Dear History
An attempt to bridge the gap between what is taught in schools and what we remember
Teacher’s Copy 1
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This book belongs to
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Acknowledgement This project would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many people. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. Firstly, I would like to thank my project guides, Shreyas Srivatsa and Mahesh Bhat, for their constant guidance and faith. All the project mentors for always being there for ideation, clarification or even simple chat. My family for making me fall in love with my city by sharing their childhood memories and helping me create my own through all those impromptu trips in and around Jaipur. I would also like to thank my school teachers, for the history lessons that turned a subject into a passion. The people of Kalaburagi, for opening up city, homes and hearts to us and helping us in every way possible. My colleagues for their helpful feedback and innumerable pep talks. Finally, I would like to thank Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology for providing me this unique opportunity.
Introduction Education in the times of the internet can not be limited to school textbooks as most of the knowledge can be accessed from anywhere and any time. Therefore, the focus needs to shift from creating minds that are full of knowledge to minds that are full of questions. This project is an attempt to make a text-heavy subject like history, interactive for students. The role of the teacher is really important in order to change the attitude of children, the future custodians of our heritage, towards history and culture. In this copy, along with each activity, a yellow box is added, explaining the aim and providing some suggestion for the teachers to conduct the activities. The aim of this book is not to teach students history but to help them find ways to learn history outside their school textbooks.
Journey begins
Since this book is going to be with you for a long time, tell us a little about yourself.
Class Age Favourite colour Favourite food Favourite subject Favourite place in Kalaburagi
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Draw Yourself Here
Once you finish this book, come to back to this page and again draw yourself and answer these questions. Let’s see what all changes and remains the same over time.
Class Age Favourite colour Favourite food Favourite subject Favourite place in Kalaburagi
Draw Yourself Here
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Paste paper here to extend the family tree
Paste paper here to extend the family tree
Family Tree Trace your roots by filling up this family tree. Keep adding more information every time you meet a new relative. 10 Paste paper here to extend the family tree
Paste paper here to extend the family tree
Paste paper here to extend the family tree 11 Paste paper here to extend the family tree
Family History Talk to the elders at home and trace your family history. You can ask them about their childhood, their parents’ occupation, their school days and the different places they have lived in. Draw 2 of your favourite memories from the conversation.
Aim: Introduce them to the idea that history is not just limited to their textbooks. Suggestion: Bring up the conversation about how there are two sides to everyone’s family history, father’s and mother’s but many times the matriarchal history gets sidelined. Ask them what might be the reason behind it. 12
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Story time I
Ask an elder at home to tell you a story they heard as a kid. Write the story and draw a scene from it.
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Aim: Introduce them to idea of learning about history through narratives. Suggestion: Divide the class in smaller groups to share stories.
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History and School How old is your school? Who started the school and why? Go on a tour of the school along with your teacher. Note down the interesting things you learnt about your school.
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Aim: Introduce them to the idea learning about history through space. Suggestion: Bring along the Principal or a senior school teacher on the tour. Share your own memories along the way. Teach them the basics of mapping.
Take this book along with you on the school tour and draw the route map here. Did you discover any new places? Or learn something new about an old one? Create your own legend and mark out the places mentioned below.
Old Classrooms
Assembly Area
Play Area
Staff Room 17
Home and Memories Which is your favourite part of your home? Draw it and think of two reasons for why you love that part.
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Aim: Introduce them to the idea learning about people and spaces through memories. Suggestion: Share your own memories of your home.
Now talk to different people at home and ask them which is their favourite part of the house and why? Ask them to make tiny drawing or write down, on a piece of paper, what makes that part so important for them and paste them on this page.
Aim: Introduce them to the idea learning about people and spaces through memories. Suggestion: Share your own memories of your home. 19
Making of a Home Find out the story behind your home. How old is your home? Since when have you been living in it? What is it made out of? Does it have materials specific to Kalaburagi? Draw a labelled map of your home.
Aim: Introduce them to the connection between geography, history and architecture Suggestion: Have a session with the Geography teacher on local climate, relief, suitable plants and structures. Have a session with the Art teacher on Warm and Cool colours. 20
What parts of the house remain cool in the heat of Kalaburagi? Now draw a map of the house and colour the different parts with warm (red, orange, yellow) and cool (blue, green, violet) based on how they face the heat.
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Story time II
Ask an elder at home to tell you the story behind the oldest object in their cupboard. Write the story and draw a scene from it.
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Aim: Introduce them to idea of learning about history through material memory. Suggestion: Divide class in groups to their share stories.
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Food and Memories What did you eat at home yesterday? Which dish did you enjoy most? Do you know how it’s made? With the help of your teacher, try to list down and draw some of the ingredients present in the dish.
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Aim: Understand the emotional value of food and draw connections between local food and climate. Suggestion: Ask students to write these ingredients on chits of paper. Now put them all them in a box or a bowl. Divide the class in smaller groups and ask them to create new dishes by picking out ingredients.
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History and Games Talk to the elders at home about the kind of games they used to play as children. Which games did they enjoy the most? How are these games different from or similar to the ones you play with your friends? Instructions to play the OLD game
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Learn how to play one any one indoor game from them. Note down the instructions for the game and play in the class.
Aim: Understand through games, how practices can evolve over time and even something from the past can be adapted to the present times. Suggestion: Divide the class in smaller groups to play games and discuss if there are various versions of the same game.
Now that you how to play the game, can think of ways to make it more fun for you and your friends? You can do anything you want, like add, delete or change the rules, make it more challenging or completely reverse the game.
