Embedded Files
Social Awareness is the abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, & contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports. Such as:
• Taking others’ perspectives • Recognizing strengths in others • Demonstrating empathy and compassion • Showing concern for the feelings of others • Understanding and expressing gratitude • Identifying diverse social norms, including unjust ones • Recognizing situational demands and opportunities • Understanding the influences of organizations/systems
Want to know more? Watch this short video.
Trans Day of Visibility is March 31st! Help create awareness and a trans-inclusive school environment using resources from GLSEN. Check out this website that has a great discussion guide that can help with gender terminology and understanding the rights of transgender youth in schools.
Still wanting to know more from Pronoun Awareness Day?
Still wanting to know more from Pronoun Awareness Day?
Check out this great guide from GLSEN. This guide is created to help anyone learn how to use people’s correct pronouns. Including pronouns is a first step toward respecting people’s identity and creating a more welcoming space for people of all genders.
Think empathy and perspective!
Here is a quick activity by Positive School Solutions to engage students in Social Awareness-
FLEXIBLE THINKING THROUGH PERSPECTIVE-TAKING
FLEXIBLE THINKING THROUGH PERSPECTIVE-TAKING
Consider ways to promote flexible thinking through perspective-taking activities. The ability to understand and acknowledge a differing viewpoint is an important skill needed for conflict resolution and problem solving. It allows individuals to see an issue from multiple angles, consider the possibility of multiple correct answers, and anticipate and adapt to the unexpected.
Your perspective is valid and it matters, but it is limited by your own experience.
Writing prompts:
Write a diary entry from the perspective of a chosen animal.
Pretend you met an alien and explain school to him/her/them. Share and discuss similarities and differences in descriptions.
Describe the life of your locker/shoe/etc.
List 25 uses for a toothbrush.
If you were your teacher, how would you teach you?
On being an upstander...
Articles for educators:
Teaching Kids to be Upstanders
Learning for Justice- A unit on dealing with dilemma
Great books on standing up to bullies!
The Revealers, Say Something, Wonder, We are Made of Molecules, See You at Harry's, Stuck on Earth, Maniac Magee, Double Dutch, Black Brother Black Brother, Just Like Jackie, Slob, Dumplin', Posted, The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, Star Girl
Short videos that share the power of empathy.
From SEL Check-In 2/8/23
Relationship Skills/Social Awareness Low-Risk Debates: For an Advisory share OR activity, put up a quick debate topic that is low risk and have the students share their thoughts and why. You could have them share in small groups or do a zip share all around. Then, build this into mini debates and incorporate some norms that establish civilized discourse between students. An example might be- What is the best way to fold a towel? OR Does the person flying in the middle get both armrests? Or Are hot dogs a sandwich?
From SEL CHECK-IN 4/8/21
Social Awareness: For the remainder of April and all of May, our SEL focus is on Social Awareness. Think Empathy. Think Perspective Taking. Think Appreciating Diversity. All areas that we have been working on through our equity and identity work as a staff, as well as with our students. As we focus on this competency, consider implementing activities into your Advisory that specifically and deliberately help to develop empathy. Learning for Justice has developed this activity to help with this development and how to put empathy into practice. Also, consider a classroom or Advisory service project that could help connect students to the world around them and consider perspective. The EMS SEL WEBSITE has some suggestions for this under the Social Awareness Resource page. *Hint- Green Up Day is coming!* There are also suggestions on how to embed this work into your specific content areas.
EMPATHY! This takes intentional work. How can you embed this into your content?
Check out the wordless videos that encourage empathy and curiosity from Better World Ed. Resources from this site can be used in all content areas. *requires subscription...but so worth it!
Learning for Justice offers up this lesson in Developing Empathy.
Greater Good Magazine has shared these Four Ways Teachers Can Help Students Develop a Conscience.
In this article, Empatico writers tell of their journey of incorporating empathy into their STEM Curriculum.
Classroom Service Projects
Classroom Service Projects
Service activities are a fun and meaningful way to connect your students to the word around them. By helping others, a class service project can also help students develop empathy. Here are a few service project ideas you can do as your class to make your community a better place:
Hold a clothing, books, or canned foods drive for a local shelter
Write letters/cards a local nursing home as a class
Participate in Green-Up Day on May 1st or beyond
Create care packages for families in need
Raise money for your school or a charity through a penny challenge
Classroom Debate- I can't recommend holding structured class debates enough. Not only does it help with intelligently arguing important issues, it also helps with recognizing perspective and looking at the other side. Here is an Edutopia article that lists various types of debates for the classroom.
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