me. Principal Tan always has a smile on her face and gives me a lot of autonomy in my work. Her trust allows me, a fledgling newcomer, to dare to work hard.
I remember one time, the head teacher of the new teacher training class complained that I was talking during a meeting. In fact, it was an active classmate who was chatting around me. I was too embarrassed to refuse and did not participate enthusiastically. He saw me. I actually called the principal. Principal Tan asked me to go to the office to understand the situation. The little girl who had just started working was beating her drum in her heart. I saw her smiling and saying that I would pay attention to it in the future and that there was nothing else to do. There was no blame at all, which made me feel much more relaxed.
Principal Tan retired a year later and was replaced by Principal Liu, who had a gentlemanly and elegant temperament. Principal Liu is also a senior principal and has a good reputation in the school where he originally worked. We were impressed from his first meeting. He doesn't talk much and is very organized. He assigns tasks without being verbose at all. The meeting time is short. After everyone has a clear understanding of their work requirements, they go to work separately.
Principal Liu pays great attention to details. He will carry a stool into the classroom, hold seminars with everyone, and often invites experts from the district to the school for activities. I am the only one in this subject and cannot hire a professional instructor. Principal Liu arranged a teaching and research activity and included my class. After listening to the Chinese class, the Chinese teaching researcher listened to my music class and actually commented on my class. It was the first time that I was guided by an expert in the district and was affirmed and encouraged. I was very happy.
Principal Liu also attaches great importance to music teaching. He always speaks in a gentle manner and encourages me to work boldly. He has many ideas for the development of the school, building teaching buildings, improving equipment, encouraging teachers to be bold and innovative, and making no secret of his appreciation for talented teachers. The entire campus has a very strong teaching and research atmosphere. As a rural school, our achievements in various aspects were relatively outstanding in those years.
Unfortunately, Principal Liu later suffered from a serious illness and had to step down. Our school had a new principal. Fortunately, the disease was discovered early and was quickly brought under control, and Principal Liu slowly recovered. After retirement, Principal Liu and his wife were like migratory birds, living in Hainan in winter and returning to their hometown in early summer.
The primary school principals who took office later faced a new situation. At that time, there was a trend of merging primary and secondary schools in the city. Our school happens to be in the same courtyard as the middle school, with the elementary school in the south and the junior high school teaching building in the north. We are inevitably involved in such a development.
From then on, the first person in charge and leader was the principal of the junior high school. The new principal Zhu could not make all decisions by himself.
Principal Zhu appears to be more outgoing and enthusiastic than the previous two principals, and he is a more communicative type. He is also a principal who loves to smile. He always smiles when communicating with others. He is younger than the previous two and has less airs, which is in sharp contrast to Principal Liu's cautious words.
Principal Zhu is the most straightforward and frequent person in affirming and encouraging me. No matter in small meetings or conferences, he would always praise me. After listening to it so much, I was embarrassed to look up. Principal Zhu praised me the most for my creativity in doing things. It is under his praise that I continue to seek new breakthroughs.
It was my fourth year at work, and he tried his best to persuade me to join the middle management and take charge of the work of the Young Pioneers. I loved teaching music more than other work projects, so I turned them down again and again. When the new semester started, he directly brought my name to the middle floor and asked me to move my desk to the administrative office. I still stubbornly refused to move, even though I had to start doing the Young Pioneers work he assigned.
I don’t really like the work of the Young Pioneers, but I still have to take it seriously. Music teaching is my major, mainly dealing with students. But the chief counselor has to communicate with all the class teachers, communicate with the leaders, and plan and implement many activities. For me, I can do one thing well, but it is too trivial and complicated and not as interesting as music class.
When Principal Zhu saw me doing an activity, he would come up with a creative idea. He was very satisfied, but at that time I felt very hard inside.
We call the principal of a junior high school a principal. The most striking characteristic of this principal is that he seldom gives a clear decision when asking about work matters. Sometimes he feels that he has asked but not received. What result. Maybe he didn't give a definite answer because he wanted to avoid unnecessary situations. He was probably a more cautious leader.
In this school, when I was young, I worked hard to complete many important competition tasks, broke through zero, and achieved many achievements. This led me to want to transfer in the fifth year, but the principal refused no matter what. Sign, don’t want to let me go. Finally, with the help of the principal of the second school, I successfully left this school. I didn't feel any particular nostalgia when I left. I was still very young at the time and had begun to look forward to my work. I left with more of a sense of longing.
Here, in addition to accumulating valuable work experience and building strong confidence, more importantly, I have made many friends here, lifelong friends, and lifelong wealth.
