Developing Empathy as Practice | Stephanie Briggs | TEDxBergenCommunityCollege
Summary
TLDRIn this inspiring transcript, a professor from Baltimore's community college shares their experience integrating contemplative pedagogy and mindfulness into their English classes. They introduce empathy exercises, such as the 'I see you' practice, to foster understanding and connection among students. The class delves into community exploration through photography, prompting students to engage with their neighborhoods and consider change. The narrative highlights the transformative power of empathy, as students learn to see beyond stereotypes and connect with marginalized individuals, ultimately developing a deeper sense of compassion and self-awareness.
Takeaways
- 🎓 The professor has been incorporating contemplative pedagogy or mindfulness into their English classes for 15 years, aiming to create a more engaging and reflective learning environment.
- 🧘 Mindfulness is defined as paying attention in a certain way, on purpose, without judgment, which is a key practice in the class.
- 📸 Students are encouraged to explore their communities through photography, capturing images that represent beauty, difficulty, needed changes, and personal shaping experiences.
- 🤝 The 'I see you' practice, or ICU practice, is used to build acknowledgment and connection among students, fostering a sense of community and empathy.
- 🏘️ The class activities are designed to make students actively engage with their communities, prompting them to reflect on and potentially address local issues.
- 🌱 Empathy is a central theme, defined as being present with oneself or another without judgment, aiming to understand and connect with others' experiences.
- 📈 The course includes a research paper component where students delve into the lives of marginalized people, challenging preconceived notions and promoting understanding.
- 🔍 Students are tasked with creating a PowerPoint presentation to represent marginalized groups, which involves emotional engagement and contemplation.
- 🌟 The professor's approach is not just about academic learning but also about personal growth, as students learn about empathy, compassion, and themselves.
- 💬 The class concludes with a powerful message from the students, emphasizing the importance of seeing and acknowledging each other's existence.
Q & A
What is the main teaching approach used by the professor in the English department at a community college in Baltimore?
-The professor incorporates contemplative pedagogy or mindfulness into the classes, focusing on paying attention in a certain way on purpose without judgment.
How does the professor define empathy in the context of the classroom?
-Empathy is defined as being present with yourself or another person without changing what they believe or anything about what they believe.
What is the ICU practice mentioned in the script?
-The ICU practice is a simple exercise where students make eye contact with each other, acknowledge each other's existence, and audibly say 'I see you' to one another.
What assignment did the professor give to the students to explore their community?
-The students were asked to take photographs of their community with their cellphones, focusing on four aspects: what is beautiful, what is difficult, what needs to change, and what has shaped them in their community.
How does the professor use mindfulness techniques to help students manage anxiety or stress?
-The professor teaches a one-minute meditation or mindfulness practice where students take deep breaths and count their breaths to calm down and compose themselves.
What was the students' initial reaction to the idea of going into their community to make changes?
-The students initially melted down, expressing concern and resistance to the idea of engaging with their community in such a direct way.
Can you provide an example of how the students were encouraged to engage with their community?
-Students were encouraged to say 'hi' to people they see, pick up garbage on their block, or simply listen to an old man who had stories to share about the community.
How did the practice of the ICU at Home Depot impact one of the students?
-One student practiced the ICU at Home Depot and, after initially receiving strange reactions, ended up making a meaningful connection with a customer who thanked her for seeing her.
What was the focus of the research paper that the students worked on at the end of the semester?
-The research paper focused on marginalized people and groups, exploring how to evaluate and write about them with empathy and understanding.
What was the final message the students wanted to share with the audience?
-The final message from the students was a simple yet powerful statement of acknowledgment and empathy: 'I see you.'
Outlines
🎓 Incorporating Mindfulness and Empathy in Classrooms
The speaker, a professor at a community college in Baltimore, shares their experience of integrating contemplative pedagogy and empathy into their English classes. They explain the concept of mindfulness as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, which is paying attention on purpose without judgment. The class begins with an 'ICU' practice where students acknowledge each other's existence by making eye contact and saying 'I see you.' The professor emphasizes the importance of community and encourages students to explore their community through photography, answering questions about beauty, difficulties, changes needed, and personal shaping experiences. The goal is to foster a deeper understanding of empathy and community engagement.
📸 Engaging with Community through Photography and Mindfulness
The narrative continues with the students' exploration of their community through photography, capturing images that represent beauty, difficulties, necessary changes, and personal shaping experiences. The class then discusses the idea of making changes in their community, which initially causes anxiety among the students. To address this, the professor teaches a one-minute mindfulness exercise to help them calm down and focus. The students are then tasked with small acts of community engagement, such as greeting neighbors or cleaning up litter. The professor shares anecdotes of students applying empathy in their daily lives, like listening to a veteran's stories, which leads to a deeper understanding of their community's history.
