Teaching with Compassion: An Educators Oath to Teach from the Heart

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In a world where students are often seen as test scores and not as human beings, where their well-being is challenged by poverty, intolerance, and bullying, and where technological innovations frequently erode genuine personal contact, compassionate teachers are needed more than ever. Teaching with Compassion offers practical tools and strategies designed to help educators foster a culture of care and compassion. Organized around an eight-point Teaching with Compassion Oath, this book draws on real life examples and exercises to demonstrate the power and potential of teaching from the heart. Written for both experienced and novice educators alike, Teaching with Compassion is sure to stimulate inquiry and provide ongoing inspiration.

Reviews

Research shows that compassion benefits both the giver and the recipient. Teachers and students have much to gain from a compassionate interaction not only for the benefit of the learning environment but also for the benefit of their health and happiness. -- Emma Seppl, Science Director of Stanford Universitys Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and the author of The Happiness Track.
Along with a perpetual doubling down on new standards and new high-stakes test, public education has witnessed a rise in buzz words and policiesrigor, grit, growth mindset, no excusesthat simply ignore the humanity of children and their teachers. Teaching with Compassion is a volume that offers a rare but powerful antidote to misguided deficit views of children, learning, and teaching. In these pages, teachers and others who truly care about learning and children find hope, love, and another way, one that cannot be followed too soon. -- Paul Thomas, Professor of Education, Furman University, co-editor, Pedagogies of Kindness and Respect: On the Lives and Education of Children
This lovely, practical book is for teachers who see their work as a catalyst for building a kinder, more compassionate world, but who don't know where to begin. As Teaching with Compassion suggests, we must begin with ourselves. -- Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D., Education Director, Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley
In an age when students are often reduced to data points, and humanity in education is discussed less often than test prep strategies, this book is a welcome and refreshing read.Teaching with Compassionnot only provides educators with helpful tools to address many of our students' and teachers' needs, but it also helps to provide a little gravity--in terms of universal truths about the hard work of growing humans--that will hopefully help swing the education pendulum back to a place that better prioritizes the well-being of those we serve. -- Dr. Amy Fast, Assistant Principal, McMinnville School District, Oregon and author of It's the Mission, Not the Mandates: Defining the Purpose of Public Education

Author Bio

Peter Kaufman has been a professor of sociology at the State University of New York New Paltz since 1999. His teaching and scholarly interests revolve around critical and contemplative pedagogy. Janine Schipper has been a professor of sociology at Northern Arizona University since 1998. Her teaching and scholarly interests revolve around environmental sociology, consciousness studies, and Buddhist sociology.