Stepping into Another's Shoes

How do you really know how someone else, with different upbringing and life experiences thinks and feels? How can empathy be cultivated? It is not easy. Respect lies in the heart of a good man, and empathy lies at the heart of respect. In order to cultivate a healthy understanding and appreciation for difference, we must learn to view the world through others' eyes, feel their experience, walk in their shoes.

One of many ways that schools can help cultivate empathy is through inventive programming that enables students to see the world through different lenses, to become the "other." Our third graders have been stepping into the shoes of immigrants as they learn about immigration in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

They visit Ellis Island and the Tenement Museum, and work with our art history partners from the New-York Historical Society on a collage and letter writing project that explores immigrants' emotions and experiences. The unit culminates with a role-playing activity in which the boys assume the identity of an immigrant seeking admittance to the country in the early 20th century. They go through "processing" at a mock Ellis Island and are either admitted or detained.

Through all of these activities, not only do the boys learn the facts and history about immigration, but they also have the opportunity to experience a bit of what immigrants faced.

The factors that drove and continue to drive immigration to this country are complex and important for all citizens to consider, explore, and reflect upon deliberately, and with respect. Through this unit, our boys learn to assume the perspective of "the other" and to switch the perspective from which they normally view the world--a foundation of empathy.

Resilience in the Teaching of Languages

Above: The Nerf microphone ball enables boys learning remotely to hear their classmates well. The pandemic has challenged educators to reinvent and reimagine units of study to keep learning engaging, regardless of how it is delivered. The following article, written for Saint David’s Magazine by our Modern Languages Chair Dr. Victoria Gilbert and Lower School Spanish teacher Flor Berman, addresses how this was done in the Spanish immersion language program at Saint David's. Ms. Berman and Dr. Gilbert, recipient of the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers' Ruth E. Wasley Distinguished Teacher Award, presented on the topic at NYSAIS’s Flexible Classroom Conference last summer. How Spanish Classes Have Bounced Back Resiliency implies an ability to bounce back, but as teachers working with the youngest learners in the school, we would reframe resiliency as the opportunity to reimagine. Whether boys are learning through a face-to-face experience or through the med

The Role of Faith in Social-Emotional Learning and Psychological Well-Being

The following article by our School Psychologist, Dr. Michael Schwartzman, appears in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine : During one of my first observations in a Saint David’s classroom 15 years ago, I witnessed two first grade boys in a verbal altercation. Although it was contained just between the two boys, their observant teacher had them talk it through and then shake hands on being in a better place for having done so. I was very impressed, and still am, with this approach that the school takes many times throughout the day. It helps establish a firm idea of how to behave, especially in social situations where emotions can be stirred and run high. Through this experience repeated consistently day in and day out, better, more productive ways of engaging become increasingly integrated by the boys as they develop socially and emotionally in interaction with each other. As the School Psychologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about the touch points for student and t

Storytelling Demonstrates Understanding

Their time had arrived. As the lights dimmed in our Otto-Bernstein Theatre, the astrophysicists, a mix of jitters and excitement, awaited their opportunity to share insights and stories about the workings of the universe. Which planets might support life? Is there water on Mars? What are Dwarf Planets? "Let's take a look at our closest neighbor, Venus," invited one presenter, before revealing that the planet - while ideal in proximity - has surface temperatures of 900 degrees F: "Imagine - standing on the surface would be like being burned alive!" Later that same day, in our Graham lunchroom, early 20th century immigrants of all ages from Italy, China, Ireland, Russia, among other countries, waited, with hope and determination, their turn to be interviewed for admittance to America. It wasn't going to be easy. They would be asked pointed, potentially life-altering questions by various processors. "What's that cough? It doesn't sound good,&qu

David O'Halloran, Headmaster - Saint David's School, New York City

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