We all have our challenges, and we all have lessons to share.
~ words from Annie that keep us thinking and wondering ~
Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
Notice what you notice. Wonder what you wonder. There is no quiz, no right way. Read until something stays.
this film has no words. notice what you notice. notice what you wonder. wonder out loud. and don't forget to notice what you feel, too.
Bringing Out Values & The Magic Of Apologies
Dhoom. Dhoom. Dhoom. The boys beat their fists against the window. Even though some students told them to stop, they continued. Then suddenly the glass shattered, and there was a scream. One of the students had been cut by a glass shard, and the class exploded with students shouting at each other.
I walked into the class after my lunch break and heard this story from the other teachers in the room. They asked me why I would leave such a mischievous group of students by themselves. I was disappointed that this had happened. I told my students I was going to step outside, and I asked them to call me once they had a solution to this problem. I patiently waited outside. It took quite a while before Ravi called me back in.
When I walked in there was complete silence, and then the boys who had broken the window apologized. They shared that they learnt it is important to listen to one another. They spoke about why it is important to pause and think about the impact of their actions. I was so shocked. They went on to say how they decided to respect and listen to each other more and would save their own money to the window repair. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t scolded my kids. I hadn’t even said a word.
When was a time that you realized you’d done something wrong even before someone told you?
What did you do?
What did you learn from this?
That day was a learning experience for our class. That day, I realized my students were capable of finding solutions to their own problems. I realized they had the capacity to lead and to be independent. I realized I did not have to be in control, and I can expect more from them. I realized the solutions and answers are in them. They do not need the answers to come from me.
Is it helpful for a teacher to make all the decisions in the classroom?
In my class, everyone has a say in the major decisions of the class.
What do you think about this way of functioning?
What would you do if you were part of a class like this?
What might some of the challenges be?
Since this incident I have seen so many changes in my students. Shoaib, who was once one of the most naughty boys, has now taken so much responsibility. He is the last one to leave as he locks up the school every evening. He’s also the first to arrive to open the school gate in the morning. It’s his responsibility to safeguard the key!
We all can change our ways.
Do you believe that?
We change quite often, but it can be harder for others to notice.
How have you seen others in your class change over time?
How have you seen yourself change?
I want my kids to be self-reliant, confident, and caring people. I try to integrate these values in everything I teach. I often share about the lives of role models with my class. We’ve learned from Malala’s bravery and Gandhi’s struggles. We’ve also learned from a farmer and young kids in our community. We all have our challenges, and we all have lessons to share. We often talk about what it means to live by our values. Actually, it happens every day. We talk about what actions we should take. We talk about the people we want to be, and we help each other take those actions.
Who are the people that inspire you with their actions?
Are there people in your family, your community, or people you’ve only heard of?
How do you inspire yourself?
The change I have seen in my students inspires me. Let me share an example. One of our students, Sai, joined us last year from another school. When he came, he often stole things from his friends and even from the school. I spent time with him. I asked him about his life, and I learned to understand him. After some time, he told me he wanted to join the army. We discussed the values an army soldier holds, like discipline, honesty, and respect. I began integrating these values into my daily lessons, and over time our class began to see changes in Sai. He is far more open now and he speaks the truth. You probably wouldn’t recognize the boy he used to be. This is very exciting for me as a teacher. I am so proud of the changes I have seen in my students. Success to me is bringing out the values that are in them. I believe in them to change the world for the better.
Changes have happened in my classroom in behavior and in academic achievement.
At the beginning of Grade 5 the average level of Reading comprehension in my class was at 1.
8, in the middle year assessments the students were at an average level of 2.
0, and by the end of year assessments they were at an average of 2.
9.
Can you calculate the growth made in between the different assessments?
It would be helpful if you can represent your data in the form of a bar graph so my students can visualize the change over the year.
Ask students to help rearrange chairs in a circle and start class with 2 min. of collective silence.
Annie Brings Out Values.” Ask students to work in pairs to identify and define the values Annie discusses in her story. For example, self-reliance, caring for others, discipline, responsibility. “What does she mean by these terms?”
: Now that students have recognized some of the values in the story, it’s time to ask a big question.
