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All Front Page Sections, Empathy and: Animals, Art, Compassion, Education, Empaths, Health Care, Learning, Justice, Teaching, Work, Self-empathy, Self-compassion, etc Please Click 'Follow' to receive updates. It also helps us rise in the rankings and gives us more exposure on Scoop.it. Join the Free Online Empathy Curriculum Project http://bit.ly/kwZ1Go Thanks so much. Edwin Rutsch, Editor http://CultureOfEmpathy.com
...As the mother of three children with disabilities, I believe fostering empathy – not sympathy – for them among their peers, teachers, parents and community is invaluable. You don’t have to have a disabled or special needs child to know that all children can benefit from learning to understand and care for others. Here are seven ways to foster empathy: 1) Empathy Versus Sympathy Empathy is more complex than sympathy, it is the ability to understand others and to put yourself in someone else’s situation. Children can learn empathy at a young age – as early as 2 or 3 years old. Empathy begins with your behavior and actions......
By Lisa Lori Lisa Lori is president of Lisa Lori Communications,
Ever wonder where the parents of the school bully went wrong? Ingrain Empathy to Prevent Bullying Bullies are sadly lacking in empathy; this is obvious to the layman, to other children, even. Parents can't teach empathy by lecturing about it. They must BE empathetic towards their children, and they must put their kids in circumstances that cultivate and grow empathy within them (such as having their kids do volunteer work with those less fortunate). Forcing your kids to share their toys won't cultivate empathy. In fact, when parents get angry about the sharing issue and force it upon their kids, this is a form of bullying on the part of the parent. Bullying behavior can be learned from parents. But so can empathy. It's difficult for bullying and empathy to co-exist in the same child's body. Jillita Horton
Every year around this time, my students come together and collect all the monies donated within our school for Penny Harvest, a program by Common Cents, Inc. that serves to help schools create service learning projects for children. It starts with young leaders prompting others in the school to make donations to a cause of their choice, but it often evolves into community service projects. This year, for instance, our school decided to dedicate our Penny Harvest to Hurricane Sandy relief, and will gear our community service projects toward non-profits that focus on feeding those in need or helping in animal shelters.
While incorporating conflict resolution concepts into education is blossoming, now is the perfect time to extend this type of education to all corners of the world, Heidi Green teaches Global Studies Through Conflict Resolution at Assets High School. She also facilitates seminars for students in the Intercultural Peace-building program at Brigham Young University Hawaii. She will soon begin an MA in Global Diplomacy through CISD – SOAS, University of London. She recently presented a TED talk on teaching Empathy and Conflict Resolution at TEDxHonoluluEd.
Seeds of Empathy is designed for early child care settings to foster social and emotional competence and early literacy skills and attitudes in children three to five years of age, while providing professional development for their educators.
Among the cognitive training literature, meditation interventions are particularly unique in that they often emphasize emotional or affective processing at least as much as classical ‘top-down’ attentional control. From a clinical and societal perspective, the idea that we might be able to “train” our “emotion muscle” is an attractive one. Recently much has been made of the “empathy deficit” in the US, ranging from empirical studies suggesting a relationship between quality-of-care and declining caregiver empathy, to a recent push by President Obama to emphasize the deficit in numerous speeches. While much of the training literature focuses on cognitive abilities like sustained attention and working memory, many investigating meditation training have begun to study the plasticity of affective function, myself included. Micah Allen is a post-doctoral cognitive neuroscientist working in Aarhus, Denmark.
Studies show that sustained and well-integrated social and emotional learning (SEL) programs can help schools engage their students and improve achievement. Explore the classroom practices that make up the best and most effective SEL programs. Learn more at Edutopia:
Bully-Proof your Preschooler – Part 2: EMPATHY
In our last article, Bully-Proof Your Preschooler, we featured tips and signs for helping young children deal with aggressors. Today we’ll take a look at empathy and its role in prevention.
Why empathy matters
Empathy is the ability to understand and identify with another person’s feelings. It includes regulating one’s own emotions and is central to success in social relationships. Children who are empathic are less likely to use aggression.
