Our focus in Middle School at the moment is EMPATHY - a skill that is critically important to have in all human interactions. If we can learn to be genuinely empathetic, we can be such great bridge builders in our society.
We learn empathy by interacting with each other with kindness and trying to understand each other as well as learning to listen actively. These are skills that young people learn through us adults who model - positive interactions with each other and active listening. Do we take the time at home to actively engage in our relationships with our children - support them actively, listen to them carefully - more than speaking? Do we have the patience to engage with our children to ensure that they learn these skills?
What we have been doing here at school is creating role-play scenarios and having conversations around “things that are important to us” - family, friends, success at school and in school - with very specific examples of what that means. During these conversations, we also talked about “peer pressure” and how this makes it difficult for us, at times, to stand up for what is right and for what we believe in.
Our request to everyone - in school and at home - is to prioritise empathy in your daily interactions with each other. Make kindness a part of empathy. There are proven strategies for teaching and learning empathy. One of the first skills to have in this regard is to be able to understand the perspectives of other people. The following strategies can be helpful in learning to do this:
Modelling
Listening Actively to others
Teaching Point of View
Using Literature to Teach Different Perspectives
“Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy has the capacity to transform individual lives for the better while helping to bring about positive social change in schools and communities worldwide.” (from Edutopia - 4 Proven Strategies for Teaching Empathy - Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers)
When we consciously make an effort to understand others’ perspectives and listen to their views, we have the ingredients to be able to interact with others accepting and appreciating their different views and perspectives. Through this, true human interaction and understanding can be created.
You might want to use the different prompts in this image to practise empathy in your circle of friends and family to contribute to us making the world better for all of us to have their place in our communities and in society as a whole.
Maggie Reiff
Secondary Principal