Kimberly Pietris School Counselor SUNY New Paltz Affective Education Summer 2013

1. Rationale a. Grade level b. Overview c. Goals d. Activity Descriptions e. Assessment 2. American School Counseling Association (ASCA) National Standards a. Academic Development b. Career Development c. Personal/Social Development 3. Unit of Study: Developing Empathy a. Lesson 1: Walking in Anothers Shoes b. Lesson 2: Understanding Different Perspectives c. Lesson 3: Standing Up to Discrimination

RATIONALE Grade levels: 6-8 Overview: This curriculum is designed as a series of three classroom guidance lessons for school counselors that focus around a major topic of Empathy Development. The target grade levels would be middle school students, especially grades six and seven. Since the lessons will focus on empathy development, the unit is appropriate for use with students from various socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities. Goals: Social science research has recently focused on empathy as a key quality of pro-social behavior and a core part of emotional intelligence. Helping children to develop empathy benefits their personal and social growth, and ultimately strengthens character. The goal of this sequence of lessons is to teach middle school students to move from a self-centered orientation to a position in which they can understand and empathize with the perspectives of other people. As author Daniel Goleman has suggested, empathy empowers individuals to break down stereotypes and be more accepting of differences; empathy breeds tolerance and promotes respect. In sum, developing empathy supports both character education and citizenship, as empathy enables children to grow into healthy, compassionate adults and ultimately makes schools and communities more constructive places. Activity Descriptions: The series of three lessons is intended to build on one another and will be delivered sequentially. Each of the lessons was developed to stand independently so that a student who was absent for any one would be able and comfortable stepping into the next lesson segment. The first lesson, Walking in Anothers Shoes, asks students to adopt the perspective of an individual in a fictional scenario who has experienced pain from others. By imagining how they would feel in anothers shoes, students learn to label their feelings and to develop problem-solving strategies in response to relatable scenarios. In the second lesson, Understanding Different Perspectives, students express their feelings in response to the poem Honeybees which presents two opposing perspectives. The students will apply critical thinking skills to understand differing perspectives and understand the value of compassion and sensitivity. They will demonstrate their

empathy by making connections on an emotional level to historical or present-day social justice issues by creating their own poem or song to express their feelings. The third lesson, Standing Up to Discrimination, asks students to explore their feelings about instances of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination in society. Through empathy, they will consider how having compassion and taking action against injustices has significant and positive consequences for our communities. Assessment: In the first lesson, students will describe empathy and provide a corresponding example for the counselors evaluation. In the second lesson, students will answer two specific questions about the lesson, which will be used as an exit ticket to leave class. For the third lesson, students will complete an ungraded post-test to evaluate their learning of important vocabulary terms and concepts covered in the lesson.

ASCA NATIONAL STANDARDS Academic Development Standard A: Students will acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span. A:A1 Improve Academic Self-concept A:A1.1 Articulate feelings of competence and confidence as learners A:A1.2 Display a positive interest in learning A:A1.3 Take pride in work and achievement A:C1 Relate School to Life Experiences A:C1.5 Understand that school success is the preparation to make the transition from student to community member Career Development Standard C: Students will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work. C:C2 Apply Skills to Achieve Career Goals C:C2.2 Learn how to use conflict management skills with peers and adults C:C2.3 Learn to work cooperatively with others as a team member Personal/Social Development Standard A: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes and inter- personal skills to help them understand and respect self and others. PS:A1 Acquire Self-knowledge PS:A1.2 Identify values, attitudes and beliefs PS:A1.5 Identify and express feelings PS:A1.6 Distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior PS:A1.7 Recognize personal boundaries, rights and privacy needs PS:A1.9 Demonstrate cooperative behavior in groups PS:A1.11 Identify and discuss changing personal and social roles PS:A1.12 Identify and recognize changing family roles PS:A2 Acquire Interpersonal Skills PS:A2.1 Recognize that everyone has rights and responsibilities PS:A2.2 Respect alternative points of view PS:A2.3 Recognize, accept, respect and appreciate individual differences
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PS:A2.4 Recognize, accept and appreciate ethnic and cultural diversity PS:A2.6 Use effective communications skills PS:A2.7 Know that communication involves speaking, listening and nonverbal behavior Standard B: Students will make decisions, set goals and take necessary action to achieve goals. PS:B1 Self-knowledge Application PS:B1.1 Use a decision-making and problem-solving model PS:B1.2 Understand consequences of decisions and choices PS:B1.3 Identify alternative solutions to a problem PS:B1.4 Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems PS:B1.5 Demonstrate when, where and how to seek help for solving problems and making decisions PS:B1.7 Demonstrate a respect and appreciation for individual and cultural differences Standard C: Students will understand safety and survival skills. PS:C1 Acquire Personal Safety Skills PS:C1.7 Apply effective problem-solving and decision-making skills to make safe and healthy choices PS:C1.11 Learn coping skills for managing life events

