"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." /Oscar Wilde

The purpose of working with this quote

Give insight into the importance of daring to be who you are. Reflect on when you feel your best, safest, strongest or most harmonious. Give insight into and understanding that everyone is unique, has different personalities, interests and ways of being. Learn to listen to your own inner voice. Increase the ability to be tolerant by allowing everyone else to do the same, and be who they are. Create curiosity to get to know others on multiple levels and see how it can enrich. 

Students make their interpretations individually and illustrate them.

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The workflow looks like this:

1. Think / Interpret

The students write down the proverb that will become the title itself. (It is advisable to use a piece of paper or a notebook where you can both draw and write.) Do not talk about the meaning, but let everyone make their interpretation based on their own thoughts and then illustrate their text. Sometimes the picture is connected to the text, sometimes the picture becomes an interpretation in itself. 

This step can also be done as homework, which increases the opportunity to listen inwardly and think their own thoughts undisturbed at their own pace.

2. Speak / Listen 

You share your interpretation and show / tell about your image. You get to practice speaking - oral presentation. It is important that there is security in the group, that everyone listens actively to all interpretations and that everyone gets to speak on equal terms. 

Here the democratic process is naturally practiced while being enriched by several different thoughts and perspectives. Gets a larger overall view. 

Tip: Sitting in a circle creates security and contributes to equality. Community through a campfire feeling.

3. Conversation and discussion 

This is where the teacher comes in actively.

Here I have created conversation materials with suggestions for the teacher to use for each lesson material on the theme.

4. Thinking / Reflection

To talk about and make visible newfound insights. Both those gained through developing one's own thinking, but also how one has been enriched by listening to the interpretations and perspectives of others.

Work further?

Based on reflection, where it feels relevant and can contribute to increased development.

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Teacher-led discussion after the presentations. (After step 1 & 2.)

Did you know

It is not always easy to trust and listen to your own inner voice. Often we compare ourself with others and fokus on being like someone else instead of thinking about what we like and are proud of concerning ourselves. It´s easy to compare ourself with friends or other persons around us, or with idols or people we see on tv / in films / magazines or on social media. Perhaps that makes us notice and want stuff like clothes and good looks (or what someone else is good at) rather than to listen to and feel in our hearts what unique talents or abilities we have. Talents that are waiting to bloom, to make us feel good about ourself and to make us feel stronger and happier. Feelings that will make us trust in ourself even better. 

Something to think about

Why be a copy when you can be the original? Who are YOU, what is it that makes you unique, what is your special abilities? Close your eyes, listen to your inner voice and visualize. 

Did you know that longing is like an inner guide and that it can give you extra strength? If you have a natural interest in something it gives double energy and natural driving force. Do you have that, or a special inner longing for something? (I think every person has something unique, the trick is to get in touch with it. Learn how to listen to and trust your own inner voice.) 

Talk and discuss

Talk about a celebrity who is very good at something. If it´s a fotbollplayer for example, think about how that person would act in ”different shoes”, like a singer or working in a bank? What would have happened if that person became something that didn’t feel right for him or her? 

Why do you think that this person has succeeded so well? Could it be because the choice came from within and was made wholehearted from an inner longing that gave extra energi and grit to succeed? Do you feel like that for something?

Remember

Be yourself! It gives you real strength, strength from within. 

See, allow, pay attention to and encourage others to do the same. Be a co-creator in building a good environment, a good group-climate. 
Remember: You are never as powerful as when you are yourself. 

More to do - go further with this

Who was Oscar Wilde? Can you find som interesting facts about him and his life? Do you think his life would have been different if he had lived today? Describe why and how, what would bee different? 
-What are you interested in doing / what gives you energy and joy to do? Describe what defines you and your personality. 

Draw / write a lifeline of your life and how it looks in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years from now and so on - with things that can happen down the road if you follow YOUR path in life. How do you feel? Where do you live? How do you live? What are you working with? Who are the people around you? 

Write down uplifting words and phrases to share with others. Use them! 


Remember: Everything you pay attention to grows…