THOUGHTFULNESS
"Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity. If you learn this art of being thoughtful, you will become more and more Christ-like, for his heart was meek, and he always thought of others. Our vocation, to be beautiful, must be full of thought for others." - Mother Teresa.
It is the state of thinking carefully about something, thinking about other people's needs. Thoughtfulness is the care and consideration for other people.
3 tools to inculcate thoughtfulness are:
1. Compliment or teacher praise
The compliment is the remark that expresses admiration. It is an action that shows approval for somebody. Teacher praise is one of the important tools that can be the best motivator for the students. It helps the teacher encourage different aspects of the students for good output. Encouraging students will help them to reach their ambitions and goals.
For example, a teacher can complement the students for performing well in overall areas. Students should always get appreciated for the things they do. This helps them to grow well in different fields.
2. Attention or notice
Watching or listening about something or someone very carefully is attention. When we give attention to someone, we listen to it, look at it and think carefully about it.
We as teachers expect our students to listen to us carefully; in the same way, they also expect the same from us. A teacher should pay attention to each and every student in a classroom.
Noticing a child will help you know if they are facing a problem in anything. If this is so, we can ask the child to rate the challenge he is finding in the activity. This will help you get insight into what you can do to decrease the level of frustration of a child.
3. Kindness
Kindness is the quality of being friendly. It is like helping show empathy. Kindness is something that means doing good things for others and not expecting anything in return. We should always be kind in our responses. That means we should always think before we speak.
Kindness is the important ingredient that enhances positivity and helps children to feel good about themselves. It makes a good peer-to-peer connection.
We teach our students to be kind by saying "thank you" to someone who helps them, by saying "sorry" to someone you hurt. And by saying "please" if you want something from someone.
UNDERSTANDING
Understanding is the knowledge that someone has for a particular subject. It is showing kind feelings toward somebody. It is sympathetic.
Empathy is the ability to understand what other people feel, see things from their viewpoint. It is the state of imagining yourself in someone's place and feeling their situation.
Being empathetic means:-
You can listen to what others want to say.
Anyone can tell you about their problems.
You care about people.
Empathy is noticing or understanding someone else's experience, situation or perspective. Making connections when someone feels alone in the difficult emotion is empathy.
Activity to inculcate empathy among the students:-
☆ Identifying and demonstrating emotions
List out the different emotions and review with the students.
Call the students and ask them to point out the face that shows happiness, sadness, anger etc. We can continue this until everyone raises their hands and has a chance, whether it involves repeated emotions.
Ask students to put their hands up who wants to demonstrate emotions. Instruct the students to display actions that will illustrate each emotion. We can assist them with our own.
Now it's your turn to model anyone emotion that the students haven't modelled. And see if the students can identify what is the emotion that they are feeling. Ask them the situation or what could have happened to you to make you feel that way.
Now ask students to show what they would look like if you experience:
You won a prize that you were expecting.
Your pet dog died.
A student in your classroom got a bar of chocolate.
We can use this activity to inculcate empathy among our students.
" Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another."
- Sweta Thapli @JMMS, John Martyn Memorial School, Salangaon, Dehradun