TIEL Institute -- Teaching for Intellectual and Emotional Learning

Empathy includes caring—caring for yourself, for others, and for your work. It also includes giving help and showing kindness, respect, and courtesy to others.

Empathy is one of the most important, and often one of the most challenging, social-emotional qualities that teachers help students develop. The classroom provides many opportunities for learning the caring behaviors that are necessary for forming and maintaining a community. Setting classroom room rules together helps establish clarity about the actions that are necessary to maintain a safe and supportive learning environment. Working with others in partnerships and groups can help students develop empathy for their peers. Helping students learn empathy involves being aware of how they have been cared for, how they show care for themselves, how they show care to others, and how they show care for their work and environment.

Empathy is learned from the storehouse of memories that influence social-emotional development. Through remembering experiences of caring, we learn to be caring individuals. As we empathize with others, the connections to our own experiences are strengthened and our capacity for empathy increases.

Home - TIEL Institute - TIEL Model - Curriculum - TIEL Services - Publications - About Us - Contact Us - Links