Category Archives: empathy

Empatía

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After watching the Brené Brown video on empathy on the first retreat day, I thought about how I could incorporate SEL in my classes and adapt it to my Spanish curriculum. I found that it would be a nice fit for the beginning of the year because the first chapter in the curriculum relates to vocabulary pertaining to one of the AP themes of interpersonal relationships and how we connect with people.

I scoured YouTube and I found the Brené Brown video on empathy dubbed in Spanish. I found it with Spanish subtitles and I decided to do a mini lesson on empathy with my students and embed it into the chapter vocabulary. We had a discussion in class in Spanish about what students thought empathy was and if we as a society are very empathetic or not. Students emphatically claimed that we are not a very empathetic society, however they could not articulate what we could do to practice more empathy in our relationships.

I proceeded to show the video and afterward, many students said that they did not understand the video because it was too fast. I showed the video again, and paused it every 20-30 seconds and we had discussions of the meanings in chunks. Students were able to understand the video more. I showed the video a third time, in English, so that students could compare what they understood in Spanish to what was actually being said. They said that they got the general gist of the topic. 

I assigned a video diary (a video blog that students are assigned weekly) to articulate their thoughts in Spanish about what they thought were the obstacles for empathy.

We wrapped up by doing a comprehension worksheet as an exit ticket and a check for listening and comprehension.

At the end, I had every intention to do a unit evaluation for this activity, however I personally felt that it went horribly. Students did not seem to engage with the material and they seemed confused, bored, and not connected and I felt that maybe the subject was a little over their heads. I abandoned the lesson and moved on.

A month later, I realized that I had written this activity down as one of my year goals, and that I was going to do a unit evaluation on the lesson, and feeling dejected, I didn’t do my goal. I decided that I would show the video again to my students to see how much they remembered and if anything about empathy had sunk in and if anything we had discussed in class resonated and stuck with students a month later. I was completely shocked to see that students were able to recall the lessons and vocabulary that we had talked about a month later, without even reviewing the vocabulary. I showed the video one more time, and students were shocked to see that they were able to understand the video and pick up on more vocabulary that they recognized from the previous chapter. Not only that, but they were able to identify and practice how to be empathetic in their daily relationships.

I conducted a unit evaluation and the results were pretty positive. I’m happy I did this lesson (twice) and that I was able to incorporate SEL as an overarching theme in my classes. Here are some examples from the unit evaluation:

Empathy Fitness

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I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy this school year.  When I started the year talking about Social Emotional Learning using Brene Brown’s empathy RSA short, I began to see the impact of empathy or lack thereof almost every day.  I truly believe that empathy is a starting point to understanding myself and others.  It’s a point to build connections with each other and the larger world.

Image by huoadg5888 at Pixabay

As some of you know, I love podcasts.  One of my favorites is Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam.  I highly recommend it if you enjoy podcasts that explore human behavior.  This past week I listened to the episode entitled, “The Empathy Gym.”  This episode explores the idea that empathy is a skill that can be developed if exercised.  If one doesn’t work on empathy, that skill will wither.  One of the more interesting assertions made is that empathy in the developed world has actually decreased in the 21st century mostly due to the decline in the need to meet and connect face to face as well as a rise in people living alone.  This idea does make sense to me.  The more we have to talk, relate, cooperate, and experience each other, the more we can see and learn how others feel and live.  Another nugget in this episode explains why I am so exhausted at the end of some days.  The more a person uses empathy and is open to experiencing and considering another’s experience and story, the more tired and uncomfortable this person can become.  In a sense, those days are ones where I did a hard workout in the “empathy gym” which can make it hard arriving home to family life and its own stresses and need for empathy.

How might this view of empathy help me at school?  First, I need to be kind to myself.  Those days when I feel worn out and have the urge to come to a snap decision without considering all sides, I’ve actually expended all my empathy energy.  Stepping away for a second, focusing on something else, resting the empathy muscle, will allow me to come back to an issue fresher and more capable of discerning a way forward.  Second, when working with students who may be having trouble empathizing with others, there are ways to help develop that skill.  Perhaps that student actually has hit their threshold of empathy and cannot take on more.  Perhaps that student needs more time to walk with someone different from herself.  Restorative practices can help in both instances.

So, I’m curious.  Have you been thinking about empathy lately?  Have you found any “exercises” that help build the empathy muscle?