Pink ~ Empathy

One of my first graders tries on a different hat.
I have to credit Pinterest for the  lesson Spark.

Empathy is the spontaneous act of identifying with the emotions of another, putting yourself in their place and feeling what they feel. It is through empathy that one becomes aware of ‘self’ in relation to others. Pink says that it “…provides the scaffolding for our morality.” (p 160) . While undervalued in the Information Age, empathy is a requirement for the culture of the Conceptual Age. Empathy is the human connection that sets man apart from computers.

I find it ironic that the child growing up in the Information age had far more opportunities for developing empathy in a time when empathy wasn’t valued, yet today, when they really need it, kids are communicating via text, and social media. Without that direct face-to-face interaction, how can they develop empathy? Do role-playing games aid in the development of empathy?

Reflecting on my own students, I think that the fact that my school is located on an army post creates a different atmosphere than in a regular elementary school. My students are well practiced in the art of empathy. New students are greeted enthusiastically; the other students have all been the new kid before. Moving, family member deployments, living far away from your extended family are all common experiences. The risk of losing a parent is a reality to my kids, they don’t speak of it often, but death is a real part of their lives. I think the result of all of these shared familiarities makes it easier for me to tap into the sense of empathy. The library-media specialist in my building and I do a lot of collaborative lesson planning. One lesson we’ve talked about doing is to have students assume the role of a character in a book and to create a piece of art related to seeing the world through the character’s eyes. How would it feel to be old, to be a baby, to be a person in another land, an animal, or even a plant?