SAIIER 2020:Transition School - Values for Human Unity

SAIIER 2019-20

Values for Human Unity: ‘Equality in Diversity’
a project of Entity::Transition School

Transition School, a primary and middle school for the children of Aurovilians and Newcomers, aims to create a learning environment that nurtures the inner development of the children and at the same time help each child to develop and refine the physical, vital and mental faculties according to his/her stage of development. As part of the all-school research project on Values, this year we explored the value ‘Equality in Diversity’. The value-oriented curriculum at Transition School gives teachers the opportunity to help the students to discover themselves and why values are important to them. As the whole school focuses on the value for the year, it is a great opportunity to bring everyone together working on a shared theme. It also affects behaviour and how we perceive and interact with each other in the school across all the grades.

Description of project:

Every year at Transition School the teachers, under the direction and guidance of the eighth graders, come up with a value to explore with the whole school and within the classes. This year, the eighth graders chose ‘Equality in Diversity’. Once chosen, the 8th grade students presented the value in the whole school assembly and explained what this value meant.

Class teachers met with their students to talk further about the value and clarify any questions they may have. It was at the teachers’ discretion to decide on the activities to explore with their class. They were meant to support the children’s understanding, and experience the true meaning of the value. Through these explorations, a behaviour change – to start living the value – was desired.

To spearhead and support this aim, all the teachers brainstormed different ideas or activities to explore this value at our teachers' meeting. This was typed up and shared amongst all teachers. At another teachers’ meeting, we made smaller groups by grade levels. This provided more intimate and age appropriate discussions. Teachers discussed what they had done with their students and brainstormed ideas further. Valuable books and activities were then taken up by other teachers.

To have a better grasp of where the children were in their understanding of the value and what it meant to them, we came up with some questions to ask them. There were different questions for the younger (grades 1-4) and older (grades 5-8) children. In December 2019, children in the 1st – 3rd grades were interviewed in small groups. Their responses were recorded and transcribed. Teachers of grades 4-8 gave the children these questions to be answered in written form. These questions provided valuable information and insight into the children and their experience of the value. They also highlighted any misunderstandings or misinformation the children had, to base further activities on helping them delve more deeply into the value.

Grades 1-4:

Questions for the younger students (grades 1-4):

What is the school value this year?
What does it mean to you?
What have you done with your class to help you understand it better?
Have you ever been left out because you are different? If yes, how did you feel?
Have you ever left anyone out because they were different? If yes, how do you think they felt? How did you feel?

All children in the second (N = 20) and third grades (N = 33) were able to accurately state the value. First grade (N = 19) students couldn't remember the value.

The next question was, “What does it mean to you?” When interviewing the first grade students, they were reminded of the name of the value but they were still not clear what it meant. They confused the word ‘equality’ with math. One child said “being kind, and it's a lesson”. The 2nd grade students in general had clarity on what the value meant. One child said, “We are equal in different ways because people are always the same inside just not outside.” They talked about how we're not the same, but how we're equal. The third grade students had a deeper understanding of the value. One child said “not only are we equal we should be respectful and kind to others.” They went more deeply into how we're different. They talked about different cultures, food, school abilities, and personalities. But we should be treated equally. One child said, “The Queen of England though she has a higher rank, she's still the same.” And we're all human beings.

The next question looked at what they had done in their class to help them understand the value better. The first graders didn't remember doing anything. They have a bulletin board outside their class. It had pictures that they had drawn after their teacher read a book to them relevant to this value. When the bulletin board was pointed out to them, they actually couldn't remember doing it.

Grade 2 students remembered: a play based on a Dr. Seuss’ book, The Sneetches. Where some Sneetches have stars and they feel that they're better than the plain belly Sneetches. Some children talked about music class and they wrote a song about the value. Some kids remembered drawing a picture.

The third grade is composed of 2 separate classes. They remembered doing a lot of different activities and were very eager to share. They had been doing a geography project. As part of that they were doing research on different countries and their cultures. They did a booklet of cultures. And they even drew their own family. They also talked about festivals – how religious and other festivals from countries around the world were different. The clothes and food are different. They all seemed really excited about learning about these differences and saying how we’re still all the same. They also said that their teacher had read books to them that looked at the value. They could remember the names of some of the books. There were posters about equality and diversity in their classroom. Some children in smaller reading groups had also read books related to the value. They had been learning songs in music class. They said they understood and enjoyed expressing this value through song.

