"Enacting the short story; The School for Sympathy by E V Lucas"
INTRODUCTION
"“Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual, while Innovation is the implementation of something new" – Paul Sloane.
Innovative work is one of the important works assigned to the student-teachers as part of their B.Ed. Course. This work aims at equipping future teachers to transact the learning materials and experiences innovatively and creatively to ensure the active participation of learners in the learning process by arousing interest in them. Innovation can be broadly thought of as new ideas, new ways of looking at things, new methods, or products that have value. Innovation contains the idea of output, of actually producing or doing something differently, making something happen, or implementing something new. Innovation almost always involves hard work; persistence and perseverance are necessary as many good ideas never get followed through and developed.
Innovation and creativity are fundamental to all academic disciplines and educational activities, not just the arts. The creative process is a critical component of making sense of learning experiences. Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others (Robert E. Franken). To be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives.
As part of our B.Ed. the curriculum we have to do an innovative work during my teaching practice in the school Govt. Model Higher Secondary School, Venjaramoodu in Thiruvananthapuram. The innovative work which I have chosen was "Enacting the short story; The School for Sympathy by E V Lucas" on February 09, 2023. The venue for the programme were the school auditorium and school ground.
SUMMARY OF THE SHORT STORY
The writer had heard a lot about Miss Beam’s school. But he had never visited it. One day he got the opportunity to visit it. On entering the campus he saw no one except a girl of twelve. Her eyes were covered with a bandage. A little boy of about eight was guiding her between the flower beds in the garden. The girl stooped. She evidently asked here guide about the writer. The boy seemed to describe the writer to her. Then they passed on. The writer went into the building and met Miss Beam the head of the school.
Miss beam was middle aged, authoritative, kindly and understanding. Her hair and started turning grey. She was a mother figure for the young boys and girls in the school. The writer asked Miss Beam some questions about her scholastic methods. Miss Beam said that there was not much scholastic education. The boys were taught spelling, adding, subtracting, multiplying and writing only. The rest was done by reading to them and by lectures. During these the students had to sit still and quite.
The writer asked Miss Beam about the originality of her system; Miss Beam said that the real aim of the school was not to instill thoughts thoughtfulness. The real aim was to instill humanity and citizenship. Miss Beam was happy that some parents trusted her to try and put her ideal into execution. They sent their sons and daughter to her school. Miss Beam asked the writer to look out of the window. He saw some beautiful grounds and many jolly children; He was pained to find that all the children were not healthy and active. He told Miss Beam about the girl with her eyes bandaged whom he saw as he came in. Looking out of the window now he saw two more with their eyes bandaged. He also saw a little girl with a crutch. She seemed to be a cripple.
Miss Beam laughed and said that she was not really lame. Those with eyes covered in bandages were not really blind, the one with a crutch and her lame day. The others were having their blind day. That was an essential part of her system. Participation in misfortune enabled the young boys and girls properly understand and appreciate the misfortune of others. In course of the term every students had a blinds day a lame day one maimed day and one dumb day. On the blind day their eyes are bandaged. The bandaged is put on overnight. They wake blind. Other children are advised to help them and lead them about. It is educative to both the blind and their helpers.
There was no privation about it. Everyone was very kind. Before the day was over the student could very well known the reality on the miseries. The blind day was the worst. Some children complained that the dumb day was the most dreadful. The mouth was not bandages. The child had to exercise will-power only. Miss Beam took the writer to a bandages girl in the garden. She introduced the writer to the girl and left the place.
The writer asked the girl if she ever tried to peep. The girl said that peeping would be cheating. She had no idea that it was so horrible to be blind. A blind man could not see anything. He always feared to be hit by something every moment. Her guides were very good to her. Those who had been blind at ready were the best. She would be more careful she would play the guide.
The writer asked her if he could lead her some where. The girl said that they should go far a little walk. She said that was the worst day for her. She would be glad when the day was over. The other bad days were not even half bad as the blind day. On the lame day a leg was tied up. One hoped about on a crutch. It was almost fun. On the maimed day an arm was tied up. It was not as awful as the blind day. She would not mind being dumb or deaf for a day. Being blind was very frightening. Her head always ached from dodging things.
