Lesson 14: Empathy

Essential Question: What is empathy? How do I show empathy?

Click for Lesson 14 (PDF)

Lesson Overview

1. Brain Warmup

2. Read Aloud

3. Modeling Activity

4. Group Activity

6. Brain Cooldown

Purpose:

- Empathy teaches us how we need to treat others. By learning these skills, students can apply their knowledge of empathy to how treat other students and people. Empathy helps students understand how others feel.

Vocabulary:

- empathy

- emotions

Brain Warmup: Identify the Shoe

Purpose: This activity engages students in thinking about who people are based on their shoes. By doing this, students can visualize a person who would wear the shoes and picture themselves in the shoes.

Materials: shoes

Time: 5 minutes

Procedure:

Students will sit on the carpet or open floor space in a circle.
Place the shoes in the middle of the circle. Ask the students to select a shoe. Call students by small group to pick a shoe. All students should have a shoe.
Ask the students the following questions.
1. What type of shoe is it?
2. Why do people wear the shoe?
3. Who would wear the shoe?
4. Would you wear the show?
Utilize the ‘Turn Pair Share’ method so students can engage in conversation and share responses with one another. Ask for volunteers to share their responses to the questions.

Additional Book

Stand in My Shoes by Bob Sornson

- This read aloud emphasizes the importance of placing yourself in the shoes of another student or individual. Through this read aloud, students will understand what 'stand in someone's shoes' means.

Click the book for the read aloud.

Read Aloud: I am Human: A Book About Empathy by Susan Verde

This read aloud expresses the importance of being human and showing empathy through daily actions. Use the following discussion questions to begin a conversation with the students about empathy.

What does empathy mean?
What does being human mean?
As a human, what can you do to change your actions?
What can you do to show empathy?

Additional Lesson

Activity

Showing Empathy:

- This activity can replace or be in addition to the Empathy Simulation in this lesson. Showing empathy is an activity where scenarios are read aloud to students, and students must determine how might the student or individual feel. Think of real-life scenarios that happen at school, at home, or in public.

Additional Resources

Ages and Stages of Empathy:

- This article addresses the signs of empathy and skills or activities that can be done to promote empathy. The signs and skills are categorized based on ages groups.

Empathy Thumball:

- An Empathy Thumball can be used as a whole group activity. Students pass the ball, and what space their thumb lands on is the scenario he or she must respond to.

What is Empathy:

- This resources defines what empathy is and the importance of it. The article also address key points that can help students understand empathy.

Click for Read Aloud of the Story

Modeling Activity: Understanding Empathy

Purpose: This activity focuses on building a definition of empathy for the students to remember and to understand.

Materials: reference ‘What is Empathy?’ resource

Time: 10 minutes

Procedure:

Students will sit on the carpet or open floor space facing a technology board or poster board.
On the technology or poster board, write ‘Empathy’ in the middle. Ask students to think about what empathy is. All students time think and ask for volunteers to share ideas. In a colored marker, write the students’ ideas and thoughts. Write the ideas and thoughts in a way that creates a web diagram.
Along with the students’ idea of what empathy is, include why empathy is important. Write why empathy is important with a different color on the web diagram.
Ask students, what can you do to show empathy? Allow students time to brainstorm ideas and ask for volunteers to share ideas. Record students’ ideas with a different color and add ideas to web diagram.
Post empathy web diagram in the classroom to view or keep the technology board on with the empathy web diagram for the next activity.

Group Activity: Empathy Simulation

Purpose: In this simulation, students are ‘placed’ into the shoes of someone else and engage in daily activities. Through this, students are able to understand the successes and challenges others may endure.

Materials: blind fold, cloth, cotton balls

Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Procedure:

Divide the students into groups.
1. Group 1: students will be blind folded. Students will be able to use other senses expect for sight during activities.
2. Group 2: students will use cloth or slings to replicate a broken or sprained wrist. Students will be able to use other senses during activities.
3. Group 3: students will place cotton balls in their ears. Students will be able to use other senses expect for hearing during activities
4. Group 4 (Optional): students will use crutches, knee braces, or ankle splints to replicate a broken or sprained leg. Students will be able to use other senses during activities.
Intermix the students and engage students in a variety of activities. Examples of activities include…
1. Tying shoes
2. Writing your name, coloring, or painting
3. Using scissors to cut paper
4. Walk around the classroom
5. Sit at a desk or sit on the floor
6. Play a game (Uno, Connect 4, etc.)
How students engage in these activities are based on your preference and atmosphere of classroom. The activities can be set up at centers and students rotate from station to station or the whole class engages in the activities together.
After students participate in activities, ask students the following questions to begin a discussion about the empathy simulation.
1. Did you like/dislike this simulation?
2. What activity was easy for you? Why?
3. What activity was challenging for you? Why?
4. What is empathy?

Brain Cooldown: Kindness Postcards

Purpose: This activity allows for students to display acts of kindness by writing postcards that will be sent to people in the community.

Materials: white paper, pencils, crayons, markers, paint

Time: 5 minutes

Procedure:

Students will work at their desk or a table.
Students will use half sheets of white paper. On the front, students will draw a picture or design of any kind. The pictures must be school appropriate. On the back, students will write a positive message. Examples of positive messages include ‘smile’, ‘have a wonderful day’, or ‘today is going to be a good day’.
When all postcards are completed, decide where to send the postcards as a class. Examples of where to send postcards to include to another classroom, to another school, to a nursing home, or to a business.