When President Liu was in office, he attached great importance to teaching and scientific research and encouraged all teachers to write papers. Although this is a rural school, there are several seniors in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon who have excellent professional abilities, outstanding personalities, and outstanding literary talent. I am very fortunate to be here with these talented teachers. Under their influence, a heart close to words was sown in my heart.
For us art majors, we are definitely not good at writing. In the past, we spent a lot of time on training professional skills. For example, when I was in school, I could go into the reading room and pick up books to read. There are also fewer people.
Writing the thesis at the end of the year was an unavoidable detour. As the youngest person, I had the courage to ask Teacher Zhou, a very talented mathematics teacher in the school, for advice. She has the most outstanding personality in our school, and she is someone you can pay attention to at a glance in the crowd. She has an extremely wide range of knowledge, is fashionably dressed, and teaches science. But her language talent is outstanding, and she is eloquent and witty.
Seeing me asking her how to write an essay, the cheerful teacher Zhou said to the students who were correcting their homework: "Look, the teachers are still coming to ask Teacher Zhou how to write an essay." After finishing what he was doing, Zhou The teacher began to carefully review my paper, from the framework structure to the title of the paper, wording and sentence selection, and guided me one by one from major to minor.
It was my second year at work. I didn’t have much communication with Teacher Zhou the previous year, so I was still a little uneasy. Teacher Zhou guided my paper very enthusiastically and carefully. After revising it according to her opinions, my paper won the second prize in the district. At that time, the probability of winning was low, so it was a good starting point for a newcomer. I was pleasantly surprised to find that our school not only had a high award-winning rate, but also had a large number of first-class papers. These papers were all guided by Teacher Zhou. I sincerely admire her and prefer to be close to her.
Teacher Zhou has several close colleagues around her, all of whom are younger than her. Having entered middle age, she likes to be with young people, which always makes her feel full of energy.
The few young people surrounding Teacher Zhou naturally like each other's temperament. Hui and I entered school in the same year, and we were classmates in the same grade in junior high school. Naturally, two peers of the same age often walked together; Yan was Teacher Zhou's disciple, and her personality was very considerate and friendly. Influenced me, I have always liked her; Juan is a very simple and motivated person, keen on breakthroughs in work, loves her own job, optimistic and open-minded, and I always feel very powerful when I am with her; Jun is the lover of the calligraphy teacher , tall and thin, very delicate, quiet and kind-hearted.
In the past twenty years, the five of us have never been apart. We often get together to share our personal confusions and experiences, sorrows and happiness.
Teacher Zhou is the backbone of our small group. Her legendary life after retirement often inspires us to be more dedicated to work and life.
There are also several colleagues who are a few years older than me and are very friendly and tolerant to me. They share interesting life stories and work experiences in the office. Although the subjects are different, I learned a lot from them. It is precisely because of the different subjects that they have expanded my teaching horizons and virtually improved my overall quality.
In the past five years, there is another thing worth mentioning. Because of my Erhu expertise, I have gained a group of middle-aged and elderly colleagues as apprentices. At most, there were more than ten colleagues who followed me to learn to play Erhu after school. These elder sisters bought the Erhu with their own money and arranged time for me to teach. They studied seriously and I taught seriously. For a while, the school often heard the sound of squeaking piano playing coming from different offices.
Several old teachers who are about to retire are very serious and eager to learn. They often discuss with me their own problems. After watching my demonstration, they lower their heads and think about it carefully. The old teachers are good at cooking, and they often make delicious food for me. Sometimes hot sweet potatoes are held in my hands, and fresh fruits are brought to me. For my work, they not only support and help me, but also often praise me. I grew up quickly and happily in such a loving environment.
In my first five years of working here, the encouragement and appreciation of many colleagues gave me great motivation to move forward. When I was transferred to the central school in this town, I didn’t choose to work in the city. I still didn’t have high expectations for my job. I like a comfortable personality. Naturally, the choices I made would not make me very hard. I wanted to change to a slightly challenging environment. It is enough without losing the care of my family.
In the past five years, I also met my lover because of Erhu, a man who is free and easy yet rigorous, humorous, honest and reliable.
In the past five years, I have not only gained the first precious experience and confidence in my work, but also gained a lifetime of friendship, a lifetime of warmth, and a harbor where I can rely on with peace of mind and happiness.
Five years is neither long nor short, just enough time to make close friends and gain love!
(Qi Fanqi’s annual writing brand IP special training camp in September 2021, Chapter 31, check-in: first job. 3454 words, ***accumulated 63427 words)