Instructions to play the NEW game
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History and Recreation Talk to the elders at home about the places they used to visit for recreation in their childhood. What did they do there? Are those places still there? If not, what happened to them and what is in their place now? How has that place changed over the years?
Based on their description, draw how the place used to look back then and compare it to how it looks now.
Aim: Understand how places can change over time. Sometimes a place is lost but continues living in people’s memory and sometimes the same place becomes a part of the memory of many generations. Suggestion: Share your memories of some popular spots in the city that have changed/ remained the same over the years. 28
Past
Present
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Story time III
Ask an elder at home to tell you a story they read in book as a kid. Write the story and draw a scene from it.
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Aim: Understand how the medium and stories transformed over the years. Suggestion: Divide class in groups to share stories. Ask them to compare these stories with the ones that they have read. How are they different/same?
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Making History
How do we learn about past? Manuscripts are old handwritten documents that can tell us about it. They were made using Palm leaves or the bark of Birch tree. Over a long period of time, their pages have yellowed, edges have
torn off, sentences have rubbed off, making them very delicate and important to preserve. Let’s take a trip back in time and prepare your own paper for a manuscript.
Things you need:
Instructions:
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1. Take a piece of paper and tear up the edges and sides. Just make sure that the shape of the paper is remains a square.
Drawing Paper (15x15 cm) Water Water Container Paint Brushes or Cotton Crayons Paints Palette or Plate Coffee Powder Tea Leaves Sand Old Newspapers Glue
Note: Before starting the activity, lay down old newspapers where you are working. Make sure that you clean up the classroom and yourself at the end.
2. Mix small amount of coffee or tea with water in a container. Now using a paint brush or a cotton ball, do a few light washes on the paper. 3. Now add a little more coffee/tea mixture to the corners to enhance the torn edges. You can even use brown paint for this step. 4. Rub some sand on the wet paper and then put in for drying. Don’t worry about the crinkles on the paper. 5. Once the paper has dried up, dust off the dirt and use brown and ochre crayons to create some interesting textures. 6. Finally, once you’re happy with the result, paste the paper on the next page.
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Aim: Add tangibility to a subject like history. This process will be used later activities as well. Suggestion: Under teacher’s supervision, children can use a candle to burn slightly burn the edges for an added affect. You can also add or subtract items based on easy availability for the children.
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History and Places How do you identify that a place is of historical importance? Are there some elements common present in these places? Think of 4 such features and draw them. 1.
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Aim: Understand the pre-conceived notions we have about historical places and question them by finding the history of a frequently visited place.
Which places do you usually visit on the weekend? How old are those places? Imagine yourself to be an investigator and try to find out more about any one place. Use this page to record your findings.
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Story time IV
Ask an elder at home to tell you a story they heard about a place in Kalaburagi. Write the story and draw a scene from it.
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Aim: Learn about a large community (city) through a personal story.
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History in Kalaburagi Search the various places of historical and cultural importance hidden in the puzzle. Then list down the places which you have and have not visited.
Aim: Understand how much do the students know about their own city. Suggestion: Discussion about the historical places visited by students.
Places I have visited
Places I have not visited
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Books on Kalaburagi Based the previous activity, choose one place from the “Places I have not visited� column and find out more about it from your school or local library. Draw and note down all the things that you found to be interesting.
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Aim: Learning about a historical space through secondary research - Books. Suggestion: Based on the place chosen, divide the class in 3-4 groups so that they can share information with each other for the few coming activities.
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People on Kalaburagi In order to find out more information about the place you chose, go and talk to 4 different people about it. Note down the new things you learnt from your interactions.
Aim: Learning about a historical space through its people. Suggestion: Ask students to prepare a questionnaire beforehand and try it out with their peers.
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Spaces of Kalaburagi
Now that you have collected some information about the place, its time to visit it. Is it place different from or similar to how you imagined it to be? Write, draw and paste your findings.
Aim: Learning about a historical space through first hand experience. Suggestion: You can ask students to visit the place with their parents or go together as a class, whichever option helps them explore the place properly. 44
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Kalaburagi in Movies Now that have learnt about your chosen place from three different kinds of sources i.e. books, people and the space itself, write down the 4 things that were most fascinating to you.
Taking any one of these points forward, create a storyline for a movie. Come up with a name and poster for your movie and share your idea with you classmates.
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Aim: Help students make sense of the data they have collected over time and find something that interests them. Suggestion: Have a small exhibition of the movie posters made by students. 48
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Final story time
Now it’s your chance to be the storyteller! Create your own storybook using the various stories you have collected. Did you find something common between all these stories?
Aim: Document stories that have been usually conveyed orally. Suggestion: Have a small exhibition of the manuscripts made by students. 50
Use this space to the think of ideas for illustration, form, writing style to make your book more interesting. You can create in the form of a manuscript (refer to page 32).
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Read and collect newspaper articles related to the history and monuments of your city and paste them here to make your own newspaper
Kalaburagi
Tag line: Day:
Aim: Understand that history is relevant even in the present times. Suggestion: Encourage students to form the habit of reading news on a daily basis by allocating time in class. 52
Paste paper here to extend the newspaper
Chronicle
Come up with a 4 to 5 word tag line for your newspaper based on the kind of articles you have collected and write it under the heading.
Date:
Paste paper here to extend the newspaper
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Concept and and Design Concept designby by Charvi Shrimali Charvi Shrimali