Jenny Mosley suggests that we visit the Five Wells – for the SPICE of life!

The 5 wells spell out as the acronym ‘SPICE’ – spiritual, physical, intellectual, creative and
emotional. The school could set aside an hour every week (outside of teaching or planning
time) and have the teachers collectively visit any one or two of the wells, and have some fun
outside their classrooms.

The Spiritual Well

It is important for us as individuals to renew our sense of wonder and awe through spiritual
belief, meditation, nature or any way to still the mind for experiencing energy, beauty, grace.
To some, spirituality may seem like a harmless amusement, to some, a pointless exercise,
while to some others, spirituality may be too private an issue to share. Nonetheless, the
spiritual well allows the teachers to focus some time on thinking beyond their regular day-to-
day struggles and rejuvenate and refresh their minds.

Sample Activity

The ‘I am’ collage Objective: To have participants create a collage that

represents themselves

Materials Required: poster/chart paper, pencils, colour pencils, crayons, sketch pens,
paints, cello tapes, markers, old magazines and newspapers, scissors, glue sticks, space
for individuals to work on their collage

Time: 10 mins pre-activity discussion; 30 mins preparation time; 20 mins for sharing
(voluntary)

Method: The coordinator needs to let the participants know that they have to think of
representing themselves visually as a collage. This is an individual activity and each person
should reflect on their life’s journey, and how they can place it on a chart paper. They have
to think about who they are, what they have been through, and what they want to achieve
and how all of these elements go into making ‘I am’. They can use pictures and images from
the available old magazines and newspapers. After they have made their ‘I am’ collage, they
can talk about it to their colleagues, however, the sharing aspect is voluntary because many
people may not want to talk about themselves.

De-Brief: The coordinator should make it clear that while the sharing part is voluntary
sharing can be cathartic. The coordinator should suggest that the participants may keep the
‘I am’ collage so that they can look at it from time to time (especially when they are feeling
challenged or frustrated, or generally low) to remind themselves of what they have achieved,
and who they are.

Note: This activity also delves into the Creative and Emotional Wells.

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The Physical Well

It is hard to be emotionally healthy if you feel physically unfit, tense and lethargic. We all
need exercise, relaxation, to eat well, keep hydrated and a good night’s sleep! Physical well
being is critical for emotional well being. Doctors suggest mild physical activities everyday for
everyone to keep the hormones well balanced and to de-stress. Even though teachers are
active physically in school, because they have to move from classroom to classroom, and
they are usually moving in the classroom as well, this movement leads to exhaustion. The
activities in the Physical Well are fun activities which do not involve responsibility and
anxiety, rather, they help teachers relax and de-stress. The coordinator needs to let the
teachers know that they should dress comfortably and be in sports shoes for the Physical
Well activities.

Sample Activity

Teach a Healthy Step Objective: To have participants teach each other steps in
different forms of physical exercises

Materials Required: Smart phones for research and music

Time: 10-15 mins for each activity; 5 mins for debrief

Method: The participants will be divided into 4-5 groups, and each group will be assigned 1
form of exercise – 1. Yoga, 2. Floor exercises, 3. Any form of marital arts, 4. Zumba, 5. Cool
down breathing exercises. Each group will decide on 4-5 steps/exercises in each form, and
then the groups will teach the rest of the participants, starting with yoga and ending with the
cool down breathing exercises.

De-Brief: How did it feel when an hour of exercise was broken down into 4-5 steps of 10
minutes each? How would you have felt if you had been told that you would have to do an
hour of exercises?

Note: This activity will not only break down an hour of routine exercises into a fun-filled step
by step sets of activities, but will also make the teachers understand how breaking down
something large into smaller pieces makes it more palatable.

The Intellectual Well

The mind shrinks if not engaged with ideas outside of work! So this is a great opportunity
for teachers to reach out to each other and broaden their own horizons by reading books,
watching plays and films, debating, suggesting ideas, playing games, planning, structuring
and thinking things through.

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Sample Activity

Dumb Art Objective: To have teachers participate in a game similar to Dumb Charades,
except, instead of acting, participants have to draw the title of a movie/book without using
any text while the others try to guess the correct name based on the artwork within 2
minutes

Materials Required: Blackboard, chalk, timer

Time: 50 mins game time, 10 mins for debrief

Method: The participants will be divided into 2 groups – group A and group B (or any other
names that the groups decide). Group A will discuss and decide the title of a movie/book,
and will reveal it to one volunteer artist from group B. The B team member will then draw the
title on the board, while the other members of the team will try to guess it within 2 minutes.
Both the teams will have to agree about the symbols for articles (the, a, an) but everything
else (verb tense, prepositions) will be denoted through the artwork. The participants will not
be allowed to use alphabets or numerals in their drawings. Once team B has guessed (or the
time is up), they will get their point if they have guessed correctly, or the answer will be
revealed. Then team A will send their volunteer, and the two teams will continue to alternate
until everyone has had a chance to draw. The coordinator (who is keeping track of the
points) will announce the winner.

