Relationships
| Site: | Akademie EU |
| Course: | Empathy for Children |
| Book: | Relationships |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Thursday, 30 January 2025, 11:32 PM |
Description
This book is based on the work of iben, Dissing, Sandahl
1. Relationships
2. Let Your Students Know that You See Them
RATIONALE
This exercise’s primary purpose is to make sure all students feel seen and acknowledged for their existence and the importance of them coming to school. Also, to start the day with a big smile and a sincere welcome.
OBJECTIVES
When students feel securely-attached to the teacher, they know they can count on them for emotional and physical support. And this may encourage them to take more emotional risks and to connect better with classmates.
MATERIALS
(No materials needed).
PROCEDURE
Depending on how the procedure is at your school, you can either chose to say “Hello” and look your students in their eyes when they enter the class (suitable for the older students) or line them up in the hall outside the classroom door, saying good morning to each student by name.
Basically, there are many options. You can let them choose from either a hug, hand shake, a dance move or high-fve greeting – to just looking them in their eyes and greeting them good morning as what feel most natural.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
• What do you do to make each of your students feel seen daily?
• Can eye contact make a diference?
• How would you implement more eye contact in your class?
WHAT TO OBSERVE
Students are feeling a part of – and essential to the teacher and the class as a whole.
NOTE TO TEACHER/TRAINER
Implementing this tool as a routine; otherwise, it has no efect. This is the simplest, and the most important, personal connection to practice every day that makes a big diference. In all my years as a teacher, I did this with my students as an instinct.
3. Circle Time
Circle time is a fundamental aspect of early childhood education that brings children together in a communal learning setting. During circle time, children gather in a circle or designated area to engage in a variety of activities that promote social interaction, learning, and the development of essential skills.
Creating a special area helps establish a routine and a sense of structure for children, enhancing their engagement, social interaction, and overall learning experience during circle time. The most common and traditional location for circle time is a designated area in the classroom that often consists of a large carpet or rug arranged in a circular shape where children can sit comfortably. It may be adorned with colorful cushions or mats to create a cozy and inviting space. You can also consider having circle time in your class reading corner or library or even take circle time outside if weather permits.
Overall, circle time serves as a time for connection, communication, and collaboration, where children can participate in group discussions, sing songs, listen to stories, play games, and fudamentally practice social-emotional skills.
The following page offers ideas for for approaching personal issues and provides examples of questions that might open discussions on a range of social-emotional subjects.
4. Circle Time 2
1. Ways They Learn to Act
Responsibility goes both ways
- Take responsibility
- Nothing changes by itself, so although you may think that it’s everybody else’s fault, YOU need to do something to change it
- Talk about it
- Everyone needs to bring up issues
- Write it down!
- Make a class manifest where it is written down what you have talked about, along with the class rules. It may be that you must remember to say hello to everyone; that one must not slander or turn eyes. Print it out and hang it up in class.
- Decorate
- It’s always nicer to be somewhere you feel comfortable. Put up posters on the wall, make a cozy corner, and agree on what kind of music you want to be played during breaks.
- Fun Ideas
- It’s a good idea to do something together, which is not about school. Arrange a movie night, throw a party, or arrange to eat breakfast together on Saturdays. But remember not to exclude anybody!
Students will feel lonesome and especially when having problems/sorrow within their families and the tricky thing about personal changes in life or the difculties of becoming part of groups, is how to start such conversations.
2. Issues That Can be Brought Up
- Relational issues between students
- Mobile phone problems
- Bad and tense atmosphere
- Bullying
- Low motivation
- Personal issues that need to be addressed
- Changes to the class rules
- Football tournaments between classes, etc.
- Evaluation with the class about parents’ involvement and social events such as trips, events, parent cooperation, etc.
- How to commute safely
- Conversations about how to have a healthy life (health, sexuality, family, and friends’ relations).
- Information about education, vocational and labor market and talks about their own decisions they can take.
3. Fear
- Tell about a time when you were afraid.
- What else can make you afraid?
- Who/what can help you when you are afraid?
- Are you afraid of someone/something at school?
- How can you see that a person is afraid?
- How can you best receive help/give help?
4. Privations (Basic Needs)
- Have you tried to miss someone very much? - Tell us about it.
- What happened?
- How were you able to move on?
- Is there anything or anyone that can help you when you feel like that?
Joy
- Tell about a time when you were happy.
