In February, love is in the air! At my school, student council sells Sweetie Grams and the cafeteria is festooned with pink and red paper chains. Personally, I have more heart-shaped earrings than any grown woman needs!
I enjoy bringing Valentine’s Day into the classroom. This can be a fun time of the year to get creative in the classroom.
This year I want to focus less on romantic love and more on empathy. As I watch the news and read about current events, I continually return to the idea that yes, the world needs love, but the world also needs a little empathy. Caring about one another is essential, and part of that is being able to see the world through unfamiliar eyes.
My favorite PD book is Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. In its discussion of backwards design, UbD spotlights 6 facets of understanding, including empathy. In other words, in order to understand our world and each other, we need empathy.
Sometimes empathy comes naturally, especially when we see someone in a familiar situation or we see someone who looks like us in pain. However, it also takes practice to be empathetic, and these texts can help teachers model that in the classroom.
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Poems to Promote Empathy
When I think about how to encourage empathy in the classroom, poetry is my go-to. In a few lines, poets have the ability to capture a “slice of life.” Being empathetic can be uncomfortable, but the brevity of poetry limits that discomfort and also makes it commonplace so the next time you’re called upon to be empathetic, it feels easier.
As a bonus, poetry is often short enough that teachers do not have to make significant instructional or pacing changes to incorporate a new or different text.
For me, modeling empathy begins with familiar situations. Nearly every student can relate to the discomfort of the school cafeteria. Where do you sit? Who do you sit with? What if the table is full? What if you sit in the “wrong” place? That’s why “Dothead” by Amit Majumdar is a great place to begin. On one hand, the cafeteria setting is familiar and so is the teasing. However, the speaker is dealing with a situation that may not be familiar to most students. In fact, some students may identify with the speaker’s antagonists first, which is uncomfortable. This poem acts as an uncanny mirror, making it an ideal place to begin modeling empathy. Read it here.
In high school, developing an identity is another common or shared experience. Students are constantly deciding who they are and how they want to be known. This makes “Names” by Teresa Mei Chuc relatable. This poem is a little longer than “Dothead,” so it’s a good progression in difficulty. The speaker’s changing identity encourages students to practice empathy. Read it here.
Of these poems, the one I have taught most often is “Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye (read it here). In this poem, students can empathize with the speaker, her airport friend, the airport workers, or the other travelers. At times, a reader may identify a little bit with each person. It can be easy to say “well, you should empathize with the scared woman,” but I’ve also been that person hesitant to help, and I’ve also been the worker unsure what to do. To practice synthesis thinking, pair this poem with “TSA” by Amit Majumdar.
Finally, “The Last of the Light Brigade” by Rudyard Kipling is a longer poem. I saved this poem for last because to truly appreciate it, students probably should read “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson first. After all, Tennyson is a “character” in Kipling’s poem. Of the poems on this list, this one comes closest to insisting that empathy be coupled with action. Both poems are among my favorite pieces of Victorian literature.
Increasing Complexity
To discuss empathy with a little more complexity and nuance, consider “We Are Not Responsible” by Harryette Mullen. Written like a Terms and Conditions document, this is a poem written from a quasi-corporate perspective. The “speaker” absolutely lacks empathy, which instantly encourages readers to empathize with the the speaker’s victims. The opening line “We are not responsible for your lost or stolen relatives” has an uncomfortable resonance right now. Read it here.
When I think about literature that encourages empathy in me, I think about Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is certainly not a hero, yet he is everything his society ever asked him to be. And for all that, he’s a failure as a father and leader. For all his flaws, I find Okonkwo relatable; the idea that you can do exactly what is asked and still be wrong is the kind of unthinking compliance that leads to injustice. And yet, in the moment, it’s hard to see. I get that, which is why I count this on my list of texts that encourages empathy. All my resources for teaching Things Fall Apart are here.
Alongside Things Fall Apart, I usually teach the short story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell. Like Okonkwo, Orwell’s speaker complies with what he is expected to do rather than doing what he knows is right. Unlike Achebe, Orwell provides a closer look into the protagonist’s mind. For whatever reason, this character tests my empathy more than Okonkwo. Read it here.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t include To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Scout spends the entire novel struggling to empathize, but Harper Lee continually challenges her–asking Walter to lunch, visiting First Purchase Church, standing in the Black balcony in the courtroom, meeting Dolphus Raymond. Yet, at the end of the novel, Scout is able to stand on the Radley porch and see her world from someone else’s perspective. While this novel may not be as complex as Things Fall Apart, it’s certainly longer and takes more time investment from readers. All my favorite resources for this novel are here.
