Hubei Daily all-media reporter Xu Yingfeng
Correspondent: Luo Yi, Gu Shan
A peninsula with mountains on one side and water on three sides.
This is Pengjiagou Village, the most remote village in Longshan Town, the hinterland of Danjiangkou Reservoir District, Shiyan City, which is more than 50 kilometers away from Danjiangkou City.
Pengjiagou Primary School has only 4 classes and 17 students in the kindergarten class, the first grade, the second grade and the fifth grade.
Shenshan Primary School is full of "science and technology", which is inseparable from the school's principal and teacher Peng Yusheng.
After 28 years of sticking to the reservoir area of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Peng Yusheng has sown the seeds of dreams in the hearts of one class of students after another.
Peng Yusheng (middle) gives a lesson to the children on aeronautical modeling. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
On the occasion of the 40th Teacher's Day, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee and the Ministry of Education released the 2024 "Most Beautiful Teacher" to the whole society, and Peng Yusheng was honorably selected.
"I am deeply honored and proud to receive this honor." Peng Yusheng said that he will continue to take root at the grassroots level, use his own strength to ignite the dreams of the children in the reservoir area, and "take them to 'fly' out of the mountains."
The village elementary school offers robotics courses
Model airplanes, carrot head robots, smart car models...... In early autumn, when I walked into Pengjiagou Primary School, the classroom was full of various teaching equipment, full of "science and technology".
"Children naturally love robots and are curious about them." Peng Yusheng said.
Peng Yusheng is 48 years old and a native of Pengjiagou Village. In 1996, when Peng Yusheng graduated from the Normal School, he gave up the opportunity to go to the city and chose to return to the village, "hoping to use his own efforts to change the fate of more children in the mountains." ”
After that, he never left.
Peng Yusheng (second from right) gives a science extracurricular course to children. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
How to let the children in the reservoir area enjoy high-quality educational resources? Peng Yusheng first thought of the Internet. Since 2009, he has focused on using online teaching resources to help students broaden their horizons.
He sought funding from public welfare organizations in many ways, gradually built a computer classroom in Pengjiagou Primary School, raised equipment such as intelligent face recognition bookcases, tablets and laptops, and opened an Internet literacy class to guide students to explore the mysteries of the world on the Internet.
Peng Yusheng also introduced "maker education" into the school. In 2017, he contacted Huazhong University of Science and Technology, raised 10 sets of radish head robots, led teachers to study together, and opened a maker course.
Nowadays, the school's special courses such as tablet programming, smart cars, aeronautical model aircraft, and robot makers have become children's favorites.
Classes are set in green mountains and green waters
The hillside after the rain, the farmland next to the school, and the villagers' processing houses have become classrooms for the children.
Touching the soil, looking at earthworms, and learning about plants are all part of the children's lessons.
Rice, white clouds, and dogtail grass have become "teaching aids" in the classroom.
"Education is not only about imparting knowledge, but also about igniting the flame of children's dreams." Peng Yusheng explores the "borderless curriculum" and extends the classroom to the green mountains and green waters.
In the "Four Seasons of Nature" course, Peng Yusheng led the children in the mountains and fields to recognize wild vegetables, find herbs, look for pests, take dogtail grass to make rabbits, and pick lentil pods to make whistles.
"Knowledge comes from life. Intuitive teaching, more impressive. Peng Yusheng said that helping children learn to learn in life can cultivate their lifelong learning ability.
Peng Yusheng (center) and children reciting children's poems on the top of a mountain. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Peng Yusheng also set up a unique "Look at My Hometown" course, guiding children to show their love for their hometown through poetry, painting and music. The children followed the Chinese teacher into the mountains and wrote poems about butterflies and wheat fields; Follow the math teacher from one side of the mountain to the other side, and experience the round-trip problem; Follow the art teacher into nature and draw a picture of the harvest of golden silk chrysanthemums.
In terms of student evaluation methods, Peng Yusheng "not only scores but growth". Every child has a "growth bank passbook", and the "deposit" is the child's laughter, the child's painting, and the child's poem, recording the children's progress.
"Children should not only learn knowledge in school, but also learn to be a happy person." Peng Yusheng said.
More than 40 students were subsidized with a meager salary
In recent years, as villagers have moved into the city, there have been fewer and fewer students at Pengjiagou Primary School.
"The more I persist in the countryside, I can take a few more children out of the mountains." Peng Yusheng has had many opportunities to enter the city, but he has never been relieved of the children in the village.
Peng Yusheng still remembers an incident in 1999 vividly:
When school started in the fall of that year, Peng Yusheng found that Xiaoqin (pseudonym), a student in the class, had not arrived at school. In the afternoon of the same day, he went to the little violinist to find out the situation. "I don't want to read it, she went to Shiyan to 'hold the baby' (as a nanny)." Xiaoqin's father said.
The next day, Peng Yusheng came to the door again. This time, Xiaoqin's father told the truth - the family is in financial difficulties and does not want to provide for the children to go to school.
On the third day, Peng Yusheng came again. Seeing Xiaoqin's father and daughter working in the field, Peng Yusheng didn't say anything, picked up tools to help. When it was almost dark, Xiaoqin's father said, "Send her to school tomorrow morning." On the way back to school, Peng Yusheng accidentally fell into the thorn bushes, and his body was punctured in many places, his foot was also sprained, and he lost one shoe.
On the fourth day, when he didn't see Xiaoqin, Peng Yusheng came to the door again and said to Xiaoqin's parents: "I will pay for the child's tuition and don't let the family take a penny." This time, Xiaoqin finally returned to school.
Peng Yusheng (center) chatting with children. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
More than 20 years have passed since this incident, and Xiaoqin, who almost dropped out of school that year, has now stepped out of the mountains and taken root in the city.
Peng Jiusheng is also one of Peng Yusheng's students. With Peng Yusheng's help, he was able to successfully complete his studies. After graduation, Peng Jiusheng resolutely chose to return to Pengjiagou Primary School as a teacher. He said: "It is the help of the teachers that made me where I am today, and I want to be like the teachers to help more children in my hometown learn knowledge." ”
Over the past 28 years, Peng Yusheng has traveled more than 30,000 kilometers, visited every student family around the school, subsidized more than 40 students with a meager salary, successfully persuaded more than 50 students who were facing dropping out of school, and taught more than 180 students to be admitted to universities.
"Rural education is like a glimmer of light, which can light up children's dreams." Peng Yusheng said. (Hubei Daily)