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BUILDING EMPATHY
The purpose of this lesson is to teach students to recognize and identify different feelings and be able to identify the nonverbal ways in which people communicate and express their feelings. This activity will help students understand what empathy means and develop a greater sense of other people’s feelings and how this is helpful in conflict resolution for bullying.
teacher prompts
- What kinds of things make you feel happy? Sad? Angry? Excited? How do you act when you feel these ways?
- Can you tell how your parents or your brothers or sisters or your friends are feeling? How?
- How can you show a friend that you are really listening to him or her? What does careful listening look like?
- How do you feel when somebody interrupts you? What do you do or say?
- If you found out that one of your friends didn’t do so well on a test, what would you say? How would you help your friend feel better?
read aloud
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The Ant Bully by John Nickel
Plot:
- this story includes verbal and physical intimidation
- a boy who is bullied starts bullying ants
- the ants shrink the boy to their size to teach him a lesson
- the bully experiences the feelings of being a victim and gets a chance to help his former victims
activity
Get the students to read the story together. Looking at the questions discussed earlier, how do they think the bully, victim and bystanders felt?
After the discussion, write the word "empathy" on the board and tell the students you will tell them a story and after they hear the story, they will have a better understanding of what empathy means.
The Story:
“Yesterday, I got a call from my sister who was upset because she just found out that one of her friends had a party and did not invite her. My sister only found out about the party when she ran into another friend at the park, who asked her if she was going to the party. My sister was crying because her feelings were hurt. I tried to make my sister feel better by telling her about a time when I was not invited to a party. I was able to give my sister advice because I had been through the same experience. I knew how she was feeling because I had felt the same way.”
At the end of the story, ask the class if they ever been in a similar situation where they knew what the other person was feeling because it happened to them too. (Encourage and prompt the students.)
Next, explain to students that empathy is to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.” It means to understand how another person feels because you have the same feelings or can imagine what it would feel like to be that person.
Next, have the students work in partners. They will be given a short scenario which will describe a situation. They have to imagine that they are the person who can help in the situation and come up with ways to make the person feel better.
Provide students with the following scenarios on a handout:
Think about how you would feel if this happened to you. What kinds of things could you say or do to show you care?
1. The boy sitting next to me at school just told me his dog died.
How is he feeling?
How can I show him I care?
2. I see a girl getting teased at recess.
How is she feeling?
How can I show him I care?
3. I watch one of my friends perform in the school play and they forget their lines.
How is she/he feeling?
How can I show her/him I care?
Provide students with about 15 minutes to write down their ideas and then share their thoughts.
Ask students to think about the negative consequences for not showing empathy in each situation. (Think back to the bully in the book.)
After the discussion, write the word "empathy" on the board and tell the students you will tell them a story and after they hear the story, they will have a better understanding of what empathy means.
The Story:
“Yesterday, I got a call from my sister who was upset because she just found out that one of her friends had a party and did not invite her. My sister only found out about the party when she ran into another friend at the park, who asked her if she was going to the party. My sister was crying because her feelings were hurt. I tried to make my sister feel better by telling her about a time when I was not invited to a party. I was able to give my sister advice because I had been through the same experience. I knew how she was feeling because I had felt the same way.”
At the end of the story, ask the class if they ever been in a similar situation where they knew what the other person was feeling because it happened to them too. (Encourage and prompt the students.)
Next, explain to students that empathy is to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.” It means to understand how another person feels because you have the same feelings or can imagine what it would feel like to be that person.
Next, have the students work in partners. They will be given a short scenario which will describe a situation. They have to imagine that they are the person who can help in the situation and come up with ways to make the person feel better.
Provide students with the following scenarios on a handout:
Think about how you would feel if this happened to you. What kinds of things could you say or do to show you care?
1. The boy sitting next to me at school just told me his dog died.
How is he feeling?
How can I show him I care?
2. I see a girl getting teased at recess.
How is she feeling?
How can I show him I care?
3. I watch one of my friends perform in the school play and they forget their lines.
How is she/he feeling?
How can I show her/him I care?
Provide students with about 15 minutes to write down their ideas and then share their thoughts.
Ask students to think about the negative consequences for not showing empathy in each situation. (Think back to the bully in the book.)
video clips
Here are two video clips on teaching and building empathy!
references
Nickel, J. (1999). The Ant Bully. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Sesame Street. (2011, October 14). Sesame Street: Mark Ruffalo: Empathy. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1Rt1R4xbM
BestAppsForKids. (2012, June 26). My Friend Isabelle - Teaching Tolerance, Empathy and More. YouTube. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ9EY0cwmmY
Sesame Street. (2011, October 14). Sesame Street: Mark Ruffalo: Empathy. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1Rt1R4xbM
BestAppsForKids. (2012, June 26). My Friend Isabelle - Teaching Tolerance, Empathy and More. YouTube. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ9EY0cwmmY