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By:

Jennifer Polsky

Natalie Gavin

Rebecca Luff

Cherrie Tam

Mary Gordon, the founder of the Roots of Empathy program began her career as a Kindergarten teacher.

In 1981, she initiated parenting and family literacy centres in Toronto schools through a play-based, problem-solving curriculum that viewed parents as having strengths. This led to meeting families who struggled with addiction, domestic violence and child abuse. Empathy helped her to connect with these families.

In 1996, Maytree Foundation funded the first Roots of Empathy pilot program to a Kindergarten class.

The Roots of Empathy (ROE) Program

What Other's are Saying...

Rose & Gallop (2000) note that Schools are looking to include a “more comprehensive agenda for education - one that includes promoting student's social and emotional competence, morality, and social responsibility" (p. 241).

Research by Kimberly Schonert-Reichl and Dr. Clyde Hertzman found that, “ROE program children decreased in aggression”, “increased in their caring, kindness, and peer acceptance” (p. 253), “increased in their ability to take the perspective of others and emotion understanding” (p. 254), “increased understanding the causes of infant crying, felt more positive about their classrooms” (p. 255).

Implications

Critical Issues

"The Roots of Empathy program fosters children’s social and emotional competence, improves pro-social behaviours, and functions as a protective factor in the development of aggression,” (p. 256). The program creates classroom communities for inclusion and celebrates diversity.

The development of strong pro-social skills involves understanding others and having the ability to see things from another person's point of view.

Parental Interactions

Bullying

The biggest influence in a child’s life comes from the home, and parents are children’s first teachers.

Gordon states, “the relationship between the child and the parent is the most powerful teaching relationship there is” (p. 17).

If parents have unresolved socio-emotional issues, the negative ideologies may transfer to children.

Gordon states, the challenge is to break out of the cycle of violence or poverty and the Roots of Empathy program seems to be an excellent way to do this, as parents are supported and empowered through the classroom visits.

The Roots of Empathy program has strong ties to several areas of child development :

1. Emotions and Self-regulation

2. Bullying

3. Parental Relationships

Research suggests that a defining characteristic of a bully is the lack of empathy.

Bullying needs, “preventative interventions, like Roots of Empathy” (p. 170).

There is prevalence and increase in violent manifestations of bullying but ‘zero tolerance’ policies in schools are ineffective as the bully and sometimes the victim is penalized or segregated.

Gordon (2005) mentions that children are often “suspended, given detentions, or otherwise isolated” (p. 175). This approach appears more reactive than proactive, and Gordon brings up a good point that children who are bullies need guidance in pro-social behaviors. Removing them from others who may be good role models don’t help children learn how to behave in an empathic manner.

Roots of Empathy offers an “entire spectrum of social and emotional learning” (p. 19), which will get to the core problems with bullying.

Implications for Our Practice

Emotions / Self-regulation

“We [need to] concern ourselves less with student’s knowledge of facts and more with their ability to solve problems and their growing emotional maturity.” (p.197)

It is important to “[present] to students authentic, real-world problem-solving experiences rather than pencil-and-paper exercises. The problem-solving activities value process over product and encourage creative thinking rather than recollection of facts.” (p.198)

Gordon (2009) notes "of all the literacies of childhood, emotional literacy is the most fundamental" (p. 8).

"The child who is coping with deep emotional pain, who is sad, worried or bullied won't be able to learn, no matter how carefully the lesson plan is crafted" (p. 202).

When children are given the tools for a rich social and emotional life, the pain and difficulty of not knowing how to identify or manage their emotions can be prevented.

Children start by learning to understand the perspective of the baby and labeling the baby`s feelings, and then are guided in extending this learning so they can better understand their own feelings and the feelings of others.

These skills help children to build individual relationships and “take responsibility for creating a peaceful and compassionate classroom.” (Gordon, 2009, p. 48).

Studies show that "students involved in programs designed to increase empathy have higher scores in reading comprehension, enhanced critical and thinking skills, gains an ability to reason, as well as gains in moral reasoning skills," (p. 127).

Implications for Interactions

“Children learn most from human interaction and, within that, learn most from people who have positive regard for them.” (p.201)

Provide opportunities for communication so that children can express their ideas, thoughts and most importantly, their feelings.

Model empathic behavior and empower children through their emotional literacy.

Core Principles

The program is aimed at helping children:

- develop emotional literacy and resilience

- reduce levels of aggression

- decrease incidence of bullying

- encourage socio-emotional development

- increase empathy

The program strives to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies by developing empathy in children and adults through the creation of social inclusion in the classroom community with baby, parents, children and others.

The all-encompassing program focuses on a variety of academic subjects as well as everyday practical skills.

Not only do children get to explore social studies, art, science, math, and practice literacy skills through activities before and after the baby visits, they also get to explore methods of conflict resolution, practice expressing emotions, and more as they get an opportunity to participate in the larger community.

A child is seen as a person with a “range and depth of emotion…as complex as our own” (p.41) and therefore, the program explores emotions in a collective and collaborative way, nurturing all aspects of children's development in a holistic way.

What is Roots of Empathy?

An evidence-based classroom program that reaches elementary school children from kindergarten to grade 8.

A baby is introduced into the classroom as a teacher, where children experience the baby's humanity on an emotional level, leading to the discovery of their own feelings and feelings of others.

The program has reached over half a million children across Canada and Internationally with programs available in different languages.

Critique

1. The benefits of the program are supported by extensive research, however it is not available in every class.

2. The book does not specify the population from which the research to support the program is drawn from. Are the results of the program the same when delivered internationally?

3. No details are offered as to whether this program is inclusive for students identified as at-risk or with special needs.

Question

4. Lastings effects of the program are unknown. Do teenagers in high school still show more empathic behaviors in comparison to their peers who have never taken the program, or do the effects of the program diminish after a certain period of time?

How do you think teachers

can support children's

emotional literacy?

Additional Information

More information about the program can be found at

http://www.rootsofempathy.org/en/

References:

Books/Articles:

Gordon, M. (2009). Roots of empathy: Changing the world child by child. Thomas Allan Publishers: Toronto, ON

Images:

Slide 1: Roots of Empathy Book. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Empathy-Changing-World-Child/dp/1615190074

Slide 2: Mary Gordon profile picture. Retrieved from http://dalailamacenter.org/programs/speakers-series/mary-gordon/bibliography

Slide 2: Roots of Empathy logo. Retrieve from http://elmwoodroom3.wikispaces.com/Roots+of+Empathy

Slide 11: Little girl picture. Retrieved from http://realparenting.ca/2011/01/podcast-roots-of-empathy/

Little boy picture. Retrieved from http://trudeau.vsb.bc.ca/empathy.html

Slide 12: No bullying picture. Retrieved from http://www.bcptl.org/?cat=29

Slide 13: Mom and baby picture. Retrieved from http://login.greatbignews.com/UserFiles/210/May2011-Newsletter.htm

Video:

Using Babies to Decrease Aggression, Prevent Bullying. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/v/fvelYfCZCZs.

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