How do we teach empathy in the classroom?
Teaching Empathy to our Students
In this unit, I will be using the book Class Act by Jerry Craft. This Graphic Novel has many scenarios that I believe my students will relate to. This book also has multicultural characters that must find ways to get along with each other, by looking past their differences and by embracing everyone’s true self and where they come from. I think this is a good graphic novel to help show how to build empathy in my students and a good way to ask the following focus questions: What is empathy? Why is it important to show empathy towards others? Are there times when students do not show empathy towards others? What would school be like if everyone showed empathy toward one another all the time? What is it like to walk in someone else’s shoes? These questions will be some of the main points I want to discuss in this unit. It is important to teach empathy to our children now, that way they have a better future ahead of them. The ideas presented in Class Act show many ways of how empathy can be implemented in school. In Chapter 12, the Teacher gathers the students together to have discussions so the students can see that although they are different, they all have things in common. This example also shows them that they do not have to insult each other or be rude in order to get along, and to see things from each other's perspectives.
One of the examples in the book he uses is donuts to show diversity. The teacher bought different donuts and said all the donuts are different, but they all are sweet and delicious. In other words, we all are different, but we all have good in us, we all are important, and we all have one thing in common, we are all humans. I think that is something we need to teach our students. After the discussion the teacher had in the story, the students begin to bond and start to understand each other a little better. This is one of the lessons; I will be doing with my students. As we read through each chapter in Class Act, we will be stopping to have some discussions about each chapter. My students will be writing down their opinions and thoughts in a journal and then we will be discussing it with the class. In Chapters 1 and 2, one of the main characters, named Drew, is dealing with some uncomfortable things. Drew seems to be having several people come up to him and touch his hair. Touching Drew’s hair was very wrong, although the students weren’t trying to be rude, it was still very wrong. The discussion questions, I will ask my students are: How do you feel about someone touching your things, without permission? Have you ever had someone do something that made you feel disrespected, or uncomfortable, even though his or her motives were right? How does it make you feel if someone touched your hair without your permission? Why do you think Drew felt uncomfortable? In these chapters Drew also tells his grandma “ I can’t be myself at RAD. I gotta be more.” What does Drew mean by this? How was Drew trying to be more than who he was? Have you ever felt that you could not be yourself at school, or at home? Have you ever felt pressure to be someone you are not? These are important questions to ask my students because they seem to want to please each other to fit it.
In chapters 3 and 4, we have Andy who thinks he is better than every one and tends to bully on other students. The questions I will ask are: Do you know anybody who thinks they are better than you? Have you ever treated anybody unfairly because you think that you are better than them? How do you feel about Andy’s actions? Andy also wanted his friends to dress up as a super hero; he was categorizing his friends to match the superhero close to their skin color, or gender role. How do you feel when people categorized you based on how you look? Also based on where you are from? This past week have you categorized anybody? I think this is huge discussion piece because it will teach my students and show how categorizing people based on skin color, gender, race, or any other difference is a not great thing to do. Andy also in this chapter turned green, and could not wash the green die off of his skin. He goes to school and is embarrassed because of the color of his skin. Andy states in the book "It is not cool to tease someone because of the color of their skin.” I will use this opportunity to discuss with my students the following: How do Drew and Jordan act towards Andy in this situation? How can Drew be more empathetic towards Andy? What lesson can Andy learn from this? If you were in Andy’s shoes, how would you want someone to treat you? This is an important topic because Andy is constantly bullying Drew because of his skin color, but now the roles are reversed. This will be a good discussion on coming up with a list of ways on how to be empathetic towards people who have mistreated you.
In chapters 5 and 6, Drew gets picked to lead the sister school tour and Jordan did not get pick because he was light skinned. This situation allows us to have the following discussions: How do you feel about being picked for things because of the color of your skin? Jordan seems to feel not important because he did not get picked. Are there times at school where you feel that you are not important or have been overlooked? Sometimes our students can misbehave because they do not feel important and this is a good way to learn how my students are feeling and how they feel about the color of their skin. Also, in these chapters, the students realize there is a huge difference between RAD and their sister school Cardi De Academy. They realized there are huge disparities between the schools that are well funded and the schools that not well funded. The questions I will ask are: What are your thoughts about the school? Compare and contrast the two schools. What surprised you about the schools? How do you feel about schools getting funded based on where they are located?
In chapters 7, and 8, Drew and Jordan spend time at Liam’s house and realize how different Liam lives. Afterwards Drew seems to have stopped speaking to Liam due to his living situation. Although Liam seems to have a better living situation than Drew. These chapters will prompt us to have discussions based on these questions: How can Drew been more empathetic towards Liam? What are some of the struggles Liam is going through? Can you be friends with someone who lives differently than you? How can Jordan, Drew, and Liam embrace each other’s differences? This will help me teach my students how to embrace their differences. We spend too much time on molding people to be alike, when being different is truly powerful and special.
In chapters 9 and 10, Drew seems to be struggling with who he is as a person. He is starting to think that nobody is being their true self. We will discuss how they can relate to Drew’s feelings. As well as: Do you feel that you are being who you really are? Do you feel that people are accepting you just as you are? Are you accepting your friends for who they are? Why is acceptance important? This allows me to talk to my students about accepting themselves and everyone around them.
In chapters 11 and 12, their teacher, Mr. Roche, is trying to show empathy and is trying to make a change. In making a change, he does not always do it the right way. With this we will be able to discuss these questions: How do you feel about Mr. Roche’s role in the story? Do you think that he is trying to learn from his mistakes? Can people learn from their mistakes? Do you think your teachers make mistakes? How can we show empathy to someone who is trying to understand, but keeps making mistakes? This is an important point because it will teach my students that there are people who are trying to change and that you have got to forgive them and try to see the change. Also, it opens up a discussion about teachers making mistakes. I think it is important for my students to know that as teachers, we make mistakes and that we can change as well.
In chapter 13, Drew and Jordan learn something about themselves and their friends. This discovery gives way to the following questions: What have you learned about by reading this story? Did you learn anything new about yourself? What did you learn about being empathetic towards others? At the end, we will discuss some of the things we learned, and how we can take what we learned and begin applying it so the world around us can change.
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