Lesson 3: Empathy and Kindness
15-25 minutes
Introduce the lesson (1 minute)
Start today’s lesson by telling students, “Today we are going to reflect on and discuss how last week’s acts of kindness and caring went and do an activity to learn about different ways others in our class feel care and kindness.”
MCC Tip: If you paired students into accountability partners in the previous lesson, consider giving partners two to three minutes to connect and share about their experiences with acts of kindness before the next activity.
Four Corners Activity (6-10 minutes)
Before beginning, designate four different corners in the classroom as corners 1, 2, 3, and 4. Next, read each question below, prioritizing questions in bold (and include your own questions and answer choices, if desired). Assign each possible answer to one of the corners, and ask students to stand in the corner that corresponds with their answer to each question. After students move to their corners, ask students to turn and talk about why they made that choice. If time allows, ask one student from each corner to share out.
Prompt students to also observe where the majority of students move for each question.
MCC Tip: To help visual learners, use chart paper to illustrate each of the answer choices per question. You might also present the question prompts on a PowerPoint presentation to accommodate all learners.
Consider tracking where the majority of your students move during this activity to share with students how their acts and habits of caring change and grow over the course of the strategy. For example, note and share if students’ acts of kindness focused on family or friends and then shifted to strangers. Share your observations with the class and check in with why they think habits are shifting.
Game Questions:
Who were your acts mostly for?
Friends
Family
Strangers
Other
What was your main motivation for performing acts of caring for others?
It makes me feel good
It makes others feel good
I had to for this class
Other
What kinds of acts did you mostly perform?
Caring words
Caring actions
Caring thoughts
Other
To what extent did completing acts of caring impact you?
A lot
Somewhat
None
Not sure
Where did most of your acts of caring take place?
Home
School
Community-centers (religious centers, sports field, etc)
Other
How many of your planned acts did you complete?
All (5+)
Most (3-4)
Some (1-2)
None (0)
How much did you push yourself to complete these acts?
A lot
Somewhat
A little
Not at all
Empathy in caring and kindness (10 minutes)
Bring the class together for the next activity. Ask students what they think the word empathy means. After a few comments, share the definition below.
Empathy: Empathy is the way we relate to others by trying to understand and feel what they are going through and value them as people.
Next, instruct students to journal on the following prompt in their journals on the worksheet in Appendix 4.
Prompt: Reflect on different influences in your life, such as your family, culture, and communities that shape how you give and receive kindness and care. What acts of caring make me feel happy, cared for, or appreciated?
After two to three minutes of reflection and journal time, pass out one sticky note per student and ask students to pick an act of caring they’d like to receive in the next week from a peer, write it on their sticky note with their name, and then place it on a designated wall or board. Model the activity for students first and encourage students to pick an act inspired by the reflection exercise as well as an act that is feasible for a peer to do in a week (e.g. an act that does not take too much time, require supplies that are not available at school, involve money, etc). Share examples of caring acts such as receiving a kind note, pronouncing your name correctly, listening to you or asking good questions, receiving a poem or drawing.
Give students about two minutes to pick an act and place it on the wall. Walk around the room checking in if students need support picking an act of kindness.
After students add their sticky notes, prompt students to read all of the sticky notes on the board or wall and pick a note with an act of caring they will complete over the next week. Frame the activity by asking students to practice empathy by thinking about others’ needs and feelings and how they would like to be shown care and kindness when picking and committing to the act of caring.
MCC Tip: Based on how your class has discussed empathy, kindness, and respect, this may be a good time to introduce the difference between the golden rule: “treat people how you want to be treated” and the platinum rule - “treat people how they want to be treated.” Encourage students to push themselves to practice empathy and listening skills to learn about how others want to be treated, especially for this activity.
Wrap up (1 minute)
Wrap up the lesson by thanking students for engaging in the reflections and being vulnerable by expressing an act of caring they’d like to receive. Share your enthusiasm for the opportunity to pair empathy with kindness and care, especially for people in the classroom community. Let students know when the next lesson will be, when they should complete their act of kindness, and how to reach out to you for support if they need help executing their act of kindness.
MCC Tip: If possible, support students to complete their acts of caring for their peers to ensure that all students give and receive an act of caring from a classmate. Support can range from checking in with all students one to two days before the due date to see if they are on track to dedicating time in class to complete the acts. It may also be helpful to document and review each act of caring to make sure that all acts are feasible. If an act is not feasible, check in with the student and help them pick an act that both follows their reflection of how they like to receive kindness and is feasible for a peer to complete. Expressing how you want to receive care can be vulnerable for some students, so it is important to ensure that all students receive kindness over the week.
Content developed by Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
