Teaching (and showing) Compassion

I was introduced to yet another inspirational Ted talk by @courosa. In the talk, shown below, Daniel Siegel really got me thinking about how we use our brains, particularly in the classroom with students.

He discusses his belief that the brain is a social organ and that we should be ensuring we teach students resilience, relationships and reflection, to which the brain is highly receptive, in addition the the more common 3 ‘R’s. In reality, I think many of us do incorporate this into our teaching, although there is certainly scope for it to be higher up the agenda in some schools.

He concurs with Sir Ken Robinson’s beliefs surrounding creativity and allowing students to expore ideas for themselves and find their passion, although Siegel goes further to say that relationships, building a community and sharing information should be at the heart of any school and educational policy – something which I have yet to hear discussed in the current round of wrangling before the general election. Siegal believes that by putting such elements at the heart of schools, students become attuned to themselves and committed and responsive to others.

Throughout the talk, in my usual impatient way, I wanted Siegel to tell us how rather than why and thankfully he does so near the end. The yes and no exercise (at @ 21 mins) is excellent in its simplicity and serves as a reminder of how we, as teachers, can encourage receptivity rather than reactivity and that teaching compassion is perhaps best served by showing compassion ourselves – not an educational revolution but a step in the right direction.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu7wEr8AnHw