I have always taught Kinder and 1st grade. These kiddos often have not ever been expected to think from the perspective of others. The world revolves around them. :)
This is one of my favorite scenes from Dead Poet's Society:
So to introduce this concept I would love to say I leap up on my table like this but let's be honest, it's more like an awkward crawl. ;) But I stand on the table and model for them looking around-what can I see now that I couldn't see before? The dust on the shelves. The bird's nest in the tree outside. Then for the most exciting part-I have them climb up in their own chairs and do the same thing. After all the gasps and murmurs-can we really do this? They discuss how their perspective changed.
Then we read this story. School is super excited for the 1st day until the students arrive and start complaining about school. Then we write about how our school felt on the first day.
Then we read this story about a principal so excited about school that he ends up changing the calendar so we go to school every day. We discuss a principal's job and they write from the perspective of a principal. They often just write about taking bad kids out of class, but I encourage them to dig a little deeper than that. How would it feel, what would a principal wish?
The more often you do these activities comparing perspectives, the more empathy you will see developing in your kiddos. They will randomly say "I feel sorry for homeless people-where do they go to the bathroom?" or "I feel sorry for the dinosaurs-it must have been so scary to see that asteroid and not know what was happening". But I believe that's a good things. Our world can defintely benefit from more empathy.
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