The Compassionate Campus program uses the power of student-to-student interactions and mentoring relationships to build real-life skills that cultivate empathy.

Problema

For the past decade, pressures to focus solely on improving test scores has left little time for social-emotional learning programs in most U.S. public school curricula. Programs that are in use are costly, rely heavily on slogans, contests, one-time workshops, theme weeks, and web-based learning rather than real-life skill-building or practice. The most popular program focuses on teaching what constitutes good behavior rather than on developing the skills (like empathy) that lead to them. In 2010, Education Week cited results from the largest federal study showing that such character education programs had little to no effect on improving student behavior. Schools need programs that teach empathy as a skill, provide real-life practice over time, and improve student behavior.

Solução

The Compassionate Campus program uses the power of student-to-student interactions, with coaching from teachers, in real-life situations to cultivate students’ empathy skills over the course of each school year. This program pairs upper grade mentors (5th-8th) with lower grade buddies (1st-4th) for bi-weekly meetings wherein they connect with each other, connect to their campus, and weave the social fabric of community. Students jointly participate in exercises like: • Taking the temperature of social well-being • Addressing bigger issues of how we care for and treat each other • Holding listening circles to help younger students with any social and emotional difficulties they might be facing. These peer-mentor relationships develop into safe forums for children to speak their truth and discover new perspectives towards their challenges. Empathy grows as the students learn to inquire without judgment and to listen to each other, without a rush to find a solution, simply to understand.

Exemplo

At the beginning of the school year, 8th graders are paired with 4th graders, 7th graders with 3rd graders, 6th graders with 2nd graders, and 5th with 1st graders to mentor. These mentor assignments last until the end of school year - the relationship can last a lifetime. Every other Wednesday throughout the year, the older children have a classroom civics lesson which includes coaching on a particular social-emotional skill, beginning with listening for understanding. Afterwards, the students in grades 1-8 attend an assembly together to interactively explore a school-wide, social challenge. Lastly, each mentor and buddy spend 30 minutes with each other engaging in conversations of their choice. For particularly challenging situations, mentors will form listening circles with other mentor-buddy pairs to help all gain a better understanding of each others' perspectives. Compassionate Campus uses the power of student-to-student interactions in getting children to open up to one another to uncover information that would not otherwise be told to an adult. The program also uses the power of mentorship to spark an inner motivation for children to call up the best in themselves for the service of others. As these mentors focus on modelling empathy for their younger buddies, they begin to internalize the skill and begin to be more empathetic with their same age peers. As the younger buddies become the older mentors, they carry forward the lessons learned from earlier years and pass the skill on to the next cycle of students.

Ofertas e demandas

Unlike most social-emotional programs, which have adult-driven solutions, Compassionate Campus engages students by having children help other children make decisions about children. Competitors include a host of commercial character education programs. Compassionate Campus is different than most because it teaches skills rather than behaviors (how versus what), it is child-driven so kids relate more, and uses real life situations in real time rather than role-playing or something on a screen for a more authentic experience. All programs that move character education into the public consciousness help our collective growth.