Building Empathy in Classrooms and Schools
Summary: This article talks about the importance of empathy as a core value in schools. It is sometimes difficult to teach, but also must be modeled. Empathy works for students, but also for adults. The article suggests several ways teachers can cultivate empathy in their classrooms.
Source: Brianna Crowley and Barry Saide, Education Week, January 20, 2016
Description:
Empathy is a complex concept and a difficult skill. It’s time for educators to recognize the strength it takes to create, balance, and sustain an empathic mindset in a culture that doesn’t always value it. Empathy in education is often deemed a “soft skill.” Sometimes we equate empathy to coddling, weakness, or even label it as a gender-specific trait. It is none of these things. We’re neither born with it, predisposed to it, or incapable of it. Empathy doesn’t happen because we do a few icebreakers in the beginning of the school year.
Read the full article here!
Source: Brianna Crowley and Barry Saide, Education Week, January 20, 2016
Description:
Empathy is a complex concept and a difficult skill. It’s time for educators to recognize the strength it takes to create, balance, and sustain an empathic mindset in a culture that doesn’t always value it. Empathy in education is often deemed a “soft skill.” Sometimes we equate empathy to coddling, weakness, or even label it as a gender-specific trait. It is none of these things. We’re neither born with it, predisposed to it, or incapable of it. Empathy doesn’t happen because we do a few icebreakers in the beginning of the school year.
Read the full article here!