📝 Developing Empathy through Research and Reflection
Towards the end of the semester, the class focuses on researching and writing about marginalized people and groups. The professor introduces the complexity of marginalization, noting that some marginalized individuals may also marginalize others. The students are challenged to understand and empathize with these dynamics. They are asked to create a PowerPoint presentation with an image representing a marginalized group and to sit with the image, contemplating the emotions it evokes. The professor concludes by affirming that empathy can be developed and practiced in the classroom, leading to personal growth and a broader understanding of others. The students express their learnings through the message 'I see you,' highlighting the power of acknowledgment and empathy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Contemplative pedagogy
💡Mindfulness
💡Empathy
💡Community
💡Marginalized people
💡ICU practice
💡One-minute meditation
💡Personal experiences
💡Research paper
💡PowerPoint presentation
Highlights
The class environment is transformed from traditional to a supportive and engaging space with the introduction of food and discussions.
Students are encouraged to design their first website, fostering practical skills and creativity.
The professor's personal journey includes teaching English at a community college in Baltimore for 15 years, with a focus on contemplative pedagogy.
Mindfulness is defined and integrated into the class through various practices like silence, art, and music.
Empathy is introduced as a core component of the class, aiming to be present without judgment.
The ICU practice is utilized to acknowledge students' existence and build a sense of community.
The first essay assignment prompts students to explore their community through photography, focusing on beauty, difficulty, change, and personal shaping.
A one-minute meditation technique is taught to help students manage stress and foster mindfulness.
Students are challenged to engage with their community, leading to insights and actions for positive change.
The class discusses the complexity of marginalization, encouraging students to understand multiple perspectives.
Students are tasked with creating a PowerPoint presentation to represent marginalized groups, promoting empathy and compassion.
The professor shares a story of a student who practiced empathy at work, leading to a profound human connection.
The class concludes with a reflection on the development of empathy and its impact on understanding oneself and others.
Students express their belief in the possibility of developing empathy through practice and learning.
The students' final message emphasizes the importance of seeing and acknowledging each other's existence.
Transcripts
imagine it's your last day at class or
final exams and instead of hunkering
down waiting for that final exam to be
handed out instead you're bringing in
food hot cooked food and pastries and
you're huddled in a corner with your
cohort discussing that final bit of
preparation before you present your
first ever designed website or you're
just excited because you're about ready
to tell people about your insights about
how your intersections intersect with
the lives of marginalized people you're
about to report on this is not the same
class I had 15 weeks ago you know who
they are you might even be them you know
young bold frightened terrified of not
knowing going from middle school to high
school high school to college
you might recognize them now I have been
a professor in the English department at
a community college in Baltimore
Maryland for the past 15 years and for
10 of those years I've been
incorporating contemplative pedagogy or
mindfulness into my classes so what is
mindfulness so the best definition is
once write by Jon kabat-zinn which is
paying attention in a certain way on
purpose without judgment so in my class
we use things like silence art music
dance photography even the holding
practice whatever that is but could I
for the past year
incorporate empathy into the class
empathy empathy is defined as being
present with yourself or another person
without changing what they believe
without changing anything about what
they believe so could I incorporate
empathy into my class so right now what
I'm gonna do is I'm gonna remove myself
from this and I'm going to invite my
students in because this is their story
not mine and what we're going to do is
together find out about what they did so
you'll be joining them or will be also
looking at photos of their work so let
me describe the first day of class so
the first thing that class is very
simple we are in a circle and I ask my
students to just acknowledge their
existence that's all they're supposed to
do so we do something called the ICU
practice very simple practice and we're
going to all do that here today okay so
it's interactive so what we're going to
do is let me explain this to you is that
we're going to look until we see someone
and we're going to make eye contact and
we're going to acknowledge their
existence and then we're going to say to
them audibly I see and then we're going
to look around the room again and we're
going to find someone else and we're
going to make eye contact with them
acknowledge their existence and say I
see okay so you understand what we're
going to do got the instructions okay so
what we're going to do is look around
the room and we're going to do this
until I tell you to stop and just look
at someone and say I see you go
all right thank you I love the sound of
this I mean you know is a little bit of
discomfort and then all of a sudden okay
it's okay so anyway this is what we do
in my class and then we begin so the
first class and the first essay is
really about community what is community
so I say to my students all right this
is what we're going to do but before we
get started I want to ask you a simple
question