“What are values?” “What are other important values beyond the ones that Annie talks about?” “How do we know when values are demonstrated?” List the values that are important to students. These can become “value cards” that are posted in the classroom to help students. Ask students to create the value cards for each of the values they think are important. They can list the word and include a visual symbol for the value. For example, a lion for courage, a heart for compassion, or a runner for perseverance. Consistently encourage discussion of these terms and symbols so that they become part of the classroom culture. Then, watch “I am Annie” and ask students to individually note the values they see as they watch the video. For example, responsibility and punctuality was demonstrated by the student, Shoaib, who unlocked the classroom for students. Watch the video a few times, if it helps students recognize more values. Then, ask a few students to share what values they saw. Is there agreement amongst what students saw and identified as a value? Where students might disagree, encourage discussion about how they viewed the action and the value.
Practice bar graphs with Annie as she assesses her class! At the end of page 3, Annie provides information regarding how her students have progressed in reading throughout the year.
Use this date to practice using bar graphs. You could also have students graph their own progress in something like reading and celebrate their improvement, encouraging another value: growth mindset!
For even more practice in learning about values, ask students to pair up and assign values to some example situations you suggest. Ask students to identify the response or action they would take, and also the value that’s associated with that action.
Here are some example situations that you can share with the class. You see your friend hitting someone- what do you do? A friend asks you for help in understanding a math concept- What do you do? Your parents scold you for something that your little brother did wrong- What do you do?
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Naming Values & The Power Of Apologies
Dhoom, dhoom, dhoom. The boys beat their fists against the window. Even though some students told them to stop, they continued. Then suddenly the glass shattered, and there was a scream. One of the students had been cut by a glass shard, and the class exploded with students shouting at each other.
I walked into the class after my lunch break and heard this story from the other teachers in the room. They asked me why I would leave such a mischievous group of students by themselves. I was disappointed that this had happened. I told my students I was going to step outside, and I asked them to call me once they had a solution to this problem. I patiently waited outside. It took quite a while before Ravi called me back in.
When I walked in there was complete silence, and then the boys who had broken the window apologized. They shared that they learned it is important to listen to one another. They spoke about why it is important to pause and think about the impact of their actions. I was so shocked. They went on to say how they decided to respect and listen to each other more and would save their own money to the window repair. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t scolded my kids. I hadn’t even said a word.
When was a time that you realized you’d done something wrong even before someone told you?
What did you do?
What did you learn from this?
What does it mean to you to apologize with compassion?
That day was a learning experience for our class. That day, I realized my students were capable of finding solutions to their own problems. I realized they had the capacity to lead and to be independent. I realized I did not have to be in control, and I should expect more from them. I realized the solutions and answers are in them. They do not need the answers to come from me.
Is it helpful for a teacher to make all the decisions in the classroom?
In my class, everyone has a say in the major decisions of the class.
What do you think about this way of functioning?
What would you do if you were part of a class like this?
What might some of the challenges be?
Since this incident, I have seen so many changes in my students. Shoaib, who was once one of the naughtiest boys, now has taken so much responsibility. He is the last one to leave as he locks up the school every evening. He’s also the first to arrive to open the school gate in the morning. It’s his responsibility to safeguard the key, not mine.
We all can change our ways.
Do you believe that?
We change quite often, but it can be harder for others to notice.
How have you seen others in your class change over time?
How have you seen yourself change?
I want my kids to be self-reliant, confident, and caring people. I try to integrate these values in everything I teach. I often share about the lives of role models with my class. We’ve learned from Malala’s bravery and Gandhi’s struggles. We’ve also learned from a farmer and young kids in our community. We all have our challenges, and we all have lessons to share. We often talk about what it means to live by our values. Actually, it happens every day. We talk about what actions we should take. We talk about the people we want to be, and we help each other take those actions.
Who are the people that inspire you with their actions?
Are there people in your family, your community, or people you’ve only heard of?
How do you inspire yourself?
The change I have seen in my students inspires me. Let me share an example. One of our students, Sai, joined us last year from another school. When he came, he often stole things from his friends and even from the school. I spent time with him. I asked him about his life, and I learned to understand him. After sometime, he told me he wanted to join the army. We discussed the values an army soldier holds, like discipline, honesty, and respect. I began integrating these values into my daily lessons, and over time our class began to see changes in Sai. He is far more open now, and he speaks the truth. You probably wouldn’t recognize the boy he used to be. This is very exciting for me as a teacher. I am so proud of the changes I have seen in my students. Success to me is bringing out the values that are in them. I believe in them to change the world for the better.
