Beyond Our Neighbors: A Curriculum for Expanding Empathy & Compassion to 'Others'
Created by DGT™ and Making Caring Common
Caring and compassion are vital, teachable skills with the power to promote tolerance and inclusiveness in our schools, communities, and neighborhoods. This simple set of lessons has been designed to inspire and empower children to be ambassadors for good beyond their close social groups.
About the Series
Each lesson in this three-part series explores a key question:
Who is in your Circle of Concern?
How can kindness make a difference?
How can we make peace and solve problems in our Circle of Concern?
These lessons includes everything you need to teach empathy and compassion, including:
Discussion guides for meaningful reflection
Group activities designed to inspire kindness or a simple act of service
Take home activities to inspire kids to lead a related project with their families.
The conversations, assigned books, on-the-spot activities, and take-home projects described here will enable young participants to:
Identify concrete ways to empathize and reach out beyond their immediate social circle
Recognize the interconnected and richly diverse nature of “community”
Identify groups or individuals likely to experience social isolation or bullying
Develop an understanding of the value and impact of kindness and compassion in everyday interactions—including with those who they see as “different”
Identify common social conflicts and reliable ways to diffuse them
Encourage families to spend time together and do kind things for others
Visit the DGT website to download the full curriculum.
Last reviewed March 2019.
Overview
For: Educators
Ages: Elementary School
Resource Type: Curriculum
Related Research + Initiatives