The next question – “Have you ever been left out because you're different? And if yes, how did you feel?” All groups interviewed had at least a few people that had experienced being left out because they were different. Even first grade now was able to contribute to the discussion. It seemed like within this class, some children were being left out. When interviewed, some of the children that were the ones leaving other children out came face to face with how the other might feel. In first grade many talked about a girl that was consistently left out. When interviewed, this girl said “the other girls don't let me play” and she felt like she “had no friends.” Another girl said she wasn't included by boys. They didn't let her play and she felt bad. Mostly, when they talked about being left out, they said they felt sad and bad. One of the girls who is part of the group that excluded a particular girl, felt uncomfortable when confronted by the other children in the group during the interview. The decision to exclude her, she felt, was not her decision but her friend’s. She did say “but I'm going to let her now.” So she was realizing that not allowing this girl to play with her resulted in the other girl feeling bad. Now she was motivated to change and let this girl play with her.

Second graders also talked about being left out. The feeling they expressed most often was sadness when they were not included.

One 3rd grade student said “I feel bad because how can you not let me play because of a tiny difference?” Another child said that he felt bad. But felt it was a little bit worse because they could have adjusted the play to be inclusive, but they didn't want to. This lack of flexibility was really hurtful. Feelings they felt resulting from being left out were, bad, sad, angry, angry and sad. One child said “I felt sad because I was alone.”

The final question: “Have you ever left anyone out because they were different? If yes, how do you think they felt? How did you feel?”

This question was very difficult for first graders. They were not able to ‘own’ a behavior of leaving someone out – being mean. Though they could recognize and point out this behavior in others. To explore this question, they were asked how they thought a person might feel being left out. They mostly responded “sad”. Then “If you saw the person being left out was feeling sad, how would you feel?” They felt they would feel sad and bad.

On the day the second grade students were interviewed, something had happened at snack time during their play. As a result of snack time difficulty, some students were planning to exclude a child in the lunchtime play. So the interview provided an opportunity to work through this problem.

They were able to talk and listen to each other. They realized that they were all friends and they were going to find a way to get along and play fairly. At lunch, even though they had planned to exclude this child, they changed the plan to be inclusive. Everyone was able to say that they felt hurt, and sad. Through this discussion they were already changing their behavior.

In third grade, it was still difficult for children to own their behaviour of not including someone in an activity because they're different for whatever reason. Only a few children were able to share an instance. One of them said, “this is before I even knew about equality when I did this.” When he was younger, he “didn't allow some other children to play”. He thought that the children felt bad and he also felt bad excluding them. One girl had decided to exclude some other children because she had been treated badly by them. So it was more retaliation. “I wanted to show them how I felt last time when they didn’t include me.” When asked how she felt she said, “I felt like a little bad girl. But I think it was, I was okay to do it.” When probed more deeply, “How do you think they felt?” she said, “I think they felt sad.” One boy shared a situation where a girl told him not to let some other children play with them. He said “she's very strong and she was shouting at me and I couldn't manage her.” And so he said, “No, you can't play”. He felt coerced and pushed into it. When asked “How did you feel when you said no you can’t play?” He said, “so, so, so, so bad.” “And how do you think the person felt that they couldn't play?” He said “so bad.” So he really felt bad not including somebody.

All teachers were provided with these interview responses. These answers provided very useful information to continue our exploration with the value. The first grade teacher now knew she needed to review the value and continue to provide opportunities to explore it further. All teachers planned other activities in the coming months of school.

In the end of January, in third grade class a situation arose between some of the children. When the class teacher became aware of the difficulty, she took it as an opportunity to delve deeper into the value. They were confronted with discrimination because one child did not have the material resources that many of the others had access to. She was being left out and ridiculed by some of her classmates. So on this particular day the class spent the afternoon genuinely exploring the value. When they were told what had happened they had a discussion, “how would you feel if someone treated you in this way?” They said sad, bad, angry, scared, hurt, like zero, and feel like crying. Then they talked about the different ways we are not the same. The next question was, “should I treat anyone differently because of what they have or don't have?” Everyone agreed “NO! TREAT US THE SAME.” Finally, they were asked to write a card with something nice about the person sitting on their right. The next day the teacher placed these cards on the student’s desks. When they came in after lunch they read their cards. They were very emotional and hugged each other. So what had started out as an obstacle, became an opening to help bring the children together in a way that touched them all. They experienced coming together as a group and appreciation of their differences. Everyone felt valued and included which began a process leading towards behaviour change. Follow up questions and interviews were planned for the 1st – 3rd grade students at the beginning of April. The new information would elucidate any new knowledge surrounding the value, especially in 1st grade. It was also hoped to provide a record of any behavior change resulting from the exploration of this value. For example, were children becoming more inclusive in their play or were some still being left out. Unfortunately, with the unexpected closure of school, we were not able to evaluate further changes or pursue the value further.

