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墨書 Inktalez
Happy days always seem to pass too quickly. The winter break, filled with fun and laughter, was drawing to a close in the blink of an eye. I had to pack my things and return to my fate—continuing the monotonous and tedious life of a student.
Not long after school started, Teacher Zeng assigned me a "new" task. As a Study Committee Member, I was responsible for organizing the Bulletin Board on the back wall of the classroom. It seemed that every class was inspired by the enthusiasm of the New Semester and began arranging their own Bulletin Boards. Class Three, regarded as a key class by many teachers and students, certainly could not fall behind.
After receiving this honorable task, I didn’t jump right in. After all, in high school, the Blackboard on the back wall was about a third larger than it had been in middle school. Although I was a bold youth unafraid of embarrassment, I didn’t want my Bulletin Board to fall short in an invisible competition. Visiting other classes became an instinctive choice.
After two or three days of observation, I noticed that the Bulletin Boards in the other four classes of the First Year of High School were taking shape. I had also figured out their general approach: almost all the work was done under the direct guidance of the homeroom teachers. From the overall structure to the details like decorative borders and lines, the students involved mostly just translated the teachers' ideas into colorful chalk writing. If suitable candidates couldn’t be found, even that final step would be handled by the teachers, as if all the homeroom teachers were competing to make their Bulletin Boards stand out.
Knowing that Teacher Zeng preferred to take a hands-off approach, I still reported my observations to him in detail and expressed my hope for his guidance or even direct involvement. This time, Teacher Zeng didn’t simply refuse my suggestion or immediately provide me with a plan as I had hoped. Instead, he used a question-and-answer method to develop my thinking about creating the Bulletin Board without showing any signs of taking action himself.
He first asked, “What do you think should be included on this Bulletin Board?”
This wasn’t difficult. Having organized a Bulletin Board in middle school before and having visited other classes recently, I combined some of my own ideas with what I remembered: “I think we can include three aspects: first, knowledge related to learning, including key points from classroom education and some effective study methods; second, extracurricular knowledge such as historical facts not included in the Curriculum but of interest to everyone, as well as certain anecdotes from Dongkou Third High School; third, since it’s a New Semester and many students are still immersed in the festive atmosphere of the New Year, we could include some motivational content to help everyone transition back into studying.”
Teacher Zeng responded, “That sounds great! Choose one or two pieces from each aspect that can stand alone as text, and then combine them for a wonderful Bulletin Board.”
Upon hearing this, I felt anxious and said, “The second aspect is fine; I enjoy reading various extracurricular books, especially history books, so selecting something suitable shouldn’t be hard. As for the first aspect, while my grades are decent enough to manage finding key points, when it comes to study methods, I'm completely at a loss. Simply copying from reference books doesn’t guarantee that everyone will find it useful or appealing. The hardest part is still the third aspect—I’m not good at motivating people; I can even say I'm somewhat awkward in that regard. What should I do?”
After listening to me, Teacher Zeng suddenly burst into laughter and said, “Long Biaosong! With all your ‘I’s’ and ‘my’s,’ anyone who doesn’t know you might think you have a speech impediment! I did say you should create our class's Bulletin Board but never said you had to do it alone! Don’t you think there are other classmates who know things you don’t or aren’t good at? You really need to give your head a shake.”
With Teacher Zeng throwing the question back at me, I silently calculated that there were two or three classmates I could rely on for help. With their assistance, content wouldn’t be an issue. But how could we present this content on the Blackboard? My chalk writing was far from good enough for display; besides that, none of my classmates seemed to show any talent in art either. Hesitantly, I told Teacher Zeng, “No one in our class can write beautifully with chalk or create decent decorations or illustrations.”
“It seems you don’t know your classmates well enough; go find Huang Dongxiu,” he suggested.
After hearing Teacher Zeng’s advice, I slapped my forehead. For this universally recognized excellent student, I had originally planned to ask her for content related to study methods but hadn’t thought about asking her for help with presenting on the Bulletin Board as well. Would this Bulletin Board end up being hers instead of mine? Besides, would someone so talented really help me?
Steeling myself, I approached Huang Dongxiu during break time and briefly explained my thoughts. To my surprise, she didn’t hesitate at all; she readily agreed to spare some time to participate and helped me outline both the content and presentation format.
Next, I sought out Xiang Ruibin—a sensitive soul with exceptional writing skills—to write an Opening Declaration for me. He also readily agreed.
Three days later, with only two classes scheduled in the afternoon and ample time after school, I prepared chalks, rulers, yarns, and other materials. Handing over neatly written content to Huang Dongxiu while setting up some stools for her made it official: we were starting work on our first Bulletin Board of high school.
Although during this final stage of creating the Bulletin Board I felt more like a busy assistant running around than someone truly involved in its creation, through this experience I gradually understood: no matter what task one undertakes, it cannot be done alone; one must leverage team power. This way, someone will always excel at certain details while those planning and organizing can enjoy the joy of completing tasks together.
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