Empathy has to be taught
Although there is evidence that the human brain may be pre-wired for empathy, just ask a group of toddlers to share a toy and you’ll see plenty of evidence that empathy doesn’t come naturally! It has to be taught. That’s why you play a crucial role in the development of empathy skills – starting in infancy. by Linda
Empathy has been in the news a lot recently. It has been highlighted as an antidote to school bullying and gun and gender violence, and it has become popular in the business community as a part of user-centered design. More and more, empathy is being recognized as a skill that people need to develop to better shape how society will function in the future..... When Facebook first launched, its policy was to allow users to report problems, bullying or abuse to Facebook staff. With over one billion users, and an exponentially growing number of interactions, Facebook took a closer look at the problems people were reporting and found they were not so much violations of policies, but rather miscommunications and misunderstandings between members. Facebook responded by investing in teaching its community to be more empathetic, instead of leaving everyone to fend for themselves. How? By coding empathy into its social network, changing the way users interacted online.
by Darlene M. Damm
This is part seven of the nine-part series from the Project Happiness curriculum. We are looking at important factors that influence the happiness and social and emotional learning of elementary school. How is Empathy Being Developed in Schools? There are many approaches to teaching empathy. Here are ten interesting ways that aspects of empathy are being introduced:... Start with Teachers: At a recentEduCon Conference, an important issue came up. Teacher burnout increases when teachers are expected to be supportive but receive no emotional support at all. One teacher summarized it well: "How can I have empathy for my students when no one will have empathy for me?" The solution one school adopted was to have regular staff meetings in which everyone sat in a circle and shared how things were going. Teachers felt closer to one another in creating a more supportive environment where others cared about how everyone was feeling. Infants as Educators:... Validation and Trust:... Power of Teamwork:... Grading on Character:... Practice Emotional Literacy:... Befriending the "Other":... Students as "Changemakers":... Service-Learning:... Encourage Empathy at Home:...
In the spirit of Mark Twain who famously said he never let his schooling interfere with his education, Bill Drayton grew up enthusiastic at school, but not so much about school. He enjoyed a few subjects, but he admits, his energies were in things like, starting a series of newspapers or being an active member of the NAACP. Now, Drayton, who is credited with having coined the phrase “social entrepreneur,” hopes to create a network of global changemakers (empowered with skills embracing empathy, teamwork, leadership and problem-solving) with his organization Ashoka: Innovators for the Public to reshape education all together. For more than a decade, Ashoka has partnered with young people with its Youth Venture program, but it’s only in the past year that it began partnering with schools to introduce the concept of empathy into the curriculum. Dozens of schools in the U.S. are already on board and, according to Drayton, “Last week, Scotland said, this is going to be in all of our schools and even though the Irish Ministry is cutting back, they’ve just made a huge commitment.”
Compassion like love has a spectrum and has a number of stages and levels. The general term learned in society about compassion is somehow different from a more expanded version of it. And also it differs from society to society and the modernity of it. In general, compassion is viewed as a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the desire to alleviate the pain. Here, compassion is a form of emotion, a feeling that is acting and flowing. Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD
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Reading literary fiction — even something as short as 10 pages — can increase empathy, improve decision-making and make people more comfortable with uncertainty, suggest two new Canadian studies. In other words, the very pursuit we use to distract us from real life might actually make us better at living it. Lead author Maja Djikic said the findings have particular repercussions for our schools, where she notes a “dangerous trend” away from the arts and soft skills. This observation dovetails with a January report from Scholastic showing that reading for pleasure on a regular basis (five to seven days a week) is indeed a waning activity among youths, having fallen to 34 per cent in 2012 from 37 per cent two years earlier.
BY MISTY HARRIS,
CCARE’s Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) Teacher Certification Program is a part-time training and certification program for professionals who want to teach CCARE's Compassion Cultivation Training course. Trainees who fulfill all of the program requirements, including a period of supervised teaching, may apply for certification to teach CCT courses in their respective communities. The CCT course is an 8-week educational program that combines traditional contemplative practices with contemporary psychology and scientific research to help participants to learn how to lead a more compassionate life. The course was designed by a team of psychologists, scientists, and contemplative scholars at Stanford University. Click here to read more about CCT.
Peace First is working to create a kinder, gentler tomorrow by teaching our kids right today. Cultivate empathy. One of the key requirements for peacemaking is being able to envision yourself in someone else's shoes. Ask questions that challenge your children to see other people's perspectives—and also try to understand theirs. During play or reading time ask open-ended questions: "Why do you think she did that?" "What would you do in that situation?" And don't only focus on the "good" guys. There are lessons to be learned from understanding what motivates the "bad" characters too: "Why is the Joker so angry?" By Eric D. Dawson
It's hard to admit this, but sometimes I can be kind of a B. Maybe I had a bad day, maybe I haven't eaten in the last three hours...but in any case, I've been known to snap at my man or give the side-eye to the woman taking forever in the grocery checkout line from time to time. Not. Cool.
