Zhan Wen (sixth from left) is with children in Nayong County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province. Image source: South+Client
"Principal, mom, when I grow up, I want to be an excellent Communist party member like you." On the evening of July 1st, Zhan Wen, principal of Chebei Primary School in Tianhe District, Guangzhou and lifelong honorary principal of Nayong Tianhe Experimental School in Bijie City, Guizhou Province, received the news of Zhang Ping, a student of Nayong, and she immediately replied, "Baby, I am so proud of you!"
"Principal’s mother" is the nickname for Zhan Wen by Nayong students. In May 2018, Zhan Wen was selected to teach in Nayong, during which she took the initiative to apply for extending the teaching time from three months to three years. A few days ago, Zhan Wen was awarded the outstanding Communist party member of Guangdong Province.
"After retirement, I want to go back to Nayong Tianhe Experimental School and build the school better." Zhan Wen said that she wants to bring more love to Nayong so that children can get a better education.
From "female security guard" to "principal and mother"
On May 17, 2018, Zhan Wen embarked on a journey of teaching and arrived at the No.1 Primary School in Nayong County. Looking at crowded classrooms and timid children, Zhan Wen has mixed feelings-how to improve the hardware? How to close the distance with children?
Zhan Wen learned that many children are left-behind children and are more introverted. She offered to go to the school first, hoping to get familiar with the children as soon as possible. At 7: 30 every morning, Zhan Wen appeared at the school gate on time and gave a high-five hug to the students who arrived at school. "Hello, good morning!" "
A child said that there was an enthusiastic "female security guard" at the school. In the louder and louder greetings, the children became more and more sunny. They lined up with high-fives and took the initiative to say hello.
On one occasion, Zhan Wen couldn’t get to school on time because of physical discomfort. Later, a classmate put a letter into her hand, which contained such a sentence: "I have a good teacher, don’t hurt her in time!" " Zhan Wen’s eyes are wet when reading the letter.
Later, the local government introduced various resources to participate in the assistance work, and the appearance of the first primary school in Nayong County changed greatly soon. The school built three new playgrounds, and the number of students in each class was controlled within 55.
Zhan Wen made teaching AIDS, taught children to draw mind maps, write math diary, and make mathematical manuscripts, which made abstract knowledge concrete, and children became more and more interested in mathematics. Zhan Wen has gradually become the "principal and mother" of children. After the expiration of the three-month teaching period, Zhan Wen applied to extend the teaching time.
Let more teachers and children "dare to dream"
Returning to Nayong again, Zhan Wen’s role has also changed from the vice president of Nayong County No.1 Primary School to the member of the party group and deputy director of Nayong County Education Science and Technology Bureau. "Poverty alleviation first helps wisdom." After taking up his new post, Zhan Wen spent more than a year traveling around more than 500 schools in Nayong County, discussing the school-running concept and orientation with the principal, and recording the needs of the school.
She built nine "dream classrooms" worth 1.8 million yuan for Nayong, so that more teachers and children have the confidence to "dare to dream". She connected caring people from all walks of life and won various material donations for dozens of weak schools in Nayong County.
"In addition to the improvement of hardware, it is more important to improve the level of local teachers and improve the soft power of education." Zhan Wen said that, therefore, she organized 56 trainings such as "Spark Plan" and "Positive Education", and trained more than 9,000 teachers to help teachers broaden their horizons.
In 2019, Tianhe District invested 42.5 million yuan to build Nayong Tianhe Experimental School. In December of the same year, Zhan Wen served as the first principal of Nayong Tianhe Experimental School, and took on the heavy responsibility of education for 1,600 students who moved out of poverty. Zhan Wen first contacted a number of enterprises to donate equipment and materials for the school, and won a love donation of more than 2 million yuan.
In order to expand the coverage of quality education resources, Zhan Wen took Nayong Tianhe Experimental School as the base, and set up seven schools and a kindergarten in Nayong County, including the No.1 Primary School, into a "7+1 pigeon blossom" learning community with resource sharing, professional mutual promotion and group development.
After three years of teaching, Zhan Wen passed on the love from Guangzhou to the children in Nayong, leaving Nayong with a model school for ex situ poverty alleviation and relocation, 118 principals trained by Zhan Wenming’s principal pilot studio, a group of teachers with dreams, and the enterprising spirit and hard work of teachers in party member, Guangzhou.