Shantanu Builds Community | A Story on Being Better Together

Shantanu Builds A Community :: Better Together

Welcome to Shantanu Builds A Community :: Better Together -- Global Social Emotional Learning (SEL) that's humanizing. Let's love learning for life.

Let's step into a unique human's mind, heart, perspectives, and story. Let's explore self, others, and our world in a humanizing way. Take a deep breath. Let's get started.

Remember: this story is an introduction to who this human is. It would take years (even a lifetime of heartstorming!) to wholly understand this person, just like it takes us such a long time to begin to understand ourselves and one another.

As we watch the wordless video, let's suspend judgment and to practice curiosity and wonder. Let's recognize bias and challenge our assumptions. Let's explore how we might move beyond these assumptions together in a meaningful way.

As we explore the lesson plan, let's remember these are not instructions. This is a learning guide. You can adapt this for your situation, and reach out to us anytime for ideas, too.

As we enter the written story, let's remember that this person in the story is not representative of a whole culture or way of life -- learning means moving beyond generalizations and simple single stories. (More on this in the humanity & belonging unit!)

We've got to remember that this person is a unique individual with unique, complex, and beautiful experiences -- just like everyone in our own lives and classrooms! We've got to live with ubuntu.

Judgment and bias are both quick to get and hard to get rid of. And both are really boring!

But curiosity? Curiosity is magical.

Learning? Learning is forever.

Curiosity Before Judgment.

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Note: You can also engage with a powerful learning guide for empathy and curiosity practice. Here is a version for early childhood learning. Here is a version for self-guided learning at any age. You can use the lesson plan above in the "lesson plan" tab, or you can try one of these lessons that work wonders for any of the stories on Better World Ed. And here is a math learning guide that works for any of the stories, too!

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Math Topic

Percentage, Subtraction

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Country

India

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Global Topic

Business & Economics, Humanity, Belonging, Inclusion & Equity, Leadership, Community & Civics, Tea (Chai)

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Math Objectives

Apply percentages to solve word problems, Basic subtraction within 20

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Literacy Topic

Author's Purpose, Comprehension and Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Evidence Collection, Inferencing

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SEL Skill

Addressing Challenges & Community Engagement, Analyzing Situations, Appreciating Diverse Perspectives & Ways Of Life, Collaboration, Compassion & Love, Empathy & Understanding, Perspective Taking & Global Awareness, Reflecting Mindfully, Respect for Others & Character Development, Reweaving Community, Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Social Engagement

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Math Grade Level

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Social Studies

Community Engagement, Culture, Current Events, Ethnography, Geography, Global Connections, Sociology

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Science Topics

Ecosystems, Invention

Browse Related Stories

Shantanu Builds A Community :: Better Together

empathy confidence teacher community story compassion teach social emotional learning better world ed wordless video social skills life skills SEL curiosity wonder

Friendship is a beautiful thing. The most important aspects of my life involve my friends and family. I’d even go as far as saying my life is my friends. I value friendships and relationships with people more than anything else. I am always striving to be the best friend I can be, and will do anything for them.

Just yesterday actually, I received a call in the evening from one of my friends. He is a taxi driver and he had a car accident. As soon as I heard the news I told him that if he needed me I would be there immediately. I would close up my Chai Stall early and support him however I could. My business is important, but these friendships matter most. After all, money isn’t the main reason I have chosen to enter this business.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. What does friendship mean to you? How important are friendships to you? How are you a good friend to others in your daily life?

Wordless Videos Social Skills Global Social Emotional Learning Program (SEL)

I have loved making friends with all sorts of people. People from the village and people from the city, young people and older people, people from all walks of life, from politics to business and even to education. People who work and people who are at home looking after their families. I love connecting with them all and I really enjoy sharing stories.

This was the main reason I started a chai business of all things: to create a space for people to connect and build friendships. Chai is something that almost everyone drinks here in India, and my little cups of chai are something that almost everyone can afford. This chai brings people together in our community, and getting to know someone over a cup of chai is a very rewarding and relaxing process.

Having something in common such as a love for chai has helped me connect with people – especially new people I have just met. Do you think it is important to connect with people? How do you connect with new people? Do you find it difficult? Why or why not? How can we all form deeper, more meaningful connections with each other?

About 80% of people who come to my stand are working on construction for the surrounding area. Another 15% drive taxis. The remaining 5% are various other friends and people who live or work or pass through the area.

a) How many people from each category above come to the stall if I sell 200 cups in a day?

b) What if I sell 400?

c) What if I sold two cups to each of those people from (b)?

