Today, there is a lack of compassionate listening and willingness to try to understand views that differ from our own. Social media exacerbates this problem. It is easy to quickly retweet or repost views that match our own or vilify anyone who disagrees with us. I have watched in disappointment as Republicans and Democrats oppose each other automatically and color the other side as idiots. Hopefully, education can be part of the solution to change our society for the better.
Visual Thinking
There are ways we can help our students become more compassionate people who can listen for both content and feeling. Patricia Hoffman, a teacher from Minnesota State University, shared a technique with me that she called visual thinking. A visual thinking activity gives students a few minutes to draw how they feel about an emotion-laden topic. Students do not need to be artists since we are not looking for perfect drawings. The drawing is just a medium to tap into our creative brain and express our feelings. Students explain their drawing to a fellow student to help them come to a deeper understanding of how our emotions influence our thinking. In academia, we tend to think that logical thinking is the only valid type of thinking. If we do not acknowledge that we are emotional people and if we do not value those emotions, then it is difficult to help our students come to terms with their own biases. Instructors could use this activity to help students express their feelings about discrimination or a contemporary issue in the news. Teachers could also use it to explore student feelings related to public speaking or math anxiety. The drawing gets the emotion out on the table in a way that students can talk about them as they come to a better understanding of each other’s point of view.
Shifting Perspectives
Another technique to help students understand the point of view of others is a shifting perspectives activity that was shared with me by Chelsea Biggerstaff from Austin Community College. Students mark either “agree” or “disagree” to statements such as, “Physical discipline can be an effective way to teach respect” or “The main reason people don’t succeed is they are lazy”. She collects the papers then shuffles them so everyone has a different person’s paper. The agrees and disagrees then move to different sides of the room. A student on the side with the least amount of people takes the perspective of the paper they are holding. Then they describe why someone might feel that way even if that perspective is different than the view they hold. Instructors could use the shifting perspectives activity for any topic relevant to your class or a current news event when there are potential differences of opinion. Incorporating an activity in your class to help people better understand their own and other’s emotions and perspectives on difficult issues could teach students to listen more deeply and compassionately. It might also help us form a more empathetic society of people who listen instead of just waiting to talk.
Bad pun of the week
Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.
Final thought
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Stephen Covey