SELFDISCOVERY, 1-11 APRIL, 2014 (CLASSES 1-12)

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle Our school is incessantly devoted to providing quality education to our students by equipping them with skills, confidence and a sense of optimism. In an effort to achieve this, each year, we begin the academic session with a Self Discovery Week. This is an innovative way to build students self-esteem and getting them to know each other. A variety of activities were conducted which enabled the students to identify their interests, their opinions on a wide range of topics, and their likes and dislikes. For the first time, students were encouraged to express their views in the form of short video clips as well. Self-Discovery activities are fun ways for students to discover new and exciting things about themselves. One of the best ways to connect with children is to talk to them about things that interest them. Often students have a negative self-image. These activities are intended to help construct the self-esteem of the students by focusing on their positive qualities and aspirations. Self-Discovery Week is a gateway for teachers to raise the bar of expectations for students and keep their dreams alive by encouraging students to believe in themselves. [gallery columns="2"] Students of Class 1 drew self-portraits. They then, described their favourite teacher and created beautiful family trees. Students of Class 2 wrote about their dreams and aspirations and about their favourite things. With the teachers' help, the children created envelopes using old newspaper and decorated these with handprints and origami. Students of classes 3, 4 and 5 started off rediscovering themselves through the distinctive activities planned for them. The journey started with identifying certain likes and dislikes through an inventory which had been typed for them. They filled in a form and drew a replica of themselves as they look now. They then travelled down their earlier years at School and compared what they were earlier to what they had become now! They were indeed animated to see the difference! They also created a collage with pictures from the past then drew comparisons. They wrote about three things they would like others to know about themselves and they wrote about their strengths and weaknesses. They interviewed their friends and family members and collected views on various related topics. This gave them an insight into things they might not be able to express otherwise. Students of classes 6, 7 & 8 returned to their roots tracing their original ancestral homes and came out with startling revelations which they penned down as miniature scrolls. In a fun activity they also discovered their lucky number using numerology and identified their personality traits. Students of classes 9 & 10 developed self inventories based on their responses to a specially designed questionnaire aimed at identifying their performance goals and their vision of success. Students of classes 11 & 12 went through a process of introspection through classroom discussions about choices made in life, reading of biographies and auto-biographies and group activities. At the end of these sessions, we were delighted to listen to the students voice their views in extremely thought- provoking self expression. Reported by Ms. Neelima Sharma and Ms. Sonia Mojumdar.