But, apparently, harnessing one's chi to be a little bit more patient, compassionate, and more pleasant to be around in general is actually pretty easy, at least according to new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the study, researchers asked participants to practice a Buddhist technique called "compassion meditation,..."
By Natasha Burton
A new study by researchers at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate. The report, published Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, investigates whether training adults in compassion can result in greater altruistic behavior and related changes in neural systems underlying compassion. "Our fundamental question was, 'Can compassion be trained and learned in adults? Can we become more caring if we practice that mindset?'" says Helen Weng, lead author of the study and a graduate student in clinical psychology. "Our evidence points to yes."
Until now, little was scientifically known about the human potential to cultivate compassion — the emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior. A new study by researchers at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate. The report, recently published online in the journal Psychological Science, is the first to investigate whether training adults in compassion can result in greater altruistic behavior and related changes in neural systems underlying compassion. "Our fundamental question was, 'Can compassion be trained and learned in adults? Can we become more caring if we practice that mindset?'" says Helen Weng, a graduate student in clinical psychology and lead author of the paper. "Our evidence points to yes." img http:/bit.ly/yYTzGr
Acting and Empathy
Acting is a transformational experience. It is the art of communicating stories but it is also the art of receiving the stories that others are trying to tell you. Quite simply, it is the art of empathy. Those who acquire some of acting’s basic skill sets can use them to become stronger leaders and more successful managers and negotiators. We have designed a week that will inspire actors and refine their skills. It will give other professionals invaluable insights into others and themselves.
Think back to fourth grade. What were you doing in school? Were you practicing fractions? Learning photosynthesis? Maybe you were studying the British colonization of the New World?
Well, if we fast
Empathy promotes meaningful relationships, better communication, and problem-solving skills. It also promotes greater understanding between people of different backgrounds, and it is an essential building block for a secure, prosperous community. This course examines recent social research into empathy and other “prosocial” behaviors, as well as recommended strategies and practices for guiding young children through the early phases of empathy’s long developmental process. Objectives of this course include understanding the difference between empathy and sympathy, defining the “warm glow effect,” and identifying appropriate strategies for promoting and reinforcing altruistic behavior in the early childhood environment. "This course shows that empathy isn’t just about being nice or thoughtful. Empathy is a vital life skill and a major factor in personal relationships and communication," says Maria C. Taylor, President and CEO of CCEI. "Our empathy and prosocial behaviors training course shows early childhood professionals why this topic is as important for children as it is for adults.”
Erika MacLeod (@3rikamac) from Ashoka’s Start Empathy initiative had the opportunity to interview Bob Sornson, the founder of the Early Learning Foundation.
Q: Please share some of the work you have been involved with recently.
A: My work at The Early Learning Foundation focuses on early learning success. We work with schools, agencies and parent organizations to inform people about the skills and habits which must be well-established in the early years of life. By age five, for example, many aspects of personality are well established; by the end of third grade we can predict learning outcomes for most kids for the rest of their lives! In any typical low-income community in the U.S., just 17 percent of students are proficient readers by the beginning of 4th grade, which data suggests means they’re unlikely to ever become successful readers or students. It’s a national tragedy and a crime to let so many poor kids become unsuccessful learners in the information age. Culture of Empathy Builder page: Bob Sornson http://j.mp/13puxuB
At Prospect Sierra, a leading Ashoka Changemaker School, service-learning is an important part of the curriculum. From the time students enter the school in kindergarten through their graduation in 8th grade, they are participating in meaningful projects that allow them to practice empathy, teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving skills. Third grade teacher Elissa Fisher shares with us her experience of her students' service project at the Center for Early Intervention on Deafness (CEID).
"Over the last several months, those of us at Start Empathy – along with a core group of Ashoka Fellows, leading educators and partners – have worked to identify, distill, and categorize dozens of promising empathy building insights and activities. In short, we’ve been asking people: “What works?”
What we’ve received ranges from simple tips to group problem solving exercises to teacher training guides, and they all help advance our central goal: unleashing empathy as both an input and output of our education system.
Now we’ve compiled them into our “here’s stuff that works” guide, which we’re calling the Empathy Road Map. It’s by no means a comprehensive picture but rather a strong first step. It’s meant to be a living document – one that our community helps us enhance and refine over time." By Start Empathy
You may think it's something we just know, but kids learn compassion and if you want to raise a kind, caring person, here are a few tips: Show Compassion to Your ChildExplore FeelingsRead Books on Bullying ...
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