Changes have happened in my classroom in behavior and in academic achievement. At the beginning of Grade 5, the average level of Reading comprehension in my class was at 1.8. In the middle year assessments, the students were at an average level of 2.0. And by the end of year assessments, they were at an average of 2.9. How can we illustrate this growth on a number line? How would we just write it in words? Which feels the most helpful for understanding and celebrating our growth?
Begin with the mediation exercise shared by Annie at the beginning of this lesson plan.
“What are values?” Lead a group discussion by asking, “When have you heard people use the term ‘values’?
What are some important values you’ve been taught?” Keep in mind you’re not testing their knowledge of values, but rather facilitating critical thinking about values and assessing their understanding to inform further discussion. Suggest coming up with, “a rough draft of your classes’ definition of values.” By the end of the lesson you’ll have a class definition, explored ideas to interact with values in your classroom, and used decimals to represent growth.
Introduce Annie, a teacher in India, and start the lesson by reading Annie Brings Out Values. Ask students to work in pairs to identify and define the values Annie discusses in her story.
For example, self-reliance, caring for others, discipline, and responsibility. “What does she mean by these terms?” Next, watch I am Annie, and ask students to individually note the values they see as they watch the video. For example, responsibility and punctuality was demonstrated by the student, Shoaib, who unlocked the classroom for students. Watch the video a few times, if it helps students recognize more values. Then, ask a few students to share what values they saw. Is there agreement amongst what students saw and identified as a value? Where students might disagree, encourage discussion about how they viewed the action and the value. Suggest to students that now you think about how to bring values into your classroom, inspired by Annie. Look back at your rough draft definition of values. “Now that we’ve thought a little deeper about values, what might we change about our definition? What might we add to it?” To prepare students to create a poster with your class’ definition of values and the values they want to practice, carry out an activity to facilitate comfort in naming values. Pair up students and ask them to assign values to some example situations you suggest. Students can identify the response or action they would take, and also the value associated with that action. Here are some example situations that you can share with the class: You see your friend hitting someone- What do you do? A friend asks you for help in understanding a math concept- What do you do? Your parents scold you for something that your little brother did wrong- What do you do?
The third or fourth section will typically be the place that math starts to show up. Annie describes the growth she has seen in her students’ reading comprehension in decimals greater than 1.
You could use the context she provides to introduce decimals, to practice writing decimals on the number line, and to compare decimals visually. To tie this math into the discussion on values, consider asking students, “What type of values did Annie’s students demonstrate in increasing their reading comprehension? How might this visual representation of their growth make them feel?” Bring the lesson back to your own classroom by asking students, “What are we working on right now that we could start to track with decimals greater than 1?” Place a number line, or some other visual representation, in the classroom somewhere students can see. Encourage them to keep track of their growth on the number line in the coming weeks.
As a class, create value cards for students to hand out to each other as positive feedback when they observe demonstration of shared values in the classroom.
“What are other important values beyond the ones that Annie talks about?” “How do we know when values are demonstrated?” Ask students to create value cards for each of the values they think are important, both to your classroom and to them personally. They can list the word and include a visual symbol for the value, such as a lion for courage, a heart for compassion, or a runner for perseverance. Consistently encourage students (yourself included!) to award a value card to another student when they observe that student demonstrating said value. This practice will help instill value-naming as part of your classroom culture!
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Facing Fears
Have you ever felt pressure to do something you didn’t want to do? Why did you feel this pressure? Was it because of something someone said, or was it unspoken? Maybe it was because of pressure you put on yourself? How do you know? What did you do? Do you wish you had made a different choice, like I did?
It took courage for me to leave. Yet, by then, I was determined to find the right job for me. Does quitting something that you have no interest in make you a quitter? Do you think this made me a quitter? I’ve heard that the definition of a quitter is a person who gives up easily or does not have the courage or determination to finish a task. How do you think it relates to my situation?
