How can you teach writing with empathy?

1 Define empathy

Before you can teach writing with empathy, you need to clarify what empathy means and why it matters. Empathy is the ability to imagine and share the feelings and experiences of others, without judging or imposing your own views. Empathy is essential for effective writing, because it enables you to tailor your message, tone, and style to your intended audience, and to anticipate and address their questions, objections, and expectations. You can introduce the concept of empathy to your students by using examples from different genres and contexts, such as fiction, journalism, advertising, or advocacy, and by asking them to identify and analyze how the writers use empathy to achieve their purposes.

2 Model empathy

One of the best ways to teach writing with empathy is to demonstrate it yourself. As a teacher, you can model empathy by showing interest and respect for your students' backgrounds, opinions, and goals, and by providing constructive and supportive feedback on their writing. You can also use your own writing as an example of how to apply empathy to different situations and audiences. For instance, you can share with your students how you write an email to a colleague, a letter to a friend, or a blog post for a general audience, and explain how you adjust your language, tone, and structure according to the empathetic principles of awareness, sensitivity, and relevance.

3 Practice empathy

To help your students develop their writing with empathy skills, you need to provide them with ample opportunities to practice and apply them. You can design various activities and assignments that challenge your students to write for different purposes, audiences, and contexts, and to use empathy as a guiding principle. For example, you can ask your students to write a persuasive essay on a controversial topic, and to consider the opposing views and emotions of their readers. You can also ask them to write a personal narrative, and to reflect on how their experiences shape their perspectives and values. You can also encourage your students to collaborate and peer-review each other's writing, and to give and receive empathetic feedback.

4 Assess empathy

Finally, you need to evaluate your students' progress and performance in writing with empathy. You can use various criteria and rubrics to measure how well your students demonstrate empathy in their writing, such as clarity, coherence, audience awareness, tone, voice, and evidence. You can also use self-assessment and reflection tools to help your students monitor their own learning and improvement, and to identify their strengths and areas for growth. You can also provide your students with ongoing and specific feedback on their writing with empathy skills, and to celebrate their achievements and efforts.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?