Teacher empathy…is it a must in the profession? Are teachers just as effective when they show or feel no empathy? I believe a teacher needs to be empathetic. More and more we are being told to KNOW our students–to better teach to their strengths and needs. By getting to know our students are we not showing a degree of empathy. We are recognizing that our students are all different and they all come to school with their own values, beliefs, complexities and more and more often now, the “baggage” of their home lives. Just being able to recognize these differences and that students may not be ready to learn everyday, but have every right to be there and feel safe, is showing empathy. So in conclusion I ask all educators that when those instances come up when it is so easy to put a label on a student, please take the time to ask “why”. Why are they acting like that? Why do they come late? Why do they look like that? Why, why ,why!!
July 8, 2011
carlabernier 
July 9th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Why indeed Carla!? This reminds me of a discussion that I had with Vaughn while driving one day… what makes a good teacher? How can it be measured? I totally agree that empathy should be in there, but I wonder if we asked the different sectors (government, students, teachers, parents, etc) the question “What defines a good teacher?” would we get the same answer?
ps. I feel a blogpost coming on.