As we set out into another New Year our thoughts may be full of ‘fresh starts’ and ‘new beginnings’. Perhaps we are looking for ways to live a better life, making resolutions to live more healthily and act more ethically. One place to start could be to explore concepts of kindness and empathy. So here are a few ideas and pointers to bring those qualities into the classroom and inspire your students.
Some definitions, to begin with, from the online Collins English Dictionary:
Action for Happiness has developed this simple but inspirational Happy New Year calendar for January, with daily suggested actions to help people be happier and bring more happiness to others. They also produced a Kindness Calendar for the December festive period. There are some great ideas for the little things people can do to increase their own and other people's happiness. Examples include:
- Kindness: the quality of being gentle, caring, and helpful.
- Empathy: the power of understanding and imaginatively entering into another person's feelings.
1. Go to any news site 2. Read a story about someone experiencing something you have never directly experienced 3. Imagine yourself experiencing it It sounds simple but it can be difficult at first to truly imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes. Yet, with practice, it becomes easier. Think hard about how their particular circumstances would affect your everyday life. What would it feel like to be that person? What obstacles would you face? What opportunities would you have?Oxfam Education’s New Year Resolutions teaching resource helps 7-14-year-old learners think critically about ideal futures. Learners imagine what they would like their future selves, their school, their local community or the world. For example, they might wish people to treat one another with more kindness. What is this future like? What is important? What would people need to do to create this ideal future?
Action for Happiness has developed this simple but inspirational Happy New Year calendar for January, with daily suggested actions to help people be happier and bring more happiness to others. They also produced a Kindness Calendar for the December festive period. There are some great ideas for the little things people can do to increase their own and other people's happiness. Examples include:
- Look for the good in others and notice their strengths.
- Thank three people you're grateful to, and tell them why.
- Make something happen for a good cause.
- Get outside and notice five things that are beautiful.
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases from being shared.”This saying is attributed to the Buddha, and the cartoonist Zen Pencils has designed this great poster to illustrate it. You could get students to discuss the poster and its meaning in class. They could research their own favourite sayings about spreading happiness or kindness and design their own poster. If they're stumped for ideas, Kindness UK has a page of useful kindness quotes for schools to use. What is it like to have spent years in prison, or to be a child growing up in Tehran, or to have rediscovered love in your eighties? Launched in 2015, the world's first Empathy Museum aims to help people find out. This five-minute clip shows how they have made real the idea of "walking a mile in someone's shoes". Is this something you could try out in class? Some of the stories are available as sound recordings on the Empathy Museum website. Or you could get students to record their own experiences to share. [embed]https://youtu.be/60em6n_j8Io[/embed]
