It’s a new semester. Huang Feng-chun, the teacher of a first-grade class at Chao Ho Elementary School in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, writes notes in the students’ notebooks to inform parents of her teaching ideals.

Huang asks parents to help their children adapt to their new school environment by saying such things as: “Wow! You were brave enough to enter the classroom by yourself!” “The teacher said that you were good at school!” If the children don’t do well, the parents can tell them, “That’s okay! You can do better tomorrow!” or “I believe you can make it!”

Huang believes that children who receive blessings from their parents are the most blessed children in the world.

We’ll hurt the children if we’re too rushed

Huang is skinny. She wears glasses, usually has a ponytail, and she looks solemn. She describes herself as able to eat a lot and sleep well. She falls asleep as soon as she lies down in bed. In the past, she often felt she didn’t have enough time, and a parent once described Huang as being irritable. But when she saw Huang recently, she noticed that Huang had become much more easygoing.

Huang said that since she started teaching Master Cheng Yen’s Still Thoughts at school, she constantly reminds herself to improve. She said that we have to treat children with love and wisdom. Education is not a tool for quick success, and we can’t rush our children. We will injure children if we are impatient. When we make mistakes, we have to apologize to our children bravely.

Huang’s four major educational principles are that safety comes first, an education that helps one live a good life is important, children should nurture good study habits, and they should especially emphasize reading ability. She feels that no teaching method is the only or best one. Only real contact with children will allow us to select the most appropriate teaching method for each of them.

Huang believes that every child has the potential to learn, so she never gives up on any child. She also strictly demands that her students learn good habits: they must be punctual, be responsible, and eat a balanced diet.

If a child doesn’t do homework, Huang will remind the student with aphorisms from Still Thoughts such as, “You receive the same amount you give,” “The more you do, the more you receive; the less you do, the more you lose,” and “You have to learn with your heart, so it becomes your wisdom.”

Huang points out that she reminds her children in this way repeatedly and also informs their parents. She may have to tell the children the same thing 10, 20, or even 100 times, but she has patience.

She says that people are born with a good nature. If teachers and parents don’t give up on their children, then the children’s bad habits will fade away. If parents can cooperate with teachers, they will be more effective in helping the children. Huang has the highest confidence in children.

A teacher needs to do self-reflection

“Teacher, he did such and such….” “Teacher, he did it again….” Huang has a way to deal with little tattletales.

“If you keep telling me every little thing, other people will think you’re narrow-minded. If you tell me things to make that person better, then that is good. But if you come to me because you want me to punish that person, that’s not right.” Huang thus reminds the child to be mindful with details but not to be narrow-minded.

“I try to be fair to all kids, no matter how smart they are,” said Huang. There was once a smart kid who was often praised when he was in kindergarten, but when he was in the first and second grades, Huang would correct his mistakes. The boy hated her at first. But now he is in the third grade and often comes to Huang every day after school is over: “Miss Huang, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Right now, he likes me a lot!” Huang describes the child like a dear mother. She is very happy about their relationship.

Huang remarked that students can tell if a person truly likes them, and teachers will find ways to teach students. She said, “If you can’t make a student in your class love you during the second year you teach him, then you have to do some self-reflection.”

There was a second-grade student who always had to be dragged to school by his parents. At lunch, he would only eat his favorite food. Huang told him, “You have to eat all kinds of foods. You can tell me that you want less, but you can’t tell me that you don’t want to eat it at all.”

In the second semester, Huang taught her students a song titled, “One Family.” This finicky student said to her one day, “Miss Huang, we’ll always be one family. Please promise me that you’ll keep teaching me in the third grade.”

A cup of juice

What does Huang do when a child misbehaves? She tells the child seriously, “I don’t accept your willful behavior; you have no right to act like that.”

If the child is still unruly, what does Huang do? She plays a week of “Willful Teacher” when she acts as the student’s mirror so that the student can experience how others see him. Of course, Huang has to inform the parents beforehand.

Huang always tells her students about the rules and punishments beforehand. When students break a rule, she reminds them of the rule first. If that doesn’t work, she tells them to remain standing, to face the wall, to copy sentences, or to have no breaks between classes. If the students are still naughty, she takes out a ruler to hit the students’ palms--but only if it is absolutely necessary. Huang hopes that she never has to resort to that.

She also has another way to correct willful students without striking them--the students have a chance to serve other students. For instance, students who are asked to close all the doors and windows of their classroom are called “Door-Window Chiefs,” and students who are asked to pick up garbage are referred to as “Fortune Chiefs.”

One student told his mother, “Mom, if I make a mistake, could you please remind me like the teacher does and only punish me after you remind me three times?”

This touched the mother, who said, “I feel so embarrassed. It seems that for a long time, I haven’t had enough patience with my son. I hope to be like Miss Huang and treat him more appropriately in the future.”

This mother also said, “Whenever I come to the campus, children greet me without being reminded to, and some even recognize me from behind and call, ‘Mrs. Chen, how are you?’ When I hear this, it moves my heart! As Miss Huang said, ‘Children are angels.’ I see the friendliness on their innocent faces. I really love them as if they were my own children.”

This mother wrote to Huang in her child’s notebook that when she heard her child say that she was complimented as an excellent mother, she was touched. Whenever she picks up her child at school, she always wants to buy some fruit juice for Miss Huang, but she fears that it might cause Huang trouble. “So I would like to ask you directly, ‘May I?’”

In the past, Huang often complained that these students weren’t hers, so why should she pay so much attention to them?

Now she says happily that after joining Tzu Chi, she feels more fortunate, and she likes to teach Still Thoughts at school every day. If parents don’t cooperate with her, she sets aside her complaints and faces the problem with ease of mind. “You’ll find out that ‘Just do it’ is the easiest way!” Huang’s sparkling eyes indicate that her life is rewarding and satisfactory.

Huang puts on her athletic outfit and goes to school to run with her students so that they can be smart and physically fit as well.