Class 8: Story and Activity

The subject matter of this section has been divided into nine chapters in which an attempt has been made to explore and understand happiness through stories and activities. In these chapters, notes have been provided as reference for the teachers to initiate discussions in class and to make a connection between the discussion and the concept of happiness.

Guidelines regarding stories
Ever since humans have learned how to speak, storytelling has been one of the favoured methods for learning. It is through the medium of stories that we have been sharing our thoughts and life lessons with others. All children are fond of stories. They love to listen to stories narrated by their grandparents and repeat them to others. Storytelling has also been used extensively in school education. Stories inculcate a habit of listening, build longer focus and inspire reflection in children.
What type of stories have been included in the Happiness Curriculum? We wanted stories that students could relate with, that reflected in their real life situations and that would give them some food for thought. Thus the stories range from how we think and perceive to how our behaviour is amongst our friends and family to how we live in society and with nature. The Happiness Curriculum handbook also has incorporated some inspirational real life stories.
All of us have listened to imaginative stories of the fantasy world, full of unrealistic characters, with animals that can talk, trees that can walk and talk, and so on. Such stories have not been included in this course.
The stories are brief since they are meant to be a medium to facilitate reflection and analysis through questions, reflection and discussion. The core pursuit is for students to be able to see and evaluate things with clarity that eventually leads to better living.

Things to keep in mind while telling and discussing a story
  • Read the story with gestures and proper voice modulation so that students are engaged and are able to identify with the characters in the story.
  • Narrate the story in one go. Avoid narrating it in pieces.
  • This is not a language class, more attention to be paid to the thoughts and feelings in the story, instead of language and sentence structure.
  • Post-story discussion is the most important aspect of the story class. Thus, ensure there is adequate time for discussions.
  • The discussion questions are to guide the students towards the objective of the story. If the students are not able to reach the objective through these questions, you may steer the discussion in the right direction by adding your own questions.
  • Do not dictate the learning objective to the students.
  • The teacher doesn't have to look for a ‘right answer’. Idea is for students to first observe, explore and then process it through discussions. So allow the time and space to your students to arrive at their own conclusions and draw their own inferences.
  • Ask open ended questions. Instead of asking what they learned from the story, ask the students if they could identify with the characters of the story, what they would have done in a similar situation or how they would behave in future.
  • The stories are very short. Do not try to extend a story or abridge it, as doing so can change the central idea of the story and impact the following discussion. 
  • Focus on how students relate the story with their lives.
  • If any question has more than one part, ask the next part only after one part has been answered.
  • No written homework is to be given for any story. At the end of every story, some tasks have been given under ‘At Home – Observe, Enquire, Understand’ for students. The purpose of these tasks is to make students arrive at their own conclusion after discussing with family and friends, and observing what is happening around them.
Minimum two days are proposed for the story 
  • On the first day, narrate the story and discuss the general questions with the whole class.
  • Tell the students to share the story at home. and discuss the questions with their parents, siblings, neighbours, friends etc.
  • The instructions for the second day are given after the story. Follow the instructions to allow the students to think and discuss.
Creating an environment in the classroom
  • Give all the students an equal opportunity to express themselves.
  • No answer is right or wrong, so welcome everyone’s expression.
  • Make all your students feel that their expressions are equally valued by the teacher.
  • Create a positive and encouraging environment in the class so that all the students can freely express their thoughts and feelings.


Guidelines regarding activities
All the students of the class play an active role in the activities, so they take great interest in completing them. The knowledge gained from these activities is deep and everlasting because it is based on their own experiences. For these reasons, various activities have been included in the Happiness Curriculum. It is known that children learn a concept best by observing and further by engaging with it through discussion etc.
While designing these activities, special attention has been given to ensure that the activities are age appropriate and properly graded. Moreover, the activities engaging in such a way that the learners are motivated to think and understand. The activities trigger a series of thoughts, push the learner to draw interconnections and lead to a healthy discussion with the peer group.
The purpose of the activities included in this book is to make students rational and to help them see things and events as they are. This will allow them to think critically, evaluate their thoughts and notions by applying logic and reason, and develop clarity. At the same time, it will also enable them to think out of the box and make balanced decisions.
These activities can be conducted in the classroom itself. These are simple and clear activities and do not need additional resources.

Things to keep in mind while doing the activity
● The ‘Learning Objectives’ and ‘Note for Teacher’ included with the activity are only for teacher’s reference. For their own understanding before facilitating the activity. These are not to be read or explained to the students.
● Read the complete process of the activity given in the handbook before conducting it in the class.
● Give students the opportunity to express their views openly without any prejudice or a fear of right and wrong.
● During the discussion, make sure all students stay focused and participate in the discussion.
● Teachers should also actively participate in the activity to encourage students.
● If required, improvise and modify the activity as per the prevailing classroom conditions in order to meet the learning objectives.
● The core objective of the activity is for students to think, analyse, draw interconnections and develop clarity.
● The activities are designed in a manner which is interactive and engaging by using different methods such as role plays, discussions etc.

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2 comments:

  1. It was fantastic idea. सगळ्या शाळेमधे हा हप्पिनेस प्रोग्राम राबवायला हवा.

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