Bismillah.
I spoke to a group of youth ~ 20 boys
and girls (8-16 years old) about positivity and how it relates to the deen.
For anyone who is interested in giving a
talk to group of youth on importance of positivity in our deen, feel free to
use the agenda below, PowerPoint presentation (click link) and listen to the
lectures listed on reference page of ppt. (Many thanks to wife, Tasnim
Ahmed for making the presentation)
Agenda:
1. Establish Ground Rules
(e.g. raising hand meant everyone should be quiet)
2. Ask everyone to itroduce themselves (say your name
and say anything positive)
3. Review Positivity
PowerPoint presentation and asked for participation after each slide
4. Begin Group Activity (split into
groups of 2-3 and chose one hadith or Quranic ayat from the presentation to
discuss and come up with a life scenario where that the Quranic ayat/hadith
could be applied (kept the summary page up on the projector during session as a
reference))
5. Present findings (each group presents their story/scenario to the larger group)
6. Recap lessons learned
Lessons learned about content:
1. Reminders on maintaining a
positive outlook on life is beneficial and is part of the Islamic tradition.
2. Focusing on other's positive
traits helps individuals and communities grow
3. In terms of criticism, focus
on ones' own shortcomings, rather than pointing out other's faults
Lessons learned from presentation delivery
1. Planning agenda is key to
keeping event on target in terms of time/message
2. Thanking all the kids and
community members who attended the event is important (I forgot to do this).
The kids could have been somewhere else, but came and spend their Fridays
nights in a community setting
3. Establishing ground rules in
the beginning of the event helped maintain order (i.e. raising hand meant
everyone should be quiet)
4. Setting up
competitions/prize for case study analysis helped focus the attendees
(competition/prize should have been announced in the beg of the event)
5. Presenter should be prepared
to be interrupted and be patient (teenagers and young kids are rowdy)