Grades 6-8:

The project is approached slightly differently with the older students. They have been doing this project since they entered Transition School and every year they look forward to exploring a new value. The grade 8 students are excited to be able to choose which value the school will look at. It is a process, and finally, after discussing and deciding amongst themselves, presenting it to the teachers and then the students the value of the year is presented. This whole process is a training in working together, listening to each other and finally making a decision. This year the students chose ‘Equality in Diversity’ from several suggested qualities. These included ‘Perseverance’ and ‘Acceptance’. This was a very important theme throughout the school year and really resonated with the students. It came up in personal and group discussions, in history class, a study of Human Rights, in science class and in the literature that was read. Issues ranged from bullying to things like racism, sexual equality, gender equality, religious freedom and other types of possible bias. The students chose library books that highlighted these topics and told their classmates about the books.

With the seventh grade, we had class discussions on equality in diversity, the students wrote about what it meant to them, and they made posters illustrating key aspects of the value that they resonated with. The class watched the film Hidden Figures, which focuses on gender and race elements of equality/inequality. The students really enjoyed the movie and it helped deepen their understanding of equality. The historical and geographical settings of the film were also enriching for the students.

The students from grades 6-8 did a survey which gave indications as to their understanding and feelings about the project:

Are all of us the same? In what ways are we different? In what ways are we the same?
Are differences ‘good’ or ‘bad’? Why or why not? Explain.
What is prejudice? Is prejudice the same as not liking someone?
How do you know when something is unfair? Sometimes does this have to do with prejudice? Think about this and explain your thoughts.
What are some prejudice ideas that you know about?
Have you ever experienced prejudice? Explain. How did it make you Feel?
How do you think people become prejudiced? Where do they learn it?
What would you do if someone acted prejudiced towards you?
What would you do if a friend of yours acted prejudiced towards someone else?

Music (all grades):

This year’s value was ‘Equality in Diversity’ and was chosen by the oldest students. As teachers, it is up to us how to implement this within our curriculum. In music, among other activities in this area, we decided to make a project that all the students in the school could participate in. At the beginning of the year we took a blank notice board and twice a month we gave students 15 minutes at the end of the class to create a post for display. The items on the board could be a song, a poem, a rhyme, a quote, or any mixture of ideas. They were completely free to choose, no length was stipulated, as long as it followed the value of the year, and that the work was mainly text. They were also limited to A5 size paper.

The idea for us as music teachers was to observe students using the skills that they had learned over the years, with the school value as an underlying theme. Song writing, poetry, singing, and free writing are all subjects that we work on throughout the grades, but usually in fixed projects and with set outcomes. Here, these ideas were used freely as creative tools and the aim to notice how children of different ages approached the same task. The posts were on display throughout the year, so students were free to read and share examples from other classes.

The results were extremely interesting. Especially for the younger children in grades 1-5, this led to a very natural and fluid expression on the value, and ideas came that surprised us in their creativity and openness. Older students were more inhibited, and perhaps more calculated in their approach, but nonetheless came up with some perceptive and in depth ideas on the subject. In both cases, the fact that the outcome was not fixed allowed expressions on the topic that would probably not normally have surfaced.

Activity::Awareness Through the Body (all grades):

Equality is a central and yet very challenging human quality to develop and integrate, for children and adults alike. There are many social agreements and cultural habits at play, as well as an ingrained tendency in our nature that induces us to both categorize the people we come across in our lives and also judge experiences as good or bad too quickly. To see the other as ‘equal’ while embracing, without judgment, the uniqueness of each human being, compels the individual to expand their consciousness and move out of the little, constricted sense of self, into a higher, more expanded sense of self.

Equality starts from a sense of seeing the other as ‘another human being like me’. From that base, by easing away any possible compulsion to judge the other, one then needs to adopt an open attitude of acceptance of the other as a different expression of the same humanity.

Transition School chose ‘Equality in Diversity’ as the central value for the whole school to work on throughout the year. So, the question was set: how to help children, in a simple and meaningful way, to start developing a sense of equality that acknowledges and embraces the richness of diversity?

The first thing we realized is that a base for equality was already practiced in ATB sessions. In all our sessions we encourage the development of the witness attitude, a sense of a neutral observer within. That is the base on which true equality can develop. (Lack of equality arises when an individual does not see the other but rather his/her mental and emotional perception of the other. He/she then interacts with or responds to the other accordingly, guided by that mental/emotional impression. From the observer within, the individual can notice when this happens, and then chose not to react or be moved by these inner impulses.)

Opening oneself to embrace diversity is also present in ATB sessions as children are always encouraged to relate to others from a sense of ‘one human being to another’, as oppose to the impulsive tendency to relate to others from a perspective of ‘friend’, ‘not friend’ or ‘like’, ‘dislike'.

Using that existing base in the children, I offered the groups from 5th to 8th grade some specific exercises where they could have a tangible body-felt sense of equality in diversity. All of the exercises involved eye contact. While staying present and available to this contact with the other, children were coached to notice (each within their own capacity) the inner movements that took place, and to refrain from engaging with them, while easing into a sense of ‘seeing and being seen’.