I don’t have a set up with tables and chairs or anything of that sort. But I have pulled together a couple of stools and repurposed a few containers that my customers in the community can sit on. They aren’t in clusters or tables as you’d see in a restaurant or café. All the seats are together so that all my customers can sit together and get to know one another. I’m always thinking about how the space around my chai stand can be best used to build a community here. If it rains, I make sure to put up a sheet so that my customers can still stay here and connect with one another without getting wet.

A couple of days ago the rocks that my cart stands upon had been moved around after some construction work and the ground was uneven. I saw quickly that a few customers were struggling to stand on the uneven surface so I immediately called my friends from across the street, who are construction workers, to help me out. We quickly cleared the ground to make an even surface that would be most comfortable for my customers. I want to create an environment where my customers feel welcome, comfortable, and happy. A community.

Six months ago the average person who came to my chai stand stayed for about 10 minutes.

a) Three months ago, the average person who came stayed for 15 minutes. What is the increase in the percentage of time spent by the average person?

b) Nowadays the average person who comes stays for 20 minutes. What is the increase in the percentage of time spent by the average person?

What does this information tell you? Why do you think my customers spent more time at the chai stand? Is it a positive step?

What are some of the creative things you could do to help people make connections and build friendships in your community?

Shantanu Builds A Community :: Better Together

Learning Objectives

Students will learn about many topics, including: Apply percentages to solve word problems, Basic subtraction within 20, Percentage, and Subtraction.

Want to create a calm and focused space to start the conversation? Try out a group breathing exercise! Have everyone count as we breathe 6 seconds in, 6 seconds out. Repeat this for a minute or two. Or you could do some group stretches! Or serve some chai?!

Here is another lesson plan you may enjoy to explore Shantanu’s story in another way together.

1 Ask an EMPATHY QUESTION: “What are some of your favorite occasions to get together with friends?” We might hear about holidays, birthdays, sporting games, and field trips. Share a place that you frequently see friends in your community. “Who has been responsible for these gatherings? What kind of preparation was needed to make them possible? How does the location for these gatherings play a role? What kinds of different people were attending the gathering? Anyone with different perspectives?”

2 UNDERSTAND ASSUMPTIONS: Before reading Shantanu’s story about community, discuss why he might have started a chai business. What are some possible reasons he would do this? (A T-chart may help, here.) Read the “Shantanu Builds Community” story and then revisit the same questions. Explore any assumptions we had about why he might have started the business and if community was an important reason. If we didn’t consider community as a reason, try asking “why might that be?” “How does Shantanu do more than just sell tea? What has he done to create a community space? Who does this community consist of? Do you think Shantanu considered a good community building location before he put his stall there? How could this play a role?” Math: refer to this story section: 80% of people who come to Shantanu’s stand are construction workers, 15% are taxi drivers, and 5% are various friends and people passing by. This is his community — people come from all walks of life to share moments and conversation and story together. How many people from each category would come to the stall if he sells 200 cups in a day? What about 400? What if he sold two cups to each of these people in his community?

3 REFLECT & WRITE CREATIVELY: Free write for 4-6 minutes. “What does community mean to you? Can you think of communities you are a part of? Are there any communities you’d like to join? Are there any differences between people in the communities? What unites these communities despite those differences?” Have the room separate into groups of 3-4 people. Share what everyone wrote with each other. “What communities do we share? What communities are we involved with that our classmates might not be? How did we get involved? How can others get involved?” After 8-10 minutes, ask who would like to share their most important community as well as a community they just learned about and would like to join. Discuss what makes these special.

4 Pose BIG QUESTIONS: “How can communities encourage change? Are communities more or less effective in doing so than individuals? Why? Can you think of some issues in the world that are being addressed by communities? Have you seen groups of people come together, even when they have differences, to work towards something they see needing change? Are there any communities you’d like to form to do so?” Share some stories YOU know about communities coming together and effectively improving the world. Perhaps it can be something from our own life. Think about current events as well as lessons throughout history to help make this tangible and applicable.

LET’S LOVE LEARNING BEYOND CLASS TIME TOO — IN OUR COMMUNITIES!

“Reflect on something in our world that matters to you, and that you are eager to see change. Are there currently communities addressing these challenges? How might we learn more as we explore ways to get involved or lead forward our own change? Let’s remember that learning is so important in our journeys to lead forward change — we want to be informed and aware of what’s already going on before we dive in ourselves! Let’s do some research and learning with peers and/or family and find 3 communities addressing and working to solve the problems you care about. That’s step 1! Step 2 is in our next lesson.” What a way to keep building community together!