The Empathy Project
In a 10th grade ELA classroom, a practice has given students the opportunity to gain confidence in their writing to connect to the concept of empathy. Through a project co-designed and co-facilitated by Leadership Program trainer David Blais, students practiced communicative writing, investigation, self-reflection, and compassion as they created first-person narratives detailing their perception of someone else's defining life moments. Written from that person's point-of-view, students put themselves in the shoes of another and discussed their understanding of the person, and their life choices and behaviors. As they shared their stories, the students developed their sense of empathy by connecting to others' life circumstances and actions. After transforming the narratives into free-form poems, the works were shared on both a classroom and a school-wide level to promote empathy in their school community.