We could see that most of the children, specially from ages 12 to 14, were able to ease back from their surface selves into a deeper contact with themselves, and therefore with the other. It was clear to me that the children were having a body-felt experience of equality in diversity.

We also observed that what made these exercises very effective was that they were offered to children who already had a base in focusing attention, sensing and self-sensing, and that the exercises were embedded in other progressive introspective sessions. And as always in ATB, it was important to alternate the deep introspection exercises with fun activities to help the children keep their motivation and willingness alive and awake.

We did these types of exercises 3 times along the length of the school year. Each time, the exercises were essentially the same, but they were presented in a different way, which helped children to be engaged, making it feel like it was a new exploration.

What these specific exercises all had in common is that children were paired in twos, facing each other and holding eye contact. The way we got to this point was different each time, but it always ensured that the children were tuned to themselves and in a quiet and receptive state before starting the exercise.

Here are some key points I noted, for when the children are holding eye contact in these exercises:

To ensure that children are in a state of neutrality, to be able to notice changes in sensation and inner movements.
To guide the children at all times, from a sense of quiet and with a soft, encouraging voice.
To keep assisting children to stay in the position of a neutral observer within, without getting caught up in the inner movements that are taking place.
To point out in a general way what I notice is happening in each individual, so as to help children realize what is happening. We are all very similar at one level and yet very different from each other at another level. Each child’s experience is very personal and therefore the reactions they have to these exercises are very varied. Some common reactions from the children are: easing into the experiencing straight away; putting on a poker or theatrical face (like a mask); smiling; smiling nervously; laughing (sudden uncontrollable laugh); struggling because their eyes feel repelled to keeping continuous contact with their partner; nervously looking around; feeling awkward; tightening their muscles, tightening their insides and holding their breath; disappearing into their thoughts (‘nobody’s home’); feeling a sensation of vulnerability coming from ‘allowing the other to see me as I am’; feeling a sense of expansion, ease, wellbeing, love, free flowing breath, calmness and connectedness.
To time the exercise well in order for the experience to be meaningful. Because of the intensity of the eye contact and the nearness of the other, the individual goes through different varied inner movements that tend to keep changing during the contact. If the exercise is done too quickly, the children miss the richness that the experience can offer. If it takes too long, children could either loose their attention or get overwhelmed by the sensory input.
To help children notice that they have the possibility of choosing not to attach themselves to any sort of inner or outer movements and to help them realize that this very practice could bring them new perceptions and sensations.
To bring children to notice how they might suddenly see their friends, who they think they know so well, in a new, more intimate way.
To bring children to also notice how, with people that they have no affinity with or even people they might have a difficulty with or might dislike (children often tend to have their ‘friends’, their ‘I don’t know them’ and their ‘not friends’), if they move past their judgments and into the state of ‘seeing and been seen’, they can perceive these people in a new light. Here the child can see how behind the ‘not friend’ (and also the ‘friend’) there is another human being like them – another human being with the same needs for attention, love, belonging, feeling safe, acceptance, being cared for; another human being with aspirations, dreams, hopes and shortcomings; another human being finding his/her way in life the best he/she can while trying to stay true to him/herself, as they are.

In the first two sessions in which we explored these exercises, children were guided to exchange an object while facing each other holding eye contact. After that they were coached to repeated the exercise with each person in the group (like this, children had a wide variety of experiences, they were able to practice with people they felt an affinity with as well as with those they had difficulty relating to).

In the third session, the children did the exercises with two people of their choice, first someone they knew well and then someone that they would rather avoid. In this occasion we took considerably more time to do the exercise and there was no object exchange, these two factors increased the intensity of the experience.

To conclude, a fourth session on these exercises was programmed to happen at the end of this school year, but unfortunately, due to the circumstances leading the school year to finish abruptly, we have had to postpone it. Next school year we will continue with this work: revise all we have done, expand on it and bring it to a conclusion.

Reflections and conclusion:

As teachers and as a team, we know that if we want to guide the students and help them develop positive qualities, we must always make every effort to embody these qualities and live them openly. When our daily activities reflect positive values and character traits, we as teachers can be meaningful role models. We work to establish a positive classroom environment, where all are treated with care and respect and high interest motivating programs.

Even then, sometimes we face difficulties with a child or children. Some years ago we worked together to develop a method that we feel has helped us to work with a child when there are behavioral or attitude problems. The aim is to help the child understand that although his/her behavior or attitude is not acceptable, she/he as a person is great. We work with the child to help him/her change the problem, to find a solution. We want the child to feel that we are all on the same side, that teachers are there to assist him into developing and growing to the maximum of his potential. There should be no feeling of fear, just expectations of efforts to change.

The relationship between the students and the teachers should be based on trust; with this, we can all progress. Of course, we all have times when we do not live up to the values that we want to live by, but we believe that with awareness, discussion and consistent effort and practice this project helps our children and ourselves.