Reflection Sunday 1st December 2024

 Sunday School No. 165

Reflection of the week
-From My Name Is Cinnamon-
1. What was your takeaway from the session today?
2. What were the critical points in the chapter?
3. Journey of self-discovery
4. How do you think his birth parents will react?
5. If he met his birth parents, how would Cinnamon feel?
6. What do you hope for in the story?
7. How would you feel if you were in Cinnamon's place?

Sunday School:
Discuss education approaches with guest speaker Lina Ashar and continue reading "My Name is Cinnamon" book.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on developing emotional intelligence (EQ) and life skills over academic knowledge.
• Design learning experiences that build empathy, critical thinking and adaptability
• Encourage students to define success for themselves beyond just grades
• Use AI as a tool for research/collaboration, but ensure reflections are authentic

Topics

Guest Speaker: Lina Ashar on Education Approaches

• Emphasized the need to completely overhaul conventional schooling
• Advocated measuring traits like kindness, empathy, ethical decision-making
• Suggested embedding values into learning design, e.g. teaching empathy through debate exercises
• Highlighted the importance of self-driven learning based on student interests
• Recommended 80% focus on EQ development, 20% on IQ/academics

Time Management and Focus

• Lina suggested "time boxing" - allocating specific time blocks for tasks
• Identified focus and anti-fragilitycritical key skills for the future
• Advised teaching self-regulation, mindfulness, and flow states to improve focus

Stress Management for Students

• Acknowledged anxiety/depression as a growing concern
• Noted lack of nature exposure and sensory overload as contributors
• Suggested increasing recess time, cutting unnecessary academic content
• Recommended parents ask more feeling-based vs. doing-based questions

Book Reading: "My Name is Cinnamon"

• Chapter 11 details Cinnamon's arrival in Ratnapur to meet their birth parents.
• Discussed characters' emotions and motivations as the story progressed
• Reflected on themes of identity, belonging, and defining success

My Good School Program Updates

• Reviewed upcoming calendar of events and activities
• Discussed new WhatsApp community structure for communications
• Emphasized focus on the "Joy of Giving" initiative and school partnerships

Next Steps

• For more about Lina and her work, listen to the Podcast on www.GSI.IN 
• Talk on the Joy of Learning Diaries blog and how to post quality reflections.
• Students to submit reflections on meeting, avoiding over-reliance on AI
• Continue "My Name is Cinnamon" reading in future sessions
• Prepare for the upcoming Varanasi trip and end-of-year reflection

These are some suggestions you can choose from. Looking forward to seeing your wonderful and thoughtful reflections! You can email your reflections to - mk@learningforward.org.in; post them as comments below!