Teachers Feel "Combustible," Kids Feel "Heart-ful": Teacher Perspectives on a Reading Intervention to Develop Empathy

• In Event: The Role of Emotion in Teacher Learning and Instruction

Abstract

With the increasingly divisive rhetoric in the United States, adults may not describe themselves as feeling positive or optimistic. Yet, young children have an innate desire to feel these emotions, even in the most concerning circumstances. When children’s intuitive desire for perspective-taking and kindness is nurtured, they develop a capacity for persistent empathy. Therefore, we designed an elementary comprehension intervention for promoting empathy through multicultural children’s literature. We explored the pedagogical shifts in teachers’ instructional practices as they facilitated the reading intervention. Overall, teachers felt the intervention provided opportunities for students to increase their comprehension, vocabulary, and perspective-taking, but the teachers also felt unprepared to help children self-regulate and better understand their own emotions and the emotions of others.

Authors

• Tracey S. Hodges, University of Alabama

• Sharon Diane Matthews, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Wendi K. Zimmer, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Erin McTigue, University of Stavanger