Teach Primary - Issue 19.4

wonderful stories, with rich and detailed characters, and have all appeared on the EmpathyLab Read for Empathy collection ( empathylab.uk/rfe ) booklists at some point. Pupils love exploring the life of the character ‘outside’ of the book and discussing their relationships with family and friends. It’s always fascinating to see how these views evolve over the school year and how the books often give children the confidence to talk about their own situations. When pupils have learned the skills needed to produce a piece of work constructed from a point of view different from their own, they become able to write with cognitive empathy, using their inference and perspective- taking skills. This will lead to them producing work that is genuinely appreciated and enjoyed by its intended audience. However, there can sometimes be a struggle to move beyond ‘But I don’t actually think that’ and ‘I don’t know how they’re feeling as I’m not them’ conversations. Sometimes, simply acknowledging the difficulty and rephrasing the question can help ( I understand you’re not them and don’t know the answer, but how might you be feeling if you were? ). H elping children to think, speak and write from a perspective different from their own can sometimes be a challenge in the classroom. However, it’s an essential skill for them to develop and one that can, with careful planning, be taught. The national curriculum states that pupils should have ‘opportunities to compare characters, consider different accounts of the same event and discuss viewpoints within a text and across more than one text’. Providing regular chances to do this will certainly have a positive effect on their writing; but, on a wider and more important level, learning about the value of understanding different points of view and exploring situations from more than one perspective will also help them develop their own levels of empathy. Sharing stories Much of our English teaching at Moorlands is based around books and stories. We deliberately select texts for all year groups that enable perspective-taking. The books we read during story time also provide a chance to ‘jump into someone else’s story’ and think about multiple perspectives. This year, in my Year 5/6 class, we’ve enjoyed The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival, Front Desk by Kelly Yang and Boy in the Tower by Polly Ho-Yen. They’re all If perspective-taking is embedded into the school’s long-term approach to teaching English and RSHE – as it should be – there will be dozens of opportunities to help children develop this skill during their time at school. Acting out It often helps to start a task with a drama activity, which allows the pupils Look at it THIS WAY Jumping into someone else’s story not only improves writing, but helps develop pupils’ all-round empathy, says Jon Biddle 66 | www.teachwire.net