I attended a workshop hosted by Scarsdale HS teacher Lisa Yokana and Michael Schurr, Riverdale Country School on how we might build empathy for and across students so that we serve their diverse needs and better understand each other. This workshop wasn’t what I had thought it was going to be. I thought we were going to be building and creating physical things like a “maker space”.
I never thought of myself as a “design thinker”. Attending this workshop helped me to think a little more out of the box. It was nice that this class had some high school students to interact with and get ideas from a student perspective. We did a fun ice breaker that involved counting on beats 1,2,3. We also brainstormed with one another about ideas on how to brainstorm ideas to build empathy. There were great suggestions like role reversals. For example, a teacher would spend the day in the life of a student. Another example, that came to mind was that each grade level in my school does a community service project. Third graders in my school does something called Midnight Run where the students make sandwiches at school for a homeless shelter. Well, perhaps, students should take a trip to a food shelter to serve the food to a homeless person. It would have more of an impact.
I feel that instilling empathy in young children has to begin from the home and community. Empathy begins in the home. Encouraging your child to keep trying even when they fail should be celebrated. We need to build a community where the kids feel safe to fail and know that it’s ok. They need some grit! Kids today need to be flexible too. Working hard will have great rewards.
