5 photos: A savoring task with student projects.
dIn the book Activities for Teaching Positive Psychology, Jamie L. Kurtz and Sonja Lyubomirsky suggest a simple activity to encourage savoring. Students take five photos of important things in their lives. Then they share them with classmates, explaining each picture and why it is important. The small number (5) is important. They really are supposed to take 5 pictures -- not 200 and then edit. Savoring isn't supposed to be a burden.
This semester, I am going to try a few variations on this ranging from more formal presentations (students make PowerPoint presentations based on their photos) to "instant activities" (show pictures from the already have in their cell phones or on facebook). I have made 3 versions of the activity tasksheet: • One version is sort of an instant activity. They talk about good things during the vacation. If anyone doesn't have a phone/pictures or doesn't want to show them, I give them a card that shows a blank phone and asks they to describe the scene. You can download that HERE. • The next version asks them to bring or take photos of 5 important things. They do this during the next class. • The final version has them make a PowerPoint slideshow of the 5 important things. |
Of course, some students don't want to share their pictures (privacy). Some don't take many photos. Some people's batteries dies. And, of course, I never what someone to be embarrassed that they don't have the latest, coolest iphone. So I always have some cards that say, "Imagine the picture. Describe it."
I'd rather have them describe it because that gets more language than drawing.
You can get that file HERE.
To encourage more language practice, I encourage partners to ask WH-questions to go deeper into what the speakers say. This is called an "Active Constructive" response which helps the speaker re-experience the positive emotion/experience.
Here are my 5 pictures which I use as a sample.
Enjoy.
I'd rather have them describe it because that gets more language than drawing.
You can get that file HERE.
To encourage more language practice, I encourage partners to ask WH-questions to go deeper into what the speakers say. This is called an "Active Constructive" response which helps the speaker re-experience the positive emotion/experience.
Here are my 5 pictures which I use as a sample.
Enjoy.