I decided that teaching was how I wanted to make an impact in the world, but is the job you choose the only way to have an impact? What do you think? The job you choose may have a positive impact on your family, on your neighborhood, and on the world. You can also impact the world with how you live, like how you treat others. How do you want to make an impact in your life? What are you doing about it now?
I like to believe that I have made an impact, but I only have 6 months left and there is still so much I want to do! If we think about my time teaching in chunks of 6 months, how could we write it as a mixed number? What about as an improper fraction? If my position is two years total, and I have 6 months left, how could we illustrate this as a subtraction problem to determine how much time I’ve worked so far? Which do you think is more helpful in thinking about how much time I have left? Do you have any suggestions on how I can best manage my time to complete everything I want to do?
I learned to face my fears by doing the very things of I was most frightened. It doesn’t matter if I’m no longer a school student, I don’t want to stop learning and growing. What are the ways you hope to grow? Will you share some of the fears that you have in your life? How do you plan to overcome them?
Ask students to close their eyes and take deep breaths for 2 minutes to promote a sense of calm in your classroom.
“What do you think and feel when you hear this quote: ‘The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers.
You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process, is its own reward.’” Start by asking students what they understand from the quote and then discuss each phrase. “What might she mean by the ‘most difficult thing is the decision to act?’ How can the ‘procedure, the process (be) its own reward?’” Perhaps write the quote on the board and underline potentially new words, like “tenacity.” Leverage the moment to introduce new vocabulary words, and tell students that you’ll be learning about someone named Annie, who is inspired by this quote by Amelia Earhart in her own journey to face her fears.
Watch the video, I am Annie, encouraging students to pay attention to what may be some of Annie’s fears. Then, read the story, “I am Annie” to learn more.
On page 2, Annie shares how she realized she needed to quit her job in engineering. Understanding why to quit is a difficult choice we all have to make sometimes. “How do we know when it’s the right time? How do we know when it’s coming from a place of fear, or when it’s coming from a deeper desire for improvement and growth?” The answers to these questions aren’t often clear, and many times we don’t have all of the information when we make a decision. Here, let’s invite students to be self-aware about why they make their choices. Quitting isn’t always the best response, but knowing when to quit is important. Encourage students to see the difference by reflecting on some of their past decisions. Ask, “Is there something you are currently doing that you would like to quit? Where is that desire to quite coming from?” This can be a discussion, or a self-reflection writing activity. Next, ask the group to divide into smaller groups of 3 to 4 and pass out small slips of paper with culturally appropriate scenarios written for each group. Some ideas include: “You’ve been playing the flute and taking lessons for 3 years, and initially you enjoyed it, but now you don’t like to practice at all. You’d rather play with your friends. Is it time to quit? “You’ve been taking care of your little sister after school when your parents are working. Recently, she’s been annoying you and not letting you watch TV. Is it time to quit?”
Practice working with mixed numbers and subtracting fractions with common denominators by helping Annie think about the time she has remaining in her teaching position.
Throughout her story, Annie describes how she faced her fears to become a teacher, pursuing a fellowship with Teach for India. On page 3, she mentions that she only has 6 months left in her two year fellowship, and yet there is still so much she wants to do! With your students, focus the conversation around Annie’s feelings that there is not much time left, asking students, “Have you ever experienced a time when you were really enjoying something, and wanted to do more of it, yet felt there was no time left?” In this context, help students think about Annie’s time as a teacher in the form of numbers. Using each chunk of 6 months as a ‘whole,’ you can write her time as a mixed number and then convert it to an improper fraction. Use subtraction to figure out how to write her remaining time. Then, suggest to students that you consider the entire two years as one whole unit. This provides an opportunity to practice decomposing fractions. Now how would you write her time remaining as a fraction? Perhaps visual aids would help. “Does writing her time in these two different ways change the way we think about her remaining time? Which feels more promising? How might these numbers help Annie figure out how to organize her remaining time and all she wants to do?”
SELF-REFLECTION ACTIVITY Debrief by asking students to share one learning from Annie’s story that they’ll apply in their own lives. They could write or draw a response, then share with the class.
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Breaking Assumptions
There are 39 students in my class, and I have about 3 hours to visit their families before the last train leaves towards the city. Since I only have a limited amount of time, how many families do you think I should visit today? About how much time should I spend with each of them? If it takes an average of 6 minutes to travel from one home to another, how many days will it take to visit the homes of all of my students if I have about 3 hours each day? It might be easier to think about if we convert the hours to minutes.
