Explicitly Teach Empathy
Through my work with National Equity Project, I learned that empathy is a skill or “set of muscles” that must be built.
You must dedicate time explicitly to enhancing this skillset. And so we must do that for our students. Here are a number of ways to go about doing that:
In The Classroom:
- Teach the skill of listening…
- Teach students the craft of asking beautiful questions — of themselves and of others…
- Teach students how to analyze assumptions..
- Teach students the power of a lens….
Experience Empathy:
In the field:
- Teach students ethnographic research methods for collecting data in the field…
- THEN get students out into the field… and as much as possible….
- Go virtual….
How have you taught your students to be empathetic?”
