A+
for Empathy
by Diane Curtis, Edutopia, March 12, 2003
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The children in Amy Hamilton's
fourth-grade class know exactly how their day at Mulready
Elementary School in Hudson, Massachusetts, will begin. After
they hang up their coats and backpacks, they know to put their
homework on their desks. Then they read Mrs. Hamilton's message
on the chalkboard, which can be anything from a comment about
the weather to a question to ponder.
After that, they head for the red rug and Morning Meeting, which
includes a greeting ("Say hello to the other students as a
character in a book" may be the opener), sharing, activity, and
news and announcements.
"Let's start a pass-along story," says Hamilton. "Once upon a
time. ..." And so the story goes around the class, becoming a
tale of a Valentine bear who has to go to the pharmacy to take
care of cuts and bruises from a lightning bolt.
They also talk about what they plan to do during the upcoming
vacation week. "Sleep in!" says one student. "How late do you
sleep in?" asks another, showing an example of "active
listening."
The Importance of Structure
"It puts a really specific structure to the classroom," says
Hamilton, referring to both Morning Meeting and the
end-of-the-day, reflective Closing Circle. "That's important
because kids need to know what to expect. It makes them feel
secure."
Morning Meeting is part of a program called Responsive Classroom
that addresses young people's social and emotional needs as well
as their academic needs. And the social and emotional aspect of
education, says Hudson Public Schools Superintendent Sheldon
Berman, "is an essential and central element" of districtwide
reform.
"A school system has to create an environment where learning is
a positive experience and the climate in the school is such that
it supports children taking risks, feeling safe, feeling
accepted," Berman says. He adds that the instructional program
and social and emotional initiatives are "mutually beneficial
and necessary."
A 1998 survey of Hudson parents confirms the importance of
programs that address students' social and emotional needs, both
for behavioral and academic results. The survey found that
parents believe that safety and a caring environment, fair
treatment, and responsiveness of the faculty to parents'
concerns are the top indicators of the success of a school
system. Challenging academics came in fourth.
Empathy, Ethics, and Service
When Berman, who has a background in conflict resolution as a
founder of Educators for Social Responsibility, came to Hudson
11 years ago, a group of teachers unhappy with destructive
student behavior asked him to tighten the discipline code. He
felt that harsher punishments weren't the answer. He formed a
committee to consider the request and the consensus was that a
discipline code alone would not create an atmosphere of respect
and responsibility. What would, though, members decided, was a
comprehensive program of social-emotional learning, service
learning, and character education: "Empathy, ethics, and
service" is a favorite district refrain.
The district has a variety of programs designed to build respect
and a caring community: Responsive Classroom, Second Step (an
empathy development and conflict resolution program), and a
program of community service from kindergarten through grade 12
that has received wide recognition. Responding to research
showing the academic and social benefits of small schools,
Berman is creating high school student "clusters" who stay
together for three years with one teacher. Berman has even
appointed one of the nation's few districtwide directors of
community service learning and character education, Mary
McCarthy.
National School of Character
Hudson Public Schools was the only district in the country to
receive the 2001-2002 National Schools of Character Award from
the Character Education Partnership. Berman cannot break down
how much specific reforms -- curricular and social-emotional --
contributed to positive changes in the district, but he says
improvement won't come without both. He notes that since he took
over as superintendent, test scores are up, absences down, and
more students are seeking to come into the district than leave
it, a reversal of the situation when he started.
Karen Rundlett, a teaching assistant, says that during her
recess duty she sees evidence of the success of Second Step
lessons she teaches a half hour a week to different classes at
Mulready. "I hear students say, 'We'll use I-messages.' Rather
than 'You were mean,' they say, 'I feel bad when you call me a
name.' That's exciting. I think they get it, and they really
enjoy it."
A Second Step lesson on empathy, for example, recently involved
looking at a laminated card with a picture of two young girls
who had broken a neighbor's window with a baseball. Part of the
discussion included the fact that nobody had seen them throw the
ball. What to do? Do you tell the neighbor you broke the window
and offer to make reparations? Do you run and not say anything?
Students answer in a variety of ways, Rundlett says. But they
always have to ask themselves four questions: Is it safe? Is it
fair? Will it work? and How will people feel? Once the students
answer the questions for themselves, they do role-playing on the
question.
Sue O'Keefe, a psychologist at Farley Elementary School, also
trains teachers in Second Step. "The empathy portion is the
foundation of the program. That's why I like it so much,"
O'Keefe says. She says the program has definitely changed the
climate of the school from one in which students acted out,
called each other names, and got physical when there was a
dispute to one in which they try to understand the other
person's point of view and come to a verbal resolution of a
dispute. "Empathy is important because it helps children solve
problems to benefit more than just themselves," O'Keefe says.
"Understanding another person's point of view, which is part of
empathy, is important when people are trying to come to a
solution that benefits everyone."
The First Six Weeks
In the Responsive Classroom program, the first six weeks are
considered crucial for creating a feeling of safety and
belonging, setting reasonable limits and boundaries for
behavior, introducing the schedule, routines, physical
environment, and materials of the classroom, and establishing
expectations about the curriculum and how the children will be
taught. Guided discovery, in which children have practice
sessions of important behavior, such as eating in the cafeteria,
sitting down in the school bus, or using materials properly, is
also an important element of Responsive Classroom. Other
features of the program include rules and logical consequences,
academic choice in which children get to choose a project,
family communication, and strategies for arranging materials,
furniture, and displays to encourage independence, promote
caring, and maximize learning.
And the effort to create a caring community with involved
students who feel they belong never stops. In the works now are
plans for a cluster model of high school organization, in which
students are grouped into units of 100 to 150. The clusters
would be based on broad areas of student interest such as
communications, media, and the arts; science, health, and the
environment; technology, business, and engineering; or social
service, education, and social policy. Students would stay in
the same cluster for three years and work together on service
projects, presentations, and cluster discussions, as well as
take some courses together. Student government representatives
would be chosen from clusters, thus giving more students an
opportunity to lead.
Berman is also instituting the practice of providing clusters
with an hour a week of school time to, among other things,
discuss and solve issues of importance to the school as a whole.
Students, Berman says, will even have a say in hiring.
One of the reasons Berman's character and service approach to
learning has caught on is that he lets the results speak for
themselves. He never mandated that Responsive Classroom be used.
Instead, he offered training in it to a few teachers. Their
colleagues then saw the changes in classroom atmosphere and
student learning and voluntarily joined the program. Today, 90
percent of the elementary and middle school teachers in the
Hudson Public School District practice Responsive Classroom.
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