Empathy Obstacle Course

In first grade, we introduce a "Word of the Week" at the start of each week.  The words are intended to help the students focus on and develop positive attitudes and behaviors.  'Empathy' was one of our recent words and we actually spent two weeks on it since its true meaning was tricky for the students to grasp.  Many believed it to mean helpful or flexible instead of understanding the feelings, thoughts or experiences of another.

On Friday, Charity, Andrea and Kathy guided the students through an obstacle course to help make the meaning more clear.  This was a brand new, untried activity and we wondered how it would go.

There were five stations that partner teams visited for 6 - 7 minutes each.  Each station had the students experiencing the ways others live their lives or how they thought about others' experiences.  At each station, both partners had a turn to experience the two parts of the activity that was set up before moving to the next station.  At the blue station, one partner was blindfolded and had to make their way across the rug while their partner gave them only verbal directions to avoid obstacles in their path.

The green station posed two school scenarios that the students had to think about and answer questions about feelings and actions.  Next, at the yellow station, the students had to hold one arm behind their back and remove a stack of books to the floor with the other arm and then sit down and complete a writing activity still with only the one arm.  Then the books had to be returned to the table as they found them.

The purple station asked them to differentiate between empathy and sympathy and to write their ideas on a poster at that table.

The final station, the red station, had one partner trying to write or solve a math problem while their partner made noises or sang songs to distract them.

Once everyone had completed all the stations we spent time reflecting on what they had learned, what was challenging or not, and how they felt about this activity.  The energy level was extremely high and everyone had lots to share!! Everyone agreed that not being able to see where they were going and following verbal cues was very difficult. If they were told to step up or jump up, they didn't know how high or how big of a step.  Sometimes the directions were not easy to understand.  Using one arm we discovered was much more challenging if you chose to use your non-dominant arm to complete the activities.  One student figured out that if he leaned his chest into the table, he could hold the paper still while he was trying to write.  Removing the books from the table was not as hard as getting them back up.  Writing about sympathy and empathy and the scenarios was"a little hard to do" but one student commented that once they came up with their idea they felt like what they wrote "was really good." The red station was really challenging because the distractors were so good at distracting their partners!!  Although, one student said it was hard for him because his partner "wasn't distracted at all!"

Everyone agreed that these stations made it easier to understand the difficulties that others face, sometimes each and everyday. It also helped them have empathy for two young heroes that we read about who live with physical disabilities and the challenges that they overcame to not only help themselves but to help others around the world.  One student's final remark was, "this is the best social studies class that I have ever had!"  The Empathy Obstacle Course is a keeper!!