Developing Empathy as Practice | Stephanie Briggs | TEDxBergenCommunityCollege

Summary

In 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

00:00

🎓 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.

05:01

📸 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.

10:02

📝 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.

Keywords

💡Contemplative pedagogy

Contemplative pedagogy is an educational approach that integrates mindfulness and reflection into the learning process. In the video, the professor incorporates this by using silence, art, music, dance, and photography to foster a deeper understanding and connection among students. This approach is evident when the professor asks students to acknowledge each other's existence through the 'I see you' practice, promoting a sense of community and presence.

💡Mindfulness

Mindfulness, as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is 'paying attention in a certain way, on purpose, without judgment.' In the context of the video, mindfulness is practiced through various exercises such as the 'I see you' practice and one-minute meditation, which help students to be present and aware. These practices are used to enhance focus and reduce anxiety, as well as to build empathy and understanding among the students.

💡Empathy

Empathy is defined as being present with oneself or another person without changing what they believe. The video emphasizes the development of empathy in the classroom as a key learning outcome. The professor encourages students to engage with their community, listen to veterans, and interact with people in their daily lives, such as at Home Depot, to understand and connect with them on a deeper level.

💡Community

Community is a central theme in the video, where the professor asks students to explore and photograph their communities to understand what is beautiful, difficult, needs change, and has shaped them. This exercise is designed to build a sense of belonging and responsibility towards one's community, as well as to foster empathy for the experiences and challenges faced by its members.

💡Marginalized people

Marginalized people are those who are pushed to the social and economic periphery and often face discrimination and exclusion. The video discusses how the students are tasked with researching and writing about marginalized groups, encouraging them to approach this task with empathy and understanding. This is exemplified when students create PowerPoint presentations to represent these groups and engage with the emotions that arise from this process.

💡ICU practice

The ICU practice, or 'I see you' practice, is a specific exercise used in the video to acknowledge and validate the existence of others. It involves making eye contact and audibly saying 'I see you' to fellow students. This practice is meant to foster a sense of recognition and respect within the classroom community, and it is later applied in other settings, such as a student's job at Home Depot, to promote empathy and connection.

💡One-minute meditation

The one-minute meditation is a brief mindfulness exercise taught in the video to help students manage stress and anxiety. It involves taking deep breaths, exhaling slowly, and counting breaths for a short period. This technique is used to calm the class when they face the prospect of going into their communities to make changes, illustrating its utility in managing immediate emotional responses.

💡Personal experiences

Personal experiences are emphasized in the video as a way for students to connect with and understand the lives of others. The professor encourages students to reflect on their own backgrounds and how they intersect with the experiences of marginalized people. This is evident when students are asked to consider their own community and how it has shaped them, leading to a deeper understanding and empathy.

💡Research paper

The research paper is a project that students work on throughout the video, focusing on marginalized groups and the complexities of their situations. This assignment is designed to challenge students to think critically and empathetically about the experiences of others, as they are asked to consider not only the marginalization these groups face but also how they might marginalize others.

💡PowerPoint presentation

The PowerPoint presentation is a tool used by the students to represent and explore the experiences of marginalized groups. Each slide contains an image meant to evoke emotions and provoke thought about the group's situation. This exercise is part of the process to develop empathy, as students are asked to sit with the image and 'behold' the emotions that arise, encouraging a deeper, more personal engagement with the subject matter.

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]