De-Brief: The coordinator just needs to point out that even those who think they
cannot draw can represent things visually on the board, hence there is an artist in
everyone! And drawing instead of speaking makes one think differently.

Note: Many participants might initially hesitate to draw, but once they start, all of them will
realize that it is not the skill that is being displayed, but the ability to think laterally, and that it
is fun trying to draw. Besides, being a team game, it will help teachers bond well with each
other. Therefore this includes the Emotional Well too.

The Creative Well

The Creative Well lets us enjoy our senses and imagination. We can appreciate and dabble
in the arts, write, draw, sing, garden, sew, cook or dance. We can play with colour, texture,
sound, scent and movement. We can create whatever we want, not necessarily for display,
but for the simple pleasure of building, imagining, producing, examining something that has
form, beauty purpose.

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Sample Activity

Please note, all the activities have been created keeping in mind a group of 30 participants.
Please adjust timings and materials according to the number of participants in your school.
The purpose of visiting the wells collectively is to foster both personal growth and
professional camaraderie.

Theatre Thespians Objective: To have the participants enact short scenes from their
favourite books, plays or movies.

Materials Required: None

Time: 20 mins preparation time; 5 mins per group presentation time (25-30 mins); 10
mins for de-brief

Method: Divide the participants into groups of 5-6, and each group then decides on what
they want to enact. Each participant must have a speaking role. The groups enact their piece
in front of the other members. The entire piece should not exceed 4 minutes.
De-Brief: The participants sit or stand in a circle and the coordinator asks,

“What happens when we play the role of another person? How does it change the way we
think?”

“Why did we insist on every person having a speaking role?”

“How do you think an activity like this helps us bond?”

“What was one interesting and new thing that you learnt (could be about colleagues, or
about the piece of literature etc) from today’s activity?”

Note: Acting helps us not only empathise with the character we are pretending to be, but
also helps us shed our own inhibitions as we step into a different self. This activity delves
into the Emotional Well as well, as the sharing of ideas will give the participants the
opportunity to share emotions and laughter.

The Emotional Well

Our emotions play a huge role in all aspects of our lives. As teachers, we are supposed to
leave our negative emotions out as we step into a classroom so that we can encourage our
students positively. But how equipped are teachers to deal and come to terms with their own
emotions? Many schools have counsellors who can work with teachers. However, if schools
allow the teachers to engage in emotionally uplifting activities, they can be assured of happy
teachers. While just a few activities in school cannot help teachers sustain a healthy
emotional life, any time spent with colleagues enjoying

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different activities can lead to emotional well-being. Everyone needs to spend time with
others, in friendships, loving relationships with partners and family. The school can provide
some opportunities to the teachers to express feelings, talk through dilemmas and,
importantly, to have some FUN!

Note: Many of the activities in the other 4 wells also delve into the emotional well. After all,
any activity that lets us have fun is adding to our emotional well-being.

Sample Activity
Blind Faith

Objective: To have participants have complete faith in their partners

Materials Required: objects scattered in an indoor or outdoor place

Time: 20-30 mins to walk across the room; 10-20 mins to discuss

Method: The coordinator will ask the participants to pair with a partner they are comfortable
with. One of the partners will be blindfolded, and the other one will have to lead the blind one
through the room, guiding him/her verbally. Once they have reached the other side, they will
change blindfold and will repeat the process of guiding the blind partner through the
minefield. Participants can change partners and see how it works with other people that they
don’t know very well.

De-Brief: Facilitator should ask the participants to talk about how they felt trusting their friend,
and then someone they did not know very well.

Note: This activity can help build trust between colleagues.

These are just some sample activities for teachers. The Happy Teachers for Happy Schools
booklet has been sent to school heads so that the schools can appoint a ‘Happiness
Coordinator’, and organise these activities, and teachers can participate during the ‘happy
hour’. These activities have been included because they allow the participant to visit all the
different wells, and enjoy them, and thus be able to de-stress. After all de- stressed and
happy teachers make a happy school.

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