Between July and August 2020, as students and teachers settled into a new routine of online classes and video lectures due to the pandemic, it was important to keep talking about our worries, anxieties and feelings.
Conducting virtual classes has been a challenging and trying task for teachers who have also had to multitask and manage homes, children and personal lives, alongside. Led by the primary HM, Ms. Anita Soman, the teachers of the primary section had a de-stressing session where they were invited to identify with one mood figure in the image below. They were also free to draw and colour it. This simple act led to a round of heartfelt sharing among teachers who reflected, spoke and shared their feelings within this safe space.
This activity encouraged teachers to speak to students about how it is normal to have small and big feelings. Teachers shared the same image with students and encouraged them to colour a different mood identity every day of the week, depending on how they felt. Additionally, teachers also shared a video clip that discussed some strategies other children use to deal with small feelings that usually tend to bother them. We hoped that this would trigger some thoughts and reflection among our students.
Watch the Video on Talking Mental Health
After watching this video, students were encouraged to think about how they deal with small feelings that bother them. We leave you with some things that students shared with us. For us, this was a reminder that the aim of school education is not just promoting literacy and numeracy. Schools, now more than ever before, must be spaces which help children look inward, recognise feelings and give them the space to talk about some of these feelings.
Really inspiring work, kudos