One of our students at Evanston Township High School, Emir Bombaci, was kind enough to write about EMPATHY in our student newspaper. We certainly appreciate the positive coverage, and are in the process of raising some more funds to help some of the new schools get started with this process!
My students know I am really into the inclusion of helping humanity into our physics classes, and also promoting the skills we ALL need and use every day of our lives, Social-Emotional Learning skills (SEL). It is to the point where ETHS, and most districts around the country, are promoting and including SEL into their district plans and goals. This is good news for everyone, and now the challenge is to all learn what SEL is (and is NOT), why we need it for our students, evidence that it works (otherwise it would be a waste of time and resources), and finally how it can be embedded within content courses.
If interested, I have created a SEL in Schools series of slide decks and accompanying videos, as well as hundreds of examples of lesson ideas in all subject areas/departments for middle schools and high schools, in order to train teachers and staff, as well as build up 'buy in' among teachers when they see how possible and valuable it is to include SEL in lessons on a fairly regular and consistent basis.
If you happen to view it and find it useful, please share with other teachers, administrators, schools, etc.
If you are now aware of Plump Nut, here's an introduction. This is a simple mix of peanut butter, milk, sugar, vitamins and minerals, that is in the form of a paste. It can be stored at room temperature and has a good taste, especially to children. Groups like Doctors Without Borders use plumpy nut in places of extreme poverty and hunger in order to quickly build up the nutrition of their diets. This has been highly effective for a number of years with severely hungry and malnourished children, where a couple weeks of plumpy nut can revitalize their health and energy levels.
I have always loved this example as one where it is sometimes the 'simplest' solution that can solve real problems. Can you come up with simple, creative ways of solving an important problem? It is so tempting to overthink problems, and assume one needs fancy equipment, technologies or mathematics to reach a solution - and often it just take some common sense and trial and error to develop a simple solution. It reminds me of early in the space race, when the US spent all sorts of money to build pens that could write in space, whereas the Soviets used pencils. Einstein was a fan of thinking conceptually about a problem in as simple a way as possible, and then add in the math after a simple physical model was in his head.
Andrews sent me a message that after a horrible experience with Cyclone Freddy, which hit hardest in Malawi and Mozambique (over 200 died in Malawi), the crops at the schools have been largely unaffected and flooding has not hampered their growth and expected harvest times or quantities. We hope the harvests will provide more than enough food for the schools for the upcoming school year, so kids have the nourishment necessary for maximal learning and growing.
It is wonderful to see a major western newspaper and organization like the NY Times recognize the challenges in Malawi and other Sub-Saharan countries when it comes to growing and maintaining crops. This is the entire purpose of this project, where we try to help schools become self-sustaining and independent growers of the food the children have for entire school years. This is vital in keeping kids in schools, maintaining their health, and allowing them to learn and grow to become the future leaders of the nation.
Try the game Freerice, and help feed the hungriest people on Earth through the UN World Food Program (and the WFP won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for their work during COVID shutdowns around the world). Choose topics and try to answer questions about them, and for every correct answer you provide 10 grains of rice that go to the hundreds of millions people who do not have enough food on a daily basis.
You can't be best friends with everyone, but you CAN:
- notice everyone
- be friendly to everyone
- make room for everyone
- cheer for everyone
- listen to everyone
- have a smile for everyone
- say hello to everyone
- empathize with everyone
Oh, and you can be nice to yourself, too!
