(Minghui.org) I graduated from college in 1988 with a degree in education, and have been an elementary school teacher for 30 years. I am fortunate to be a Falun Dafa practitioner. I feel incomparably happy after being purified by Dafa. I strictly follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and I also infuse these principles throughout my teaching.
Cultivation has helped me develop wisdom and unique teaching methods that allow students to master good learning skills from an early age, which will benefit them for life. My students’ parents know that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. They all agree with my teaching style, and my sincere care for the wellbeing of my students is obvious to the parents as well as my colleagues.
I like children, but I couldn’t reach this level of compassion before I cultivated. Before I started practicing, when students were disobedient I would sometimes respond harshly to them. Ever since I started practicing Falun Dafa, the children have become so precious in my eyes, just like my own children. I am cautious with my speech, so that I don’t hurt the child verbally. In class, I take the time to talk about questions that the students have trouble understanding.
It’s Falun Dafa that has awakened this side of my nature, where I prioritize others and do not harm others, especially children, because my compassion has arisen.
There was a student who had not been doing well at another school, so he was transferred to my class. He had a poor learning background, and he had been rebellious and resistant to teachers. He had gradually become tired of school and often skipped school. After he joined my class, I never once treated him differently than the other students. I patiently taught him, encouraged him, and rewarded him. I thought that since this child came to school every day, he should gain something from my teaching.
I tutored him one-on-one during recess, and the student made great progress. His parents were happy to see the changes in their child. I brought him fruit as a treat, and in this relaxed environment, without pressure, he changed positively. He had a smile on his face, and his academic performance improved. He was successfully admitted to a middle school.
There was another student whose parents were not around. His father was working in another town, and his mother had left his father. The boy was obsessed with a certain internet site. I focused on this boy. I tutored him without taking a break at noon so that he wouldn’t have an opportunity to go online. I took good care of him. He liked hamburgers, so I often took him out for meals. During the time I was teaching him, he had hardly ever visited that internet site. His parents were very grateful.
There was a second-grade student whose parents worked in another town, so his grandmother took care of him. His parents wanted me to treat him well, so they gave me a leather bag worth nearly 2,000 yuan (~USD$280). I declined their gift twice. I said, “I cannot accept gifts. Don’t worry, I will take good care of your child.”
Students graduate from elementary school and go on to middle school. We are a school that combines the elementary and middle schools on the same campus. One morning, as soon as I arrived on the playground, several students called out from all directions: “Teacher! Teacher!” A large group ran over and surrounded me, shouting and holding onto me. A little girl said to me, “Teacher, you’re like a goddess.”
At the end of one class the children surrounded me. As I looked at them, in my eyes they were like little angels, and they were all so precious. Some snuggled up to me, and some tried to sit on my lap.
At the beginning of the new semester, a second-year student sat in my arms and hugged me and said, “Teacher, it has been a long time since you held me!”
Sometimes I was very moved to see the students so happy with me. They treated me like their own parents.
In the classroom and in daily communications, I always instill the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance into what I am teaching. One of the things that I often say to my students is, “Knowledge is very important, but being a good person is even more important. How should one be, as a human being? One should conform to the characteristic of the universe: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. In this way, you will be a good person.”
I also tell my students, “Look at these corrupt officials nowadays. Aren’t they well educated? Aren’t they capable? They all possess knowledge and ability, but what they are lacking is morality. That’s why they do corrupt things. If they could stick to morality, they would know that they shouldn’t have done those things.” I often say to my students and their parents, “What determines people’s destiny is not material things; it is virtue. How many people are virtuous now?”
I use every situation to educate my students, even through the little things. For example, if a student tells a lie, I tell him: “Child, we can’t lie, we have to tell the truth.” In class, I write “Truth” on the blackboard to teach the children to tell the truth and to be sincere. If a child is not friendly with someone, I will write the word “Compassion” on the blackboard. When the children have fights or get into conflicts, I tell them, “If there is anything to endure, endure it and it will pass. Don’t fight.”
One day in class I said, “I will give you a question today. In an international sports competition, an athlete who was far ahead in a race mistakenly stopped before he reached the finish line. The people around him shouted, but he thought they were congratulating him. Then the second place runner caught up.”
I asked the children, “What would you do if you were in the second place?” Some students said, “I would run over and surpass him and I’d win the race.” I asked, “Any other ideas?” A boy stood up and said, “Teacher, I’d tell him that he’s not done, he’s not there yet, and he needs to run further.” I said, “You’re amazing! You have expressed truthfulness.” His classmates applauded him. In the classroom, I instill this kind of education into students.
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the characteristic of the universe. An educator should guide students based on these principles and instill them in their students.
Under my guidance, some students do very well. One child told me, “Teacher, so and so bullied me and hit me. I didn't blame him.” Another child said, “Teacher, so and so hit me. I’m not the same as him, so I turned around and left.” Another said, “Teacher, so-and-so is not friendly to me, and I am not like him, so I endured it.”
If there is something wrong in a student’s behavior or language, the other children are able to distinguish good from bad, and they monitor each other. If anyone lies, some student will shout, “Teacher, he is lying.” I often ask my children, “What words should we follow as human beings?” The children call out, “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”
There is one eight-year-old boy who often talks nonsense. In the eyes of other teachers, he is not clever, and he is not the kind of child who is loved by teachers. One day I said to the students, “If you were all good, how could the teacher reprimand or hit you?” The students all nodded in agreement. I never reprimand or hit a child. One day after class, the boy came up to me and said to me, “You are the best teacher!”
Once, after I talked about the goodness of Falun Gong to the children, a fifth-grade student said to me, “I want to learn Falun Gong too.”
Parents know that I practice Falun Dafa, and they know that my teaching methods are unique and can achieve unexpected results. But they don’t know that my teaching methods result from the enlightenment that Master offered me.
Whenever I enter the classroom, inspiration comes. In the oral arithmetic competitions during the semester, the class I taught was the first in its grade twice. In the middle and upper grade mathematics classes, I focus on cultivating students’ abilities to think and express, allowing students to discuss ideas when solving problems, and letting students learn from each other and talk in groups, so that students’ abilities to think and express themselves improve.
After a period of training, the children are able to guide themselves while I am away. I didn’t come to class once, so the class leader led the class. He gave instructions to his classmates, and the children discussed the math problems with each other. I train students from the perspective of increasing their abilities and ways of thinking, not just for the sake of getting good grades. By focusing on cultivating students’ interest in learning, the students are very motivated to learn.
I speak with a very soft tone. A teacher who heard me give a lecture said, “I’ve never heard you shouting in class. I have to learn from you.” I know that this is the power of Compassion.
My students love the math lessons I teach. These children give up their play time to learn math. When I arrive, they call out, “Let’s do math!”
A fifth-grade teacher listened to a third-grade math lesson I taught, and then said, “The content and level of your math classes are the same as ours in the fifth grade.” When my students get to middle school, their teachers feel that it is easy to teach them. A math teacher told someone that he would like to take on the students I have taught. My students are also among the best in the high school entrance examination.
In today’s society, with morality declining rapidly, genuine feelings between people are gone. The relationship between students and teachers is mostly only one of teaching and learning, and some relationships are even very tense. I can achieve great connection with my students because I practice Falun Dafa. I know that this is not from human affection, but something that transcends emotion and sentiment, and that is Compassion.