{"id":2356,"date":"2018-07-25T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=2356"},"modified":"2018-07-25T11:00:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T11:00:55","slug":"importance-of-reading-to-foster-empathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/importance-of-reading-to-foster-empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Reading To Foster Empathy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fimportance-of-reading-to-foster-empathy%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/girlWithBooks.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2357\" src=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/girlWithBooks.jpg\" alt=\"Girl with books\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/girlWithBooks.jpg 375w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/girlWithBooks-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In my view, one of the best educational and community hacks of all times is the library.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 They are organizations devoted to growing minds through books.\u00a0 \u00a0Books have the ability to send us to new worlds of adventure, help us consider diverse perspectives, and exercise our imagination.\u00a0 Today, I wanted to introduce you to one of my best friends from church and expert homeschool teacher, Lisa Twardowski.\u00a0 She has amazing, thoughtful and talented kids.\u00a0 \u00a0We enjoy getting our families together to do maker education projects.\u00a0 \u00a0I really appreciated her post on the empathy you learn from books.\u00a0 \u00a0Hope you enjoy it.<\/p>\n<p>===<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I sit sipping my hot tea after I have tucked my children into bed, I ponder the questions they asked during our nightly read aloud. \u00a0While the youngest, our daughter, was still brushing her teeth, I began reading, \u201cThe Dangerous Book of Heroes\u201d to our boys. They opted for an entry entitled, \u201cThe Abolition of Slavery in England\u201d. \u00a0As soon as we started the story, the boys said we would need to stop before their sister joined us, but it was too late. She was already in tears in the other room, asking how one person could possibly feel like they had the right to own or sell another person \u2013 a human being!? \u00a0One of her brothers explained that that is just the way the world is, while the other brother tried to explain that it is not okay and no one should do it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We all opted to move on to our family read aloud, \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d. \u00a0Safe, I mistakenly thought. The title of the chapter we were reading, \u201cThe Tall Indian\u201d. \u00a0In this chapter, Laura describes her mother\u2019s disgust at the Indians who are using the well-worn trail that is near their new home in Missouri. \u00a0Pa mentions that if he had known that trail was the Indian highroad, he never would have built his home so close to it. Laura asks question after question about the Indians: why will they have to move west (because the government will make them) and isn\u2019t this their territory (yes, but white men are moving here now).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The topics, so unfamiliar to us today \u2013 at least to my young children \u2013 were upsetting, thought-provoking, and cause for pause and reflection. \u00a0They felt empathic; they have the ability to imagine or share the feelings of another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Empathy is something that cannot be taught, it must be understood, lived, experienced. \u00a0One person cannot live in every situation, so how do we \u201clearn\u201d empathy? TV isn\u2019t working; computer games aren\u2019t working; apps \u2013 as great as they are, aren\u2019t getting the job done. \u00a0What is a mom or dad to do \u2013 our future generation is at stake! Empathy is now one of the Top 10 Skills employers are looking for in their new hires. Why? Because so many of our young people today are not able to put themselves in a situation outside of the one they are living.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, how do we solve this problem of learning to be empathic? \u00a0It\u2019s as simple as words in print: Books. Do you remember those? \u00a0A stack of bound paper with words and sometimes pictures printed in ink, some with a funny smell. \u00a0It\u2019s the words printed on those pages that are the important part of this story. Sure, now you can read the printed word on a screen, and even get the sounds effects of turning a page &#8211; which works just fine too, but it is those words. \u00a0It\u2019s the words that tell the stories of lives and journeys and events that the reader can never live, but can experience through those written words. The reader can become familiar with characters, and practices, and locations that they may never get to visit \u2013 or that no longer exist except through that written word.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reading is a big deal these days. \u00a0Sometimes we think reading is the magic key that will unlock any door. \u00a0And while I am certainly a believer that reading can fix many of our problems, I do think it is VERY important to choose what we, and our children, are reading carefully. \u00a0Captain Crazy Cape is not going elicit more than crass humor from our children. Diary of Anyone is probably not worth our time. What goes in will come out \u2013 it works in the stomach and the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are some great book recommendations online \u2013 and what you will find after reading enough of those lists is that as that they contain a lot of the same books. \u00a0Not all the books are old, but those tend to be the ones most often turned to. Some of the books I have read recently that really stirred me are middle-grade novels, many written in the 1950s. \u00a0The following is not a complete list, as I don\u2019t believe such a thing can exist, but any of these books are a good place to begin. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stuart Little<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charlotte\u2019s Web<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Little House on the Prairie Series<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sarah, Plain, and Tall<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 100 Dresses<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Number the Stars<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heidi<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amos Fortune, Free Man<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Secret Garden<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tuck Everlasting<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Carry On, Mr. Bowditch<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where the Red Fern Grows<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Island of the Blue Dolphin<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extrodinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Johnny Tremain<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Men of Iron<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bronze Bow<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Giver (Upper Middle School, High School, and Adult)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Silas Marner (Upper Middle School, High School, and Adult)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (High School and Adult)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Hiding Place (a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">must read<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for ALL High School students and Adults)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no magic fix all in any of these books. \u00a0Some are true accounts of the authors\u2019 lives, some are historical fiction, and still, others are fiction outright. \u00a0All tell the story of humankind: the hardship and failures, the successes and joys. Each will allow the reader to walk a mile in another person\u2019s shoes. \u00a0These stories span historical times, locations, race, and socio-economic classes, but they all deal with characters who struggle with one issue or another, but find hope to continue on. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of these situations are not things we can even offer our children, nor would we want to: to become an orphan, or a slave, or a science experiment. \u00a0But they can see life through another\u2019s eyes and learn what it may have been like to have those struggles, and think those thoughts, and possibly make different choices \u2013 or at least ponder, \u201cwhat would I have done?\u201d \u00a0To be empathic to another\u2019s struggles and life. To gain the ability to imagine or share in the feelings of another, all from the safety of the sofa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow so often reminded us, \u201cBut you don\u2019t have to take my word for it\u2026\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lisa Twardowski<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Other posts from InspiredToEducate.NET<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Organization Before Innovation\" href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=82\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Organization Before Innovation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"How to Avoid The Technology Trap\" href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=729\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to avoid the technology trap<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Growing Young Scientists\" href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=916\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Growing Young Scientists<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Teaching with purpose\" href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=756\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Teaching with purpose<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Photo credit:\u00a0https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/yannickcarer<\/p>\n\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fimportance-of-reading-to-foster-empathy%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my view, one of the best educational and community hacks of all times is the library.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 They are organizations devoted to growing minds through books.\u00a0 \u00a0Books have the ability to send us to new worlds of adventure, help us consider diverse perspectives, and exercise our imagination.\u00a0 Today, I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2358,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions\/2358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}