Date, Time, Grade Level, Content/Class

3rd Grade
Mr. Pittman’s ELA/Humanities

Objective

SWBAT Define Empathy

SWBAT Demonstrates the ability to listen, understand, and show empathy
SWBAT Use processing time to develop an understanding of a peers conversation

Materials

Stepping into shoes hand out

Scenarios cards used if students are stuck with a personal story
Chart paper
Writing Materials

Teachers Roles

Take anecdotal notes on the progress of students

Teacher will note signs of:

Eye contact
Rubbing back
Nodding head
Doesn’t Interrupt
Gives constructive feedback

(TW) Friends, I want you to close your eyes. Now respond as

Intro / Hook
(<2 mins)
a. Hook students into the lesson.
b. State the objective.
c. Explain at least one reason WHY
students are learning the procedures.
d. Checking for Understanding of
objective (i.e., “Camiyel, which letter are
we going to write?”)
necessary as I ask you some questions. Raise your hand if you
have ever been in a tough situation where you felt sad, upset,
hurt, or frustrated? Raise your hand if you ever went talk to
someone who really listened. This person may have been your
friend, teacher, mom, dad, or family member. Now, I want you
to think. Think about that person you talked to when I ask you
the next questions. Leaders, I want you to create a picture in your
head of that person that really listened to you as you spoke.
Think about:
Where you were at?
What were you telling the person listening?
What was the person doing while you were talking?
What did it feel like when the person was listening to you?

Leaders, today are going to learn about showing empathy and


Model / I Do
(~4 mins)
a. Model the procedure step-by-step for
the students at least once.
b. Pre-teach/model how to respond to
potential pitfalls.
c. Ask students to name what they
notice from the model.
how to listen and understand someone while doing so. Say no
way! (No way)
We are learning about Listening and Understanding while
showing Empathy because as civic leaders we need to know how
to walk into others shoes, by trying to understand what other
people have been through. This helps us lead in the positive
direction.
CFU-What are we learning to do today? (Learn about empathy
and how to listen with understanding).
(TW) Leaders, when we show empathy, we try to understand
how others see the world in different ways.
(TW) Model empathy using American Sign Language for active
engagement with students. Have students practice sign language
with teacher.
Define: When we show empathy, we try to understand how
others see the world in different ways (Developing Empathy,
2017).
(TW): Leaders, today we are going to practice showing empathy
while listening and understanding what our peers are sharing
with us. Ms. Ulf and I are going to act out a scenario. While we
share our scene with you, I want you to think about what you
notice us doing as we talk (Boys, Watts, 2009).
Scenario: Hey Ms. Ulf, I am a little stressed right now. My mom
had surgery and was in the hospital. She has never been sick
before and it scared me to see her in the hospital.
Ms. Ulf: Show eye contact, nod your head, rub back of the
speaker, name that it sounds like you are having a rough day,
acknowledge you are their if you need it…
Before responding, Ms. Ulf will jot down notes in the shoes at
the closer of the conversation for leaders to grasp the idea of
listening to listening and then truly thinking about what the
other person has said to understand and respond accordingly.
(Ms. Ulf) fill out walking in shoes worksheet while thinking
aloud. I know that Mr. Pittman’s mom is in the hospital. That
must be tough. I am going to write that down. I also heard Mr.
Pittman say he was stressed.
Now, looking at my shoes (make a joke: actually Mr. Pittman’s…)

Guided Practice / We Do
(~6 mins)
a. Have a subset of students model
correctly.
b. Narrate positive behavior; give
constructive feedback to refine and
improve.
c. When you are at this step, have
students tell you what the steps are (if
relevant).
c. Have students “Do it again” as
necessary to reach “right is right” and
“100%” according to the designated
excellence benchmark for that point in
time.
Ind. Practice (You Do)
(~4 mins)
a. Have students execute the procedure
independently.
b. Use excitement and challenge against
a benchmark where all can win (time +
safety, for example) to build student
investment.
b. Stop the execution of the procedure in
the moment as necessary to provide
feedback.
c. Give students multiple “at bats” with
I know he probably needs a hug or support him if he needs it.
GOAL: Model two person conversation with co-teacher talk
Model think aloud of “jumping into someone’s shoes and
defining how to respond.
Leaders what did you notice your teacher doing as when they
were listening and understanding to show empathy.
Practice Empathy Definition
Leaders, tell me what you noticed.
CHART RESPONSES:
Eye contact
Rubbing back
Nodding head
Doesn’t Interrupt
Gives constructive feedback
Leaders, today you are going to have the opportunity to chat
with your friends in class and then fill out your own pair of shoes
as we are “stepping into others shoes,” to understand and show
empathy.
Highlight important parts of empathy on chart paper.
Students will engage with partner in a two person conversation.
They will either tell a personal story or act out a scenario on the
card. After the completion of the (first round of conversations)
Have students script out ways to jump into their partners shoes.
Have students take another 2 minutes of talk time after taking
time to digest what one partner said.
Give students another 1 minute to reflect back to their peers.
Note on tracker what observable signs students show based on
the actions the class charted when reviewing empathy.
practice to ensure the procedure
become internalized and therefore
routinized. (Of course, there reaches a
point of boredom/we’ve got it, and you’ll
want to stop before then).
d. You can get students to tell you why
they did a good (or not good) job with
the independent practice.

Reflections of noticing on body language and responses.

(TW) Have students turn and talk about what they can do to
show the habit of mind. What was the process of listening did
students go through to help them understand. How did you or
Close your partner showed they understood what you were going
(<1 min) through. How did they ensure your thoughts were heard and
respected?
a. Praise, celebrate.
b. Initiate transition. Reflect on how you felt as the speaker, how did you know that
person was listening and understanding with empathy?

Leaders, when I say go turn and talk about what you learned
about being empathic. Go!

SCENARIOS:

1. Dog was lost

2. Bad grade on test
3. Lost cell phone