She asked the writer where they were then. The writer said that they were in the playground, going towards the house. He could see Miss Beam walking up the down the terrace with a tall girl. The tall girl had worn a blue woolen shirt and a pink blouse. The first girl said that she might be Millie and asked about the color of her hair. The writer said that her hair had alight color. The former girl said that she was Millie, the head girl. The writer then said about an old man lying up roses. The girl said that he was Peter, the gardener. The writer described a dark girl in red, walking on crutches. The girl said that she was beryl.
Steering the girl about the writer discovered that he had become much more thoughtful than before. He also discovered that the necessity of describing the surroundings to another made them more interesting. The writer’s visits to the school come to its end. Miss Beam came to see him off. The writer told her that he felt sorry to leave the place. Miss Beam felt happy about it. She said that there was something in her system.
ABOUT THE INNOVATIVE WORK DONE
The whole students of the 8A division of Govt. Model Higher Secondary School, Venjaramoodu, Thiruvananthapuram was given an opportunity to do similar tasks mentioned in the short story “The School for Sympathy”. The tasks mentioned in the short story are students should enact blind day, deaf day, dumb day, lame day, and arm crippled day. These tasks were divided between students.
Abhinav, Sreenandhan, Hridhya, and Saniya did the role of the blinds, and Akshay, Vishnu, Abhirami, and Nandana did the role of helpers to the blinds respectively. The eyes of students who did the role of blinds were covered with a black cloth. Each student who acted the role of helper to the blind was assigned tasks like helping the blinds to go to the Higher Secondary Block Office, going near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, going near the school bus, go near the Bamboo plant respectively. They were asked only to give descriptions of the things happening around help them reach their destination without letting them know of the tasks assigned.
Jithin and Soorya did the role of the deaf and Anandhu and Gouri did the role of helpers to the deaf respectively. The ears of the students who acted the role of the deaf were covered with cotton. The helpers of the deaf were given tasks like making the students say the sentences that I have already told them. They were asked to use lip movements and sign language to help the deaf understand the sentences.
Aromal, Ahmad, Jobin, Lekshmi, and Devika did the role of dumbs. Their mouths were not covered but they have to use their own willpower not to talk. It was indeed a difficult task for them as their classmates tempted them in many ways to speak, but they tried their level best not to speak. The dumbs were given a task like they have to act and use sign language and make the audience understand the name of the object he/she is acting. It was a fun task. Safna, Anaha, Arya, and Amina did the role of lames and Swathi, Rajeswari, Dhanya, and Gopika did the role of helpers to the lames respectively. The lames were given tasks like completing two rounds of walking around the auditorium acting like lame.
Finally, Akbar and Jithu did the role of arm crippled and Vyshak and Suhail did the role of helpers to them respectively. They were given tasks to fold their hands and use their own willpower to act crippled. The whole act was shot and saved as a video.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION
With the act done as part of Innovative work, the students got the advantage of experiencing and understanding,
•the life of blinds.
•the difficulties faced by helpers to blind and the effort these helpers put into.
•the life of the deaf.
•the difficulties faced by helpers to the deaf.
•the life of lames.
•the manual power a helper needs to help these lames
•the difficulties faced by dumb to convey their ideas.
•the difficulties faced by arm crippled.
Similar acts will enhance the thoughtfulness of students and help them think of the situations and lives of people around them. It will make them think from various perspectives.
CONCLUSION
The idea of making the students experience the tasks mentioned in the story and the willingness and curiosity put forward by the students to act like the same together bring this into reality. Each and every student did the tasks assigned without showing any sort of shyness or fear. The vibrant students did great and they were asked to share their experiences at the end. They loved doing this task and they recommend all the students to do this task at least for some time. As every student and staff cooperated very well, the aim of the innovative work was achieved. I am always grateful to the school authority for giving us the opportunity.
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