Sympathy and Compassion

An Effective Teacher realizes that many external factors affect student learning which are far reaching and varied. They may be relational, financial, domestic, or a disability. How are teachers to respond to students who may not be eating properly or are not sleeping well because of issues in their home? What about students who may have recently experienced the loss of a loved one or may have undergone an illness which is negatively impacting them at school?

The Effective Teacher realizes that students require empathy, sympathy and compassion whenever a student undergoes a life event which adversely affects their learning. Such events can have a long term impact on the student and how they view learning. The teacher helps students to navigate life’s challenges while still facilitating learning; this makes for a rich relationship between the two. The Effective Teacher that shows sympathy and compassion helps to cement the privilege of teach their students and is able to get the best out of them by going beyond the role of a traditional teacher.

A well developed article on the value of compassion in teachers.

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_mindfulness_make_us_better_teachers