Stand in my Shoes!

In 2nd Grade Social Skills Classes we did a lesson on empathy and respecting human differences. We went over what the word empathy means because we did cover it in the beginning of the school year. It was a great review and many students responded by helping others and it is your friend's feelings. I explained that all of us are different just like our shoes we wear. We all checked each other's shoes out and discovered that we go a lot of places with our shoes. It was a good visual for them to realize that we come from different places. Next I read 'Stand in my Shoes' by Bob Sornson. The book went right along with our theme empathy and helping the students understand why it is important to pay attention to other's feelings. After the book we looked at several different shoe pictures I had up on the screen and created a story about the pair of shoes. Each story introduced someone that was going through a difficult time in their life. I had the students imagine how they could help that person and if they were that person what they could do. They really enjoyed this lesson and come up with some great ideas how they could make the situation better.