Innovative lesson plan...

            Name of the chapter : We’re the world.                                  

        Class                         : 8  

Theme                       : The song celebrates solidarity and togetherness. Elaborates on the  concept                    of humanity and taking up action when a person is in need.   

 

The farmer

The garden

Bridging the heart: It is a warm, bright day! The teacher enters the class, keeps the textbook ‘away’ on the table and starts interacting with the students in a very informal manner.         Upon seeing the teacher in class the students stand up and wish; “Good morning sir!” in the old and rusted tune of the chorus.            The teacher asks the children to be seated and after observing them for a few minutes says:                 “You don’t have to address me as ‘sir’ when I get into the class. You can address me as ‘teacher’ just like everybody else.”        After a brief interaction process, the children are made to sit upright. They are asked to close their eyes, embrace the silence around them, and then inhale and exhale by focusing only on their breath and the ‘hissing’ sound of exhaling.        This is repeated a few more times. This practice lets the strenuous air out of the class, sets the mood right for learning something new, and makes the children more awake and aware. The fueling initiative: The teacher initiates a method of ‘Cinema education.’ i.e., inculcating literacy utilizing cinema.          The teacher shows 2 video clips on the projector screen. One is the climax sequence of the movie, ‘Sudani from Nigeria’, Where a Malayali youth and a Nigerian person are seen hugging each other with a tint of a smile on their faces. And the second one is from the movie ‘Jojo Rabbit.’ The war has come to an end. A German boy and a Jewish girl are seen dancing together on the streets of Germany. The screen gradually blacks out and words by Rilke appear on the screen:          ‘Let everything happen to you: Beauty and terror. No feeling is final.’ Understanding lessons from the activity: The teacher smiles, walks around the class, and asks a few questions: What did you understand from these videos? How are these humans different from each other? What are the factors that are connecting them? How do you think that they are feeling? Can you associate some words to define their human connection? Travel down the road in search of humanity: The teacher asked the learners to picturise an individual who sat beside him/her when he/she was sobbing or crying. (The teacher waits for a minute or two.) Now, The teacher asks the students to think of that person throughout the class and to associate the individual through each line of the poem. The introductory part: The teacher introduces the song, ‘We’re the World.’ and its writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie Jr. Reading for the soul: The learners are asked to read the poem silently. While reading they are asked to underline the verses that resonate with them and ask them to scribble those words beside the song.            Reading from the soul. The students on the left and right side are divided into groups and the teacher says that the students from those groups who come forward voluntarily will be rewarded points. The students are called upon for reading. They are made to read the first stanza twice.           The first time in a way that they want it to be. The second time the teacher asks them to read the poem slowly, stressing each line and feeling each emotion inscribed in the poem. The teacher tries to take the readers to the same mindset that the songwriters felt when they wrote the song for the whole of the human race.                        Understanding the newly formed conscience of the soul: The teacher inspires the students to come forward and explain the poem as they have understood it. The teacher says that Any work of art, let alone a poem, can only be appreciated when it comes from the heart of the reader itself. Any work of fiction’s definition is the definition given by the reader and never by a teacher. The teacher also ensures them that there are no wrongs when expressing one's feelings about a work of fiction                   Understanding of the text:   As the students narrate their understanding of the song, The teacher writes certain words from their very own words of the description provided by them. ‘A certain call to stand together, We humans are the greatest gift of God, Helping a crying person, It's time to lend a helping hand… and so on Elaborating on the self learning experience of the students: The teacher guarantees them that they have learned the song all by themselves and assures them that it is easy to appreciate any work of art. It only requires a person to give it their heart and solitude for the magical world of art to manifest itself.           The teacher encapsulates the main theme in the song that is, ‘Humanity’ by taking aid of the explanations provided by the students. The teacher provides a line-by-line explanation of the poem and also provides meaning for the difficult words. Certain: To firmly believe. Lend: To provide. A sapling; A tree: The teacher asks the students to say out loud the words or verses that resonated with them when they read the text silently in the beginning.                    The teacher writes every word provided by the students on the board and asks them to write a short poem on the word or verse that they have written             For instance :                           Write a poem on;                                      ‘Love is all we need.’ \ A reminder till we meet again: The teacher bids them farewell, wishes them a happening day, and leaves the class after writing on the board: ‘Spread love like a virus.’

Rapport with students is established instantly. The students watch with keen attention. The students answer enthusiastically: They are of different colors. They are from different places. But they are connected with a hug and with music. They are feeling happy. The students provide random words like, Friendship, Love, Happiness and so on. The students write down verses like: ‘We are the ones that make a brighter day’ ‘It’s true we’ll make a better day.’ The students try to read with more involvement. The  students clearly understand the way of reading a song and read appropriately.  The students listen carefully and actively participate without any inhibitions. The students have a reflective understanding of the text. The students say out loud the verses that they scribbled on their textbooks earlier on: ‘We are the ones that make a brighter day’ ‘It’s true we’ll make a better day.’ ‘Love is all we need.’