Teaching with Compassion: An Educator's Oath to Teach from the Heart

• In Event: 2322 - Activities and Techniques Poster Session

Abstract

Many of our students are hurting. Some deal with the daily effects of being seen as inferior because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, social class, or disability. Others are struggling with an array of problems such as drug addiction, family strife, economic instability, peer conflict, and mental or emotional afflictions. And others are just distraught because of the social ills they learn of in their sociology classes. As educators, and particularly as sociologists who understand that these personal troubles are outgrowths of larger pubic issues, we should be asking ourselves: What can we do to best help students given all that they are confronting in their lives?
When we hear all of the rhetoric about the failure of schools or the problems with students today, one topic rarely discussed is the need for teachers to be more compassionate. There is much discussion about the need for teachers to take charge, manage disruptive students, incentivize work, and demand high expectations. As college instructors, we are often told to focus on student learning goals and assessment. What is missing from this conversation is a call for teachers to treat students with greater care, concern, kindness, and love. If teaching is about helping students become more fully human, then it seems necessary to place more emphasis on treating students more humanely.
This poster is based on an eight-point Teaching with Compassion Oath we developed for our book Teaching with Compassion: An Educator's Oath to Teach from the Heart (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). The Oath offers instructors a rationale and a blueprint for teaching with kindness, generosity, and concern for all students. The poster and the accompanying one-page handout details the Oath points, and provides tools, strategies, and resources for incorporating these eight points into our lives as educators.

Authors

• Peter Kaufman, State University of New York-New Paltz

• Janine Schipper, Northern Arizona University