When Mowgli From The Jungle Comes Alive In The Classroom To Teach Coexistence!

Working with the many government schools in Khekra, we’ve come to a realization that teaching and learning can go hand in hand, not just for the students but also for the teacher! In one of the classes of Grade 3 in Khekra School No 4, we saw that the teacher adopted a different approach for teaching a concept in a class of almost 30–35 students. Through discussions with the students, the teacher aimed at building a student-teacher relationship in the classroom. And well, the teacher did perhaps end up creating a better bond with the students. Let’s learn more about how it went!

The ongoing topic was “Jungle” and an episode of the Jungle Book series was shown to the children. Before starting the episode, the teacher asked a few open-ended relatable questions to the students, to learn about what they already know, think and feel about the jungle!

These questions not only helped the students to apply their existing knowledge to the learning process but also made learning easy. They could build their newly acquired knowledge over their existing knowledge, hence strengthening their understanding of the subject.

The lively conversation between both the students and teachers made the overall environment of the class very interesting. The seeds of a good student-teacher relationship were sown!

Mowgli Turns Teacher In This Fun Classroom!

In the episode that was being shown, Mowgli is left in the jungle and the family of wolves takes him in. The significance of the whole episode was to teach how animals cared about humans and the importance of a jungle in our lives.

The teacher began the discussion by asking the students,

“Why are jungles necessary?”

The enthusiastic students started answering right away. Some said that a jungle gives us wood. Some claimed that it gives us food. Some shared that jungle is home for animals so it is very necessary!

The discussion progressed to a very interesting observation that we can’t exist without a jungle but a jungle can exist better without us. This was a realization even for us! The students also contemplated how we mostly look at a jungle from the lens of what it can give us, while completely forgetting about the absolute value it holds just by existing!

Learning The Importance Of Coexistence

Soon after, the teacher touched upon another angle of this discussion. She asked the students -

Are jungle and our environment related to each other. If yes, how? And if not, why not?

While answering the question, many students made a connection to what they had seen in the video shown earlier. They remembered that Mowgli’s parents were researchers and were investigating the soil of the jungle and its quality. They self-concluded that by harming a jungle, we are harming the environment, which is the habitat for every living species.

A student also observed how even animals live with rules — “Niyam”, by stating an example from the video, where the animals had a rule of not killing humans. He also exclaimed that even we should live with rules of not harming them and polluting the jungle. Soon a connection was drawn to their classroom and how they should abide by the classroom rules.

The teacher was amazed at the points the students were self-discovering only by watching a small episode of 20 minutes.

Understanding Animals Better By Paying Attention To Pets

The last question the teacher asked the students was,

“Do animals feel emotions?”

The students at this point were really confused. So the teacher felt the need of making the question more relatable. She now interchanged her previous question with,

“Do you have pets at home?”

The energy and enthusiasm of the classroom raised again. Some said they have dogs and others said they have cows. So the teacher progressed the discussion towards that direction and asked the students whether their pets always behave in the same manner? Or do they behave differently when they are happy, sad, angry?

This question further helped the students to understand how animals can also feel emotions and they reflected on their personal bond with the pets in their house.

Building Blocks Of A Teacher-Student Relationship

This comprehensive reflective conversation gave an opportunity to the teacher to understand her students better. Their answers gave the teacher a peek into the little things from their home and upbringing. The same conversation that helped students learn about nature, jungle, and animals, helped the teacher to develop an empathetic and compassionate relationship with her students.

If one open-ended discussion can lead to so much learning, growth, and reflection, just imagine what kind of extraordinary things can pan out in the classroom, when applied to different topics.

We, at Tarkeybein, are just super thrilled to witness these classes and understand the deeper phases of learning. We later heard that the same teacher taught the topic of “Transport” to the students using the same method, and we can bet what an interesting class it must have been!

If you resonate with our work, want to implement this model in your community, want to support this initiative, or just want to drop in some encouraging words, we invite you to write to us at tarkeybein@gmail.com :)