Often we only hear the worst aspects about a person or a place. Have you noticed this too? Why do you think this happens? It seems like we regularly start talking about the bad instead of focusing on the good. Have you heard of the word ‘bias’? How might our biases influence the way we see a person, a place, or ourselves? How can we change this?
What are some of the unique methodologies that your teacher uses in your classroom to help you learn? You must know that students learn from teachers, but have you also thought about how teachers might learn from students? We all learn from each other in my classroom. When have you learned from someone you didn’t expect to learn from? Why do you think you assumed that you wouldn’t?
This is my story about some of the assumptions I had and how I’m trying to break them, for myself and for my students. Have you learned about what assumptions are? How can you collaborate with others in your class to learn more and to break assumptions like my students and I?
Move chairs and desks to the side to create space for a meditative activity that will begin this lesson.
“Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and imagine placing all of your worries and struggles into a balloon. ” Softly tell students the balloon can be small, or it can be stretched to fit as many worries and challenges that are on their mind, and any color or shape they want.
Then, ask students to imagine that the balloon is hovering right above their heads and that the string of the balloon is still attached to them. Once students have placed all of their worries into the balloon, ask, “Is there anyone who would like to share what might have been bothering them?” Encourage them to speak from their comfortable position, eyes still closed. After a student speaks, thank the student for sharing. Then, end the activity with asking the students to imagine that they’ve let the string go, and now they can see the balloon floating away with their worries. “In what days did imagining the balloon change the way you’re feeling?” Let students know that you’re going to be learning about a teacher in India, Annie, and how she and her class are striving to break assumptions they have about people who are different from themselves. In Annie’s class, each day starts and ends with 1.5 minutes of meditation.
To introduce Annie, begin by watching the video, I am Annie.
“While watching the video, take note of any thoughts that come to mind about the people and places you see.” When the video ends, invite students to share any observations they had about the people and places in the video. Write them down somewhere everyone can see them. Then ask, “Which of these do we definitively know are true? Without asking anyone or being there ourselves?” Erase those observations that are factual, for example, an observation about the color of Annie’s clothes. “Now, let’s take a look at what is left up here. We’ve never met these people. We’ve never been to this community. Why might we think these things are true?” Guide students toward recognizing the natural tendency to make judgements and assumptions about people we do not know. “This is natural and ok, it is just important we realize we are doing it! WE all have a lens through which we see the world that is created by our own life experiences. Now, let’s read Annie’s story to see what we can learn about avoiding assumptions.” On page 2, Annie shares a story about an experience that opened her eyes to her own assumptions and shifted her view of the community in which she works. Invite students to share a similar experience of their own, and/or share a personal experience. Hone in on the reflection questions she provides in green, introducing the idea of biases. “What might be some of the things that create our biases about the way we see people or places?” Provide culturally relevant examples, such as a dominant religion or gender.
Practice thinking about time and converting units of time by helping Annie plan visits to her students’ homes.
At the bottom of page 1, Annie introduces some numbers regarding her upcoming visits to the homes of her students and asks for students’ help in figuring out how many families she should visit in a day, and how many days it will take to visit everyone. This is a great opportunity to think about reasonable units of time measurement, to estimate time, practice telling time, and converting time from hours to minutes. Students will also need to do some division, addition and subtraction to solve this word problem. Consider assigning an afternoon/evening time frame and asking students to make clocks and/or number lines to represent the schedule visually, pretending they are Annie’s “assistant” and need to present her with a written schedule for the visits.
At the end of each day, students in Annie’s class sit in a “sharing circle” and are asked to share their ‘glows and grows:’ what they have done well, and where they would like to improve.
Annie joins in as well to help students recognize that her growth and improvements are important, too. This is also a great time to ask students for feedback. This can be for the class that day, or for each other.
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
If a moment stayed, follow it. If a question rose up, hold it. The quiet teaching is still teaching.
Three or four real stories woven into one lesson, your topic, your time. Annie is one. The weaver finds the others, threads the math, the literacy, the values, the reflection.
Open the weaver →