References: American School Counselor Association (2004). ASCA National Standards for
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Students. Alexandria, VA: Author.

DEVELOPING EMPATHY: A Series of Three Guidance Lessons LESSON 1: Walking In Anothers Shoes Time: 40 minutes Objectives: Students will: Imagine how they would feel in another persons situation Identify and label feelings Critically analyze and problem solve how to react to different scenarios Develop empathy and compassion for people across different situations Materials: 4 shoeboxes 4 different pairs of shoes 4 pairs spare socks 4 fictional scenarios (taped to box lids) Paper or whiteboard and markers Implementation: 1. Using different pairs of shoes, a school counselor will teach students about empathy, as students will literally place themselves in someone elses shoes. The school counselor will choose four different pairs of shoes to put in mismatched boxes and display at the front of the room to build mystery and anticipation from students. One box will hold a pair of womens slippers; one pair will be sports cleats; one pair will be baby shoes; and another pair will be snow boots. 2. The counselor will randomly choose a student volunteer to come to the front and select a mystery shoebox. This student will remove their own shoes and wear the shoes from the box. 3. Another volunteer will be chosen to read the scenario that corresponds to that particular shoebox; the scenario is found attached to the shoeboxs lid. 4. One scenario might be: The person wearing these boots is running outside to

play in the snow with her friends. When she gets to them, they tell her she cant play. How do you think she feels? What could you do or say to make her feel better? The student volunteer provides a response to kick-start the
classs processing discussion about empathy. (The volunteer can be encouraged to walk around the room a bit to think, stay in role, avoid being put on the spot!) 5. Students are asked to reflect on what feelings come to mind, and whether any students have had a similar situation arise in their lives. Students will process: how did it feel when this happened to them? 6. The counselor will prompt students for what clues, including facial and body language, might indicate how the person is feeling. The counselor will emphasize that although some differences (gender, personality, culture, etc.) may prevent us from fully understanding how another person feels, as humans we have more similarities than differences and share in understanding of situations through empathy. 7. The counselor will discuss the importance of taking action to help a person who has been hurt. The class explores options that would be appropriate to offer friendship or support to the individuals in the shoebox scenarios. 8. The lesson continues until each pair of shoes and scenario has been worn and discussed. 9. The counselor can process what students learned from the lesson by writing students comments on the board. Processing questions include: What does this activity suggest about walking in someone elses shoes? Were there any surprises for you? What might be the consequences of showing or not showing empathy to someone? 10. Conclude the lesson by reminding students that it is important to take others feelings into account. Having empathy for others helps us pay attention to our gut feelings, to build and maintain friendships, and to develop strong communities. Showing empathy when others feel pain, or even to the perpetrator, can have a positive ripple effect on communities. Assessment: Students will be asked to explain what empathy means to them, and to give one tangible example of how empathy might help someone in school. These informal comments can be submitted anonymously in a box at the front of the classroom. References:
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T Kirschman. (2012, July 7). Empathy in a (shoe) box guest post [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://corneroncharacter.blogspot.com/2012/07/empathy-in-shoe-boxguest-post.html LESSON 2: Understanding Different Perspectives Time: 80 minutes or approximately two class periods Objectives: Students will: Identify, express, and share feelings in response to a poem Exercise critical thinking skills Learn the importance of compassion and sensitivity for others point of view, particularly those with less power and privilege Identify similarities and differences that are shared among people with differing perspectives Understand how to have empathy across differences Tap into emotion to connect fictional scenarios with their own lives Relate to historical dynamics and/or power struggles in contemporary society The counselor will collaborate with a history teacher to discover what unit is currently being covered in class, and will implement examples into the lesson accordingly. Materials: Honeybee poem handouts (Rethinking Our Classrooms, pp. 55-56) Paper or computer document for writing Exit ticket for assessment Implementation: 1. Introduce the topic of the lesson. 2. Ask for two student volunteers to do a dramatic reading of Paul Fleischmans poem, Honeybees one as queen bee and one as worker bee. (The readers should have a few minutes to practice outside in the hall.) Readers should stand in opposite corners of the room.

