Empathy and Perspective
Year 1: I try to see things from other peoples’ perspective.
Core Story:
Two Monsters by David Mckee. Two monsters live on different sides of the mountain. They speak to each other through a hole in the mountain but they never see each other. One day they get into an argument and start throwing rocks which destroy the mountain and enables them to see each other’s point of view for the first time.
Drawing out the virtue
When it was starting to get dark in the evening, what did the blue monster call it?
What did the red monster call it?
Who was right? Both, they’re different ways of seeing the same things
When it was starting to get light in the morning, what did the blue monster say?
What did the red monster say?
Who was right? Both, they’re different ways of seeing the same things
What happened on the last page? They were able to see the sunset from each other’s perspective.
Activity 1: Optical Illusions
Perspective means understanding that different people can see the same thing in different ways. Show pupils the optical illusions on the PowerPoint Y1 Empathy and Perspective . Give pupils time to study each image. Encourage pupils to use the sentence stems on the slides to tell their Perfect Partner what they can see in a full sentence using the word ‘perspective’. Ask some pupils to share their ideas with the class. It is likely the children will have different interpretations. Use this opportunity to explain that different people can see things differently. Encourage pupils to help each other to see the part of the picture they had overlooked in order to see it from a different perspective. Talk about how this can be really difficult to do, and sometimes you need to ask the other person lots of questions to try to work out exactly what things look like from their perspective. This shows the other person that you are really trying to understand their way of seeing things. Give pupils an opportunity to view the image again by working through the PowerPoint. This time encourage them to use to use the sentence stem ‘From a different perspective I can see …’ so pupils have an opportunity to explain the alternative viewpoint.
Activity 2: Welcome a visitor
Welcome a visitor to talk about something which is outside of the children’s usual experience. This is an excellent opportunity to find out about what life is like for someone else. Select one or more of the following activities which are designed to help children to develop empathy:
Invite a visitor to speak to the children about what life is like if you are deaf or blind or in a wheelchair.
Invite a guest to teach the children some sign language.
If there are children in the class with different native languages ask them to teach the class some basic words and phrases.
Invite parents, relatives or a member of school support staff to talk to the class about their special family traditions, or foods they eat from around the world.
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Classroom language
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Sayings
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How might it look from another person’s perspective?
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Put yourself in his shoes.
Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.
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Library books
My World, Your World by Melanie Walsh
Upside Down Babies by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds
Me and You by Anthony Browne