Empathic Listening

This activity is a great first week of school activity, but can be done any time throughout the year. Chairs are organized in a circular shape around the room. Students all write down some type of 'baggage' they are currently carrying around with them. This can be anything that is causing them stress, concern, or energy. Then, they crumple up the paper and throw it into the middle of the room. Each student picks up a piece of baggage that doesn't belong to them and then reads it out loud into the room, one person at a time. This is all done anonymously. If the person who wrote the baggage wants to share more, they can. At the end of the activity, reflect on the fact that everyone is carrying around tough stuff, so we need to treat people with gentelness and kindness. The baggage is stored in a prominent place in the classroom to serve as a reminder of the fact that we never know what someone is dealing with. 

This power point walks students through webbing out different elements of their identity, writing about some of their most valued elements and imagining what it would be like if one was taken away or became cause for their persecution. 

~Created by Kellie March, 2022

This website has an entire years worth of units around kindness and social emotional skills K-8. There is an entire unit for each grade level on being an empathic listener and how to develop the skills to become an empathetic person. 

This short guided narrative writing askes student to reflect on a time they knew their family was in some way different from other families.  After writing, they get a chance to share with other students, helping to see a variety of families and seeing everyone is different. 

~Created by Adam Pritchett, 2022