3. Following the reading, copies of the poem should be distributed to the whole class. Suggest that students take a moment to focus on particular lines that stood out to them and elicited strong emotions. 4. Students will form a circle for discussion. The counselor will facilitate the following processing questions: What is going on in this poem? How might you feel if you were the worker bee? When have you experienced a similar feeling? How did you handle that? What differences do we see between these characters? What makes them similar? What do you think it would feel like for worker bee if the queen could understand how he/she felt? How might a poem like this relate to our lives? 5. Activity: Students will brainstorm other perspectives that could be used to write a poem like this. They will be constructing their own dialogue poem, song, or rap based on the perspectives they have chosen. a. Students may choose whether to work alone or with a partner. b. Students can adopt a point of view based on current topics they are studying in history class, i.e. plantation owner/enslaved person, or consider perspectives relevant to the modern day, i.e. Wall St. banker/homeless person. 6. Allow time for students to share their work. For students who prefer not to read their own work, they can place their work in a pile to be read anonymously by the counselor or teacher. Assessment: The school counselor will analyze the student poems to determine whether or not there was an understanding of different perspectives. Students will also submit an exit ticket answering the questions: Why is it important to understand another persons perspective? What did you learn from this lesson? Modifications for Diverse Learners: This lesson has been adapted so that students may develop their own songs or raps, rather than merely poems, which attempts to make the creative assignment more relevant to the lives of many young learners and more flexible in terms of students creative preferences. In creating their own work, students will be permitted to work

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either in pairs or individually to allow for different learning preferences and styles. References: Peterson, B. (2007). Teaching for social justice: One teachers journey. In W. Au, B. Bigelow, & S. Karp (Eds.), Rethinking our classrooms: Teaching for equity and justice (pp. 28-34, 55-56). Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools. Lesson 3: Standing Up to Discrimination Time: 45 minutes Objectives: Students will: Explore feelings about hate crime, prejudice, and discrimination Explore diversity and what it means to have a welcoming classroom environment Define the terms "prejudice" "stereotype" and "discrimination" Read an article about a hate crime in Lowell, MA, and determine who in the story was the aggressor, who was the target and who were the allies Explore the role of an ally both in the article and at school Explore the challenges to being an ally and ways of being an ally Learn to have compassion and stand up for those being hurt or targeted Materials: Paper or whiteboard and markers Article at http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10149681vets-hold-eat-in-to-help-immigrants-vandalized-restaurant Implementation: 1. Activity: Instruct students to think about how we are all a part of different groups and belong to different communities. Ask students to think about some of the different groups they are a part of, and then share some of the groups and communities they listed. All students will be appreciated by applause. The counselor will model the activity by sharing a group or community he or she is part of by standing up and saying "I am _____________." Then ask everyone else in the class who belongs to the same group (e.g., Italian) to stand with you; get everyone else in class to applaud. Next, ask

