Sai Spiritual Education (SSE)—Workshop on Values
On September 19, devotees interested in Sai spiritual education attended a workshop called Activities for Teaching Human Values. The program featured presentations on drama, arts and crafts, role-playing and games—all with a view toward sharing creative ideas on activities for children in SSE classes.
As Anne Sohani led the arts and crafts unit, the room full of adults was transformed into children hunting for leaves, glue, ribbons and miniature Teddy bears. The group constructed a WATCHman as a reminder that we should always watch our words, actions, thoughts, characters and hearts. While we worked, we sang together, “Watch your words, watch your actions, watch your thoughts.” The song gave real meaning to the figure we were building. We also made finger puppets and Halloween leaf magnets, reinforcing the lesson that nothing is useless. Even insects use dead leaves to float over a body of water. We also shared ideas for a Gratitude Journal, in which children or adults write five things each day that they are grateful for.
Tom Roepke led us through the world of drama. Radio Reading was the title of our first dramatization. A moderator announced the radio station and students played various roles in stories and prose readings. This idea could be expanded, using sound effects, then taped and given to old-age or nursing homes for great listening opportunities. Poetry is another tool that can serve as a springboard for dramatic scenes. Similarly, an adult can lead an imaginary adventure story where both teacher and students add elements to the journey as they go along. This helps children get involved and open themselves to new feelings and situations.
Suchita Nayak talked about the value of role-playing in which a child invents a situation or adapts a known story. We divided into groups and each group received two slips of paper, one with the name of a value and one with a sub-value. We then developed plays to illustrate the values assigned. When children do this exercise, they automatically concentrate on values and get a deeper understanding of them. Role-playing stirs the hearts of children and helps motivate them to choose appropriate values in their own lives. It also gives them practice in applying their personal beliefs and values in difficult situations. Children, with the help of their teachers, can be inspired to think about right action.
Piyush Ghayal presented a game that highlighted individual and group behavior and the effects of teamwork and cooperation. It is easy to be insensitive to a newcomer. When we enter an existing group, we expect to be welcomed and absorbed. But how do we actually behave when we see a new person enter our own group? Piyush led us in a thought-provoking discussion of these situations as illustrated by our behavior in the games we played.
Swami talks about triple purity—unison in thought, word and deed. With this in mind, Kusuma Rao and Rajani Kanukollu presented an activity on the unity of thought, word and deed. After listening to Swami’s quote on the subject, the participants began with a pre-story game, the purpose of which was to find out how it feels to communicate without words.
As the principle activity, two stories about the lives of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan were given to two groups. Each group read its story and tried to understand how the two women used thought, word and deed in their individual roles—one as teacher, the other as student.
Participants stretched to think, understand and reflect on how a deaf, blind and mute person rose to such imminence. Lessons that emerged were that the power of love, patience and tolerance can overcome the most difficult situations and that unity in thought, word and deed is essential for all levels of knowledge.
Deepa Awal emphasized the importance of creating an environment for discussion. Placing a quotation before the group, Deepa encouraged each of us to express our understanding of it. The quotation: “It is good to be born in a religion, not good to die in one.”
Group discussions are useful because both children and teacher can learn from listening to each other. Even though children are younger, they have all the necessary information stored within their consciousness. Swami says that our age refers only to our body’s age. Our souls are ageless. We, as teachers, must help children reveal the wisdom from within them.
In order to create an environment for free discussion, we must encourage dialogue, not arguments, remembering always that there are no right or wrong answers, only different ways of looking at the same thing. One needs to be aware of shy children and encourage those who are not talking to participate. The idea is to set up situations in which group members can learn from one another.
When conflicts arise, as they so often do, we need to remember that although there may be differences in opinion, at the level of the heart, differences disappear. Love is the great equalizer. This is exactly what we experienced during the workshop, coming to it, as we did, with different ideas, but imbued by the same love of Swami that poured out through each activity presented.
~Rajani Kanukollu
Holmdel Center, New Jersey, USA
