Critical Empathy

As being critical is an important aspect of an English class, so is showing empathy while we are being critical. If there was a set list of things that teachers had to try to teach their students, there would of course be grammar and sentence structure, but I would also want to include empathy. If individuals show empathy towards one another that would make our world such a better place, because if only man showed more empathy then maybe our world would be more harmonious. The first step can begin with us, as a future teacher I plan on modeling to my students critical empathy. That in our classroom it is vital to be critical but while being critical it is just as important to have empathy for their peers. There should be no judgement; in order for students to try and understand what their classmates are conveying, they have to try and imagine themselves in the same situation and that is something that I am going to encourage. That instead of judging what students have to say we show empathy and try to put ourselves in their mindset.

Critical empathy is probably one of the most important components when dealing with social issues in the classroom. Take for instance when a class is discussing religion. Students need to know that it is ok to question and thinking analytical about a persons religion, but that it is not alright to judge and put-down a persons choice of worship. I want my students to question and wonder, but I do not want them to judge and come to conclusions to quickly. This is where empathy comes into play, before a student says their comment or opinion I would ask students to put themselves in the mindset of their peer and try to see it there way. In doing this, students are taking a moment to think about their comments before they speak and how to voice their comments in the most respectful way possible.

I just feel like one of the things I will definitely take away from this class is that if you are one thing to text you must be critically empathic. In order to have great class discussion that actually go somewhere, students need to learn to be critically and they need to be empathic toward their classmates, teacher, and the author of the text that they are interpreting. I am so grateful that this type of learning was so engrained in us during this class, because if I take something into my future classroom it is definitely going to be that my students become critically empathic intellectuals.