- Try to describe how it felt in your head and your body.
- Are there other/others who can make you happy?
- Can your classmates at school make you happy - how?
- How can you see that a person is happy?
Bullying / Teasing
- Have you teased anyone?
- Have you tried to be teased by someone?
- What is it like to be teased?
- What did you think when you were bullied?
- Why do you think that someone teases others?
- How can you help someone who is being teased?
- Have you tried to tease one for fun - and the other did not think it was funny?
- How was it? Did you become good friends again?
- How can you be friends again with someone you’ve bullied or you have been teased by?
Grief
- Can you see if a person is in sorrow? How?
- What do you do if you in school discover that one of your classmates is sad?
- If you feel sad, what would you expect from your classmates/teachers?
- Tell about a time when you were upset, and someone helped or comforted you.
It is always important to refect on your role as a teacher when working with
students’ feelings and problems. Therefore, these questions can be asked
to yourself afterward, to ensure that you too, are continually learning and
improving yourself – keeping empathetically open:
- Did I show commitment, interest, and warmth?
- Did I have situations of confict where I showed an OPEN mind?
- Was I ready to change my own (unjustifed) perceptions/opinions?
- Was I able to regulate myself when I was met with intense emotions?
- Did I focus on good intentions rather than behavior?
- Did I leave the student/class in a good way?
5. Are we Friends or Classmates?
RATIONALE
This activity aims for students to refect that friendships and participation in communities afect their well-being and empathy skills. Among other things, students can work on what a good friendship and community are and become better equipped to seek out what gives them value in their lives.
OBJECTIVES
Attention to contexts and social and emotional rules.
MATERIALS
(No material needed).
PROCEDURE
The activity is built up in 4 phases, which emphasize activating pre-under
standing, clarifying concepts, preparing role-plays and presenting the
role-play.
- Start by brainstorming with the students about what a good friendship is.
- Write all the words on the board and let all students say what it means to them.
- Then brainstorm with the students about what a good community is.
- Write all the words on the board and let all students say what they are thinking
An example of a community where students do not choose, who they are with could be a class, a football team, a choir, or a scout camp. There a common interest, cause, or goal the students are working towards when being a part of a community. In a community, everyone is obligated to treat each other with respect. Still, the students don’t have to like or be friends with everyone.
When it comes to friendships, students have chosen them by themselves.
Therefore, they will typically like their friends in another way.
Have students share what is essential in a good community and a good friendship.
- What is important in both friendships and communities?
- What are the exact diferences between a friendship and a community?
Next the students work in groups of 4 on making a role-play giving them a note with diferent words or phrases that characterizes friendships or communities e.g., cooperation, care, forgiveness, security, respect, we trust each other, we have the same goals, we like each other, we have fun together, we help each other – or any good ones from the brainstorm.
Once the groups have received their notes, they can (without showing the word to the others in the class) try to make a role play that expresses their word or phrase. They must decide for themselves how to best show the others in the class what to say
There are the following rules:
- The students are given fve to ten minutes to come up with and practice their role-play.
- Everyone in the group should be a part of the role-play, and the students should not say anything when presenting it.
- The groups can then show their role-play to the rest of the class. The other students can then guess which word or sentence the group is performing.
- Feel free to ask about the role-play with a focus on, for example, facial expressions, or whether the bodies are facing each other or away from each other. The questions can be asked both to the group that made the ole-play and the rest of the class.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
- What do you think happened here?
- What did you pay special attention to?
- How can you tell if it’s a community or a friendship?
- What did their body language show?
- If you were to show a community that did not work, how would you pose?
All groups show their role-play in this way, and the teacher highlights the
essential points.
WHAT TO OBSERVE
- How the students cooperate with each other: do they contribute, listen, compromise, include all, and acknowledge new ideas.
- Do they have fun working independently, using their imagination, and presenting it for the others in good faith?
NOTE TO TRAINER / TEACHER
It may be necessary for the teacher to consider the following questions before starting the exercise.
- How do students best gain an understanding of the concepts of friendship and community?
- How do I make sure that both the similarities and diferences between friendship and community are articulated?
- How should the group work be organized, and on what basis should the groups be divided?
- Where can the groups work with their role-play?
- How do I make sure that all students become part of the group’s role-play?
The exercise can be diferentiated depending on the grade level of the class. Younger students, more straightforward questions - older students, more detailed conversations where students can draw on their own experiences.