Empathy

The Development of Empathy 

According to the Merriam – Webster Dictionary, Empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present …” 

Why is empathy essential to our education system? If we look at world history and even some of the disastrous events occurring today, we can see the result of the danger of a mindset that does not consider the perspectives, beliefs and understandings of others.  In schools there is explicit learning that comes from the Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge requirements of the Alberta Program of Studies.  These are pieces of learning where students develop new skills and understandings around curriculum.  However, there is also the implicit learning which takes place in a less noticeable manner, or occurs THROUGH the choices we as educators make in our approach to curriculum. 

It is the thoughtfulness of these choices that can begin to build empathy in children.  At CJFS we view curriculum through the lens of inquiry.  This means students look at topics and questions in a manner that teaches them to question, hypothesize and consider multiple perspectives as it relates to topics that are relevant to our world around us.  When taking up curriculum, students are led to practice empathy and have it modeled to them.  I truly believe that empathy is a learned behavior and mindset.  It must be taught.  There are ways that schools and parents can work together to build these notions of empathy in our children:

1.    Talk to our children about our feelings and how our actions impact those around us. 

·      At CJFS we have introduced the Zones of Regulation.  We did so in order to have a common platform across the school to identify feelings, regulate emotions and better understand how our actions and behavior can either impact others positively or negatively.  If children can identify their own emotions effectively they are more likely to identify the feelings and emotions of others.

2.    Model empathy to your children or students.

·      Use things that happen in the world, to friends/family or ourselves.  Model empathy versus judgment.  Look at events and lead children to consider why people made their decisions.  Look at how events impact others? How does this make them feel? Where appropriate, what can we do to help?

3.    Teach children to see what they have in common with others?

·      When we see ourselves as having the only acceptable way of life it becomes very difficult to show empathy.  Start with finding the common places with others.  What interests, favorite foods or activities do children share? Having spent over 20 years working with children, I have discovered that this is a natural thing for them to do. They love to share their clothing, lunch items etc.  Parents and teachers should allow time for everyone to see what we have in common and not to points out our differences. 

4.    Find tools to assist. 

·      There are some amazing picture books that help develop the skill of empathy:

·      “Last Stop on Market Street” by Matt de la Pena

·      “Just Because” by Amber Housey

·      “A Sick Day for Amos McGee” by Philip C. Stead

·      “Stand in my Shoes” by Bob Sornson

·      “Sumi’s First Day of School Ever” by Joung Un Kim and Soyung Pak

·      “Amos and Boris” by William Steig

·      “Tight Times” by Barbara Shook Hazen

·      “The Invisible Boy” by Trudy Ludwig

·      “Enemy Pie” by Derek Munson

·      “The Monster Who Lost His Mean” by Tiffany Stelitz Haber

·      “Hey Little Ant” by Phillip M. Hoose and Hannah Hoose

I hope for a world filled with peace and acceptance.  This starts with empathy and the ability to accept differences in others by first finding the similarities.  At the school level it begins with an emphasis on peace education, coaching and educating all children, especially those who experience challenges in this area. 

For peace education and deep empathy to be built over time we expect the these understandings to be constructed in the classrooms.  Building empathy is a partnership between home and school and we can all work to build this in our children. 

Our children will go on to build our world, lead and determine the events that take place.  A vision of peace for our future means that we must start now with the building and modeling of empathy while they are young.  The adults in the lives of our children now will determine the empathy they can show to build a peaceful world in the future. 

Ms. Paull

Library to Learning Commons

Library to Learning Commons

As many of you now know, we have been awarded a $35 000.00 grant from Education Matters to help redesign our learning commons into a space where students can access resources, investigate, explore and create.  On the afternoon of January 20, our staff came together to begin the work ahead.  We looked at the principles of a learning commons to ensure we had a common understanding through the work of David V. Loertscher (https://crcpd.ab.ca/uploads/userfiles/0a5c758365f7.pdf)

Some of the key components of a learning commons were discussed:

·      A collaborative physical and virtual environment that invites and ignites participatory learning

·      A responsive dynamic that is invested in school-wide improvement through an evidence-based process of design, modify, rethink, redesign, and rework.

·      Professionals who can successfully lead out front, or lead from the middle, or push from behind are great candidates to head a learning commons.

Another important part of our resign was the consulting of students.  Our Library Assistant had a conversation with every classroom and their feedback for our learning commons included:

·      Student centred furniture (special chairs, soft furniture, whiteboard tables etc)

·      Specified atmosphere (color preferences, soft music, lighting, living wall etc)

·      Specialized technology (ipads, headphones, computers, speakers, cameras etc)

·      Purposeful spaces (reading, puppets, stage, makerspace, art etc.)

·      Book collections (graphic novels, signage, history, organized in genres etc.)

As we move forward, we are excited to share this journey of transformation.  Our funds must be spent by August 2017 so I will be sharing our work and progress around the redesign.

Sincerely,

Ms. Paull

Inquiry Learning

Inquiry Learning

Colonel J Fred Scott School has a long history of promoting inquiry as a means of instruction.  What exactly does this mean? Area III has been working with the Galileo Network for many years now in order to hone the practices in schools to include rich and meaningful tasks that embed assessment and involve collaboration.  At Colonel J Fred Scott we use the Teaching Effectiveness Framework to guide the development of tasks. After an extensive examination of research literature, several principles emerge, and are summarized in this document, demonstrating effective teaching and learning:

1.     Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically. 

·      Teachers have chosen a guiding and broad question with which to navigate through the program of studies.  This question is timeless and is big enough to enter into many different curriculum areas.

2.     The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live.

·      The tasks that are designed around questions or big ideas are very much connected to what is happening in the world today.  An example of this is our work around the Haiti destruction (Grade 1-2) or the work which explored Mars settlement (5-6) which is currently begin examined. 

3.     Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions and actions.

·      There are many ways our teachers make assessment a tool for improving understanding (formative assessment).  Giving immediate, verbal feedback is one of the most important ways students can improve their understanding of concepts.  Also, teachers often co-create target rubrics and criteria so students have a clear ideas of what is expected in order to achieve at certain levels. 

4.     Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning.

·      Collaboration and dialogue is vital in the inquiry process.  When students talk about their emerging notions, make predictions and conjectures and challenge ideas they think deeper than going over surface concepts by copying out someone else’s ideas or having something told to them.  Establishing a culture of collaboration begins in September and sets the tone for an inquiry environment. 

5.     Teachers improve their practice in the company of peers.

·      Teachers no longer work in the isolation of their classrooms.  Just like students require meaningful collaboration to grow in their learning, so do educators.  When we put six minds together in developing a task or learning experience we are multiplying ideas, challenging each other in our decisions and holding one another accountable for the highest standard in a child’s education. 

Inquiry is not in the absence of direct teaching when needed.  Often inquiry work is interspersed with mini lessons that fill gaps, demonstrate concepts or lead students in a task where the learning is then infused back into the larger inquiry.  Jean Piaget states that, “The principal goal of education should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things not simply repeating what other generations have done.”  Through inquiry learning, students experience the program of studies through real world experiences, they explore possibilities and create solutions.

Ms. Paull

For more information on the Teaching Effectiveness Framework visit:

http://www.galileo.org/cea-2009-wdydist-teaching.pdf