how many of you know your neighbors and
about 1/4 of the hands go out I mean
only 1/4 of the hands go up and I said
ok let's let's think about this so what
we're going to do is we're going to go
into our communities with our cellphones
and we're going to go and we're going to
take photographs of our community so we
go in and I said but here's the deal
they're gonna be 4 questions and you
have to answer these four questions one
picture for each question and so once
you find that image you're going to look
you're gonna look at it from far you're
gonna look at it up close you're gonna
look at it from all different angles and
when you see the shot take it this is
what the students saw and the four
questions were what is beautiful in my
community what is difficult in my
community what needs to change in my
community and what has shaped me in my
community so now that we have sort of
since spent some time exploring and we
look at all of our photos and
everybody's quite happy we then decide
well let's talk about going into our
community and making some changes and
the class totally melts down they're
like what what are we gonna do and I
said we're going to go into our
community no way and I said everybody
take a minute take a breath so now I'm
going to teach you that practice
the one minute meditation the one minute
breath the one minute mindfulness so
everybody right now take a deep breath
in and exhale slowly again take a deep
breath in and exhale slowly and now what
we're gonna do is go to our normal
breathing and we're going to count our
breaths so inhale exhale is one inhale
exhale two inhale exhale see how that
works and so what we're going to do is
we're going to breathe and we're going
to do it for 15 seconds as opposed to a
minute and I'm going to time it all
right you know what we're going to do
and begin counting your breaths now
and stop so now if you're going into an
exam or maybe a job interview and you
need 15 seconds or 10 seconds just to
compose yourself
you can sit someplace and just count
your breaths you know how many you need
to get to 15 seconds or if you're a
faculty member or a teacher instructor
and you're posing a particularly
difficult question
you can sit for 10 or 15 seconds
counting your breaths while your
students have time to reflect so now
everybody's calm and I said so what are
the concerns and they say okay professor
all right all right nobody in my
community talks to each other no one
talks to each other well why don't you
take the next three weeks and just when
you see a person to say hi how you doing
okay okay professor you have seen what's
in my neighborhood is nasty the people
are nasty they throw things down I mean
it is disgusting they have no respect
well maybe for the next three weeks you
and a friend twice a week can go and
pick up the garbage on your block okay
professor there's this old man he's
lived across the street from me and he
will talk your ear off I have no idea
what he's talking about
well maybe you should just listen and
this student did listen and what she
heard was he was a veteran and he went
to this park that too far from his home
and he loved it there because told the
rich history of the military in the
community so my student went there and
she realized this is an incredible park
and
only a block away from her home she had
never been there before
empathy I want to share a story about
another one of my students with the ICU
practice she decides to do the ICU
practice in her job which is home depot
so she's going up to people in home
depot of me really really go to the
people at Home Depot and she's saying to
them ICU and then you know people are
moving away they're kind of moot and
she's and she did this for the whole day
at work
I mean she went up to people everyone
and finally it was the last person the
end of her workday a customer she went
up to her and said I see you and she
walked away because the woman was a
little alarmed but she heard these feet
running behind her and she turned and it
was that woman and she said to her thank
you for seeing me empathy so now it's
the end of the semester we're working on
our research paper and you know we're
looking at marginalized people and
marginalized group and how do we kind of
evaluate and write about these folks and
in the meantime I've also thrown in a
few things to make it a little more
complex I've thrown in things like well
did you know that there are other people
that marginalize people don't
particularly like and therefore you're
going to have to understand that because
these are marginalized people maybe
marginalizing other people and the
students are like oh this is really way
too much and we focus in on it and we
research and we realize that wait a
minute there's something here and
they're using words like empathy and
compassion and love and so I have them
create a five slide PowerPoint and that
PowerPoint has an image that will
represent that marginalized group and
we're going to sit with that image and
we're going to behold and just deal with
the emotions that come forth and this is
one of those images so why don't we just
behold what my students looked at about
this particular
grip
so is it possible to develop empathy in
the classroom when my students clearly
think it is originally I think they
thought I was a little nutty but they
now believe that we can develop empathy
and we can learn a lot about each other
and not only do we learn about each
other we learn about people that we've
had our own sort of personal experiences
with or maybe we're fearful of them or
maybe had ideas about them that weren't
so true and we learned something about
ourselves so yes it is possible it is
possible to develop empathy as practice
and so my students asked me to leave you
with something this is what they learned
and this is what they wanted to share
and it goes like this I see you I see
you I see you thank you
[Applause]
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