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several volunteers to stand up and share some of the groups they are a part of by saying "I am _____________." Have others in the class stand with them if they belong to the group as well, and as a class, applaud those who stand. At the end of the activity, ask the following processing questions: How did it feel to participate in this activity? What did it feel like to be applauded? What did it feel like to stand as a group? What did it feel like to stand alone? Explain that we want our classes and schools to be places where people feel welcomed and celebrated, no matter who they are or what group they belong to. We want people to be able to stand up proudly for who they are and the communities they represent. Note that cultural differences enrich our lives, classrooms, and learning and contrast that with how cultural differences are often used as an excuse for bullying and harassment, which drives wedges between people. Write and define prejudice on the board. Ask the class to define the term first and eventually settle on a definition indicating that prejudice is a prejudgment or negative attitude about a group or person that is not based on fact or knowledge. a. Ask students if they believe some people have prejudices about teenagers. How does that feel? What are some of these negative attitudes? b. Make and write examples on the board such as: like loud music, addicted to junk food, talk on the phone all the time, are rowdy/rude/disrespectful, wont listen to anybody, are into themselves. c. Discuss: Do some teenagers fit these descriptions? Do all teenagers fit the description? Is it fair to say or imply that all teenagers are like this? What negative results could come from people being prejudiced against teenagers? Write the word stereotype on the board. Elicit and explain that the negative statements about teenagers we listed together are examples of stereotypes. Prompt the class to define this word. Work toward a definition of stereotype as a general statement about a group of people based on incomplete and often inaccurate information -- usually it's negative. Write the word discrimination on the board. Elicit and explain that discrimination is an action or actions based on prejudice. Highlight for
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students that prejudice is an attitude, while discrimination is an action. Ask students for an example of discrimination against teenagers - that is, actions based on prejudice against teenagers. Students might give examples such as the following: security agents following teenagers around in stores, or police confronting teenagers who are doing nothing wrong. a. Elicit other examples of prejudice and discrimination from the students. If they have trouble thinking of things, prompt them by mentioning various groups and asking students to describe prejudiced attitudes some people have toward the group and the forms discrimination might take. 8. Summarize the activity by saying: We all have prejudices we carry around in our minds. We all make generalizations; that's one way our minds make sense of the world. But when we act on negative judgments and generalizations about groups of people which are formed without sufficient knowledge, we can cause lots of pain to ourselves and others. We must be aware of our prejudices; counter them by increasing our knowledge and experience; and work hard to see each person for who they are. Treating others with respect means seeing them as individuals and avoiding assumptions about them based on a group they belong to. 9. Activity: Students will read the article "Vets Hold 'Eat-in' to Help Immigrants' Vandalized Restaurant." The group will come back together to discuss some or all of the following questions: What are your thoughts and feelings about this story? How did the restaurant owner feel after someone threw the rock through the window of her restaurant? How did she feel when the veterans filled up her restaurant? Why do you think it might be significant that it was vets who took this action? What message did it send? The article talks about a hate crime. What is a hate crime? If you look back over the definitions we just created, what category does hate crime fit into? Who were some of the groups/communities mentioned in the article? What roles did they play? Point out that the man who threw the brick was the aggressor, the restaurant owner was the target (of discrimination) and the vets were

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allies to the restaurant owner. 10. Ask students to think about their school: Are people at their school treated differently based on what group they are from? How? Do you think it's easy to stand up on behalf of those who are being teased, bullied or threatened? Why or why not? What might make it easier? Thinking back to the article, what are some of the things we could do to stand by people when they are targeted either at school or beyond the school walls? Assessment: Students will take an ungraded post-test. The questions will ask them to identify the terms prejudice, stereotype, and discrimination in multiple-choice format. They will also be asked to identify the aggressor, target, and allies from the US News article, in fill-in format. Modifications for Diverse Learners: Students who are unable to stand for the beginning part of the exercise in which each person names a group or community of belonging can instead raise their hand. Computers or tablets may also be used to read the US News article in lieu of paper copies for any students who prefer this reading format. References: Van Woerkom, M. (2012, Feb 13). Respect for all 2012: Standing up to discrimination. In Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility TeachableMoment Classroom Lessons. Retrieved from http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/respect-all2012-standing-discrimination

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