In July 2019, Mrs. Glass, a Special Education teacher at Christian County Middle School reached out to me for assistance in developing lesson plans and curriculum enrichment for her new Life and Social Skills class. She identified several topics that she wanted to cover throughout the school year but indicated that she was willing to add or change the topics depending on what the students needed. A topic that has been added since the beginning of the year was Empathy. Through observation of her students, Mrs. Glass determined that empathy was a concept that they lacked skills in.  

The audience consisted of eight students, four males and four females of various ethnic and social backgrounds. 

To learn about empathy students were taught a series of lessons and activities by Mrs. Glass and myself as enrichment. Each week in September was focused on the following topics; 

·Emotion- Students were asked to identify emotions through picture, video, and role playing. 

·Empathy- Students participated in a variety of skits in which they practiced showing empathy to another person. 

·Conflict Resolution- Through role-playing students learned how identify their own emotions when faced with a conflict and how to resolve it peacefully. 

While unable to conclude the lesson series and distribute formal evaluations due to Covid-19, students showed an increased awareness and understanding of other emotional state. Students were also able to identify ways to resolve conflict and use the skills learned within their peer group. 

This program will be provided again in the 2020-2021 school year and a second class of students is being added.