“Aim for the heart before you start!” – This was the theme of the Value Education Workshop which was conducted on the 25th of March, 2021 by Miss Grace David for the Value Education teachers of Junior School.
The workshop began with an exciting Lockdown-Quiz with fun questions to break the ice and set a positive tone for the session.
This was followed by an activity where Miss David urged the teachers to evoke gratitude in their hearts and pen down the things that each one of them is thankful for in their lives.
She also invited volunteers and asked the rest of the teachers to mention the strengths and areas of improvement for the volunteer teachers. This indeed created a very positive and healthy team sharing environment.
A short session about ‘Self Awareness’ followed, in which the participant teachers were asked to write an acrostic poem of their respective names thereby penning down the qualities that make each person unique. An engaging group discussion about feelings and emotions was conducted in this session. This helped the teachers identify ways in which they can aid the students to get in touch and be aware of their emotions and feelings.
There was an interesting group activity in which the teachers reflected on the past year and its impact on our lives. The teachers also discussed the challenges they faced as parents and as educators and how they navigated through different emotions and feelings during this pandemic.
The participants discovered that the key to self management is self awareness, mindful living and making connections with our environment. Miss David highlighted the importance of emotional intelligence. She brought to fore the significance of being aware and expressing one’s emotions to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.
She introduced the concept of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), which provides the structure and process for adults and students to develop fundamental emotional and social competencies and experiences to:
• understand and manage emotions
• set and achieve positive goals
• feel and show empathy for others
• establish and maintain positive relationships
• make responsible decisions, etc.
At the end Miss Grace David stressed about the infinite possibilities of connecting with students in the value education class. The teachers surely had an enjoyable and enriching session where they discovered that the Value Education period is a pause in our academic race for survival. They were surely motivated to develop the self awareness of the students, eradicate their self doubts and foster in them ways to express and manage their emotions.
