PERSPECTIVE TAKING AND GRATITUDE WHAT’S THE
RELATIONSHIP?
By Owen M. Griffith
and Wendy Baron
“Seek first understand, then to be
understood.”
Stephen Covey
7 Habits of Highly Successful People
Why Perspective
Taking?
All too often, we hear stories of hate crimes
and communities being torn apart by violence. Underneath are attitudes of
intolerance for others’ differences, such as race, culture, language, gender
identity, etc. Let’s change the odds! We educators can impact the next
generation by cultivating tolerance and respect for diversity in perspective
and ways of being. And, we can even do it through our daily instruction
to meet content standard expectations. Take a look at these two 6th grade ELA standards in terms of their cognitive, social,
and emotional demands:
Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
with diverse partners on topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas
and expressing their own clearly while respecting diverse perspectives.
and
Students
will review the key ideas expressed and demonstrate understanding of
multiple perspectives through reflection and paraphrasing.
Without direct, explicit instruction and
cultivation of perspective-taking skills and attitudes, in addition to
emotional and social skills of collaboration and active listening, students
would not be successful in meeting these standards.
What is
Perspective-Taking?
Perspective taking is the ability to take
another’s viewpoint into account and to try to perceive another’s thoughts,
feelings, or motivations. Simply put, perspective taking may be understood as
“the cognitive capacity to consider the world from another individual’s
viewpoint” (Galinsky, et al, 2008). In order to truly be respectful of
another’s perspective, we must also be aware of our own thoughts and
feelings about that perspective, so that implicit bias is
noticed, and openness and respect is chosen. Respecting diverse
perspectives requires self-awareness and self-regulation as foundational
competencies
To be able to step outside our own small,
circumscribed viewpoint is truly liberating. This is one of the most
significant aspects of being human. Perspective-taking has many other benefits
also. When we develop perspective-taking, a pro-social ability, we are more
likely to reach out and help others. As educators, this can fundamentally
change the way we teach our students, interact with parents, and collaborate
with colleagues. A prosocial learning environment, where there is kindness,
caring, and respect is optimal for students and educators to thrive.
Perspective taking is vitally important in establishing strong relationships,
the cornerstone of healthy school and classroom environments.
Gratitude Fosters
Perspective Taking
Gratitude as a
practice is a call to action to be a caring individual, cultivates clarity of
mind, moves us away from wants and worries, builds our capacity for
forgiveness, grows generosity, and helps us respond to difficult situations
constructively and with perspective[1].
Teachers and school leaders can use gratitude
as an avenue to perspective taking. We can begin by integrating
appreciations in our staff meetings and PLCs to cultivate gratitude for one
another as colleagues. During the process, we begin to understand each
other as human beings—with different thoughts and feelings. As gratitude
increases, our relationships deepen, and collaboration and respect for one
another increases.
Seeing schooling from the student’s viewpoint
can provide us insights into how students are thinking and feeling. As
educators, we can use students’ perspective to inform our lesson planning and
instruction and create optimal learning environments where students are
safe—physically, emotionally, and intellectually, engaged and motivated with
culturally responsive practices, and where differences are understood,
welcomed, and celebrated!
In the midst of teaching a lesson, an educator
can take a moment to consider the perspectives of the students. It might
be that taking a few deep breaths to refocus and recalibrate while students are
engaged in a task will provide insights that enable adaptations to the lesson
that better address their emerging academic, emotional, and social needs.
Empathy, Respect, and
Perspective-Taking
Many of our students come to school having
experienced some type of trauma or stress. Students with four or more ACEs
(Adverse Childhood Experiences) have a greater tendency to act in ways that are
disruptive to class and be struggling to regulate their emotions and behavior.
Instead of asking what is wrong with a particular student, we could instead
inquire about what has happened to that child. Understanding the
underlying causes of misbehavior strengthens our ability to be compassionate,
and empathetic when addressing the behavior. Gaining perspective softens
us, resulting in greater generosity and respect for differences.
Developing empathy, respect and
perspective-taking opens up opportunities to understand the wide range of
students and their learning needs, and become more committed to doing whatever
it takes to support all students in being successful academically, socially,
and emotionally.
Perspective-Taking
Activities
Here are some activities to increase
perspective-taking for educators, mentors, and students:
·
Think about a time
when you were able to clearly see another’s viewpoint, like traveling to
another country. Then, consider how that changed your perspective.
·
Listen to students,
colleagues, and mentors. Take time to ask probing questions about others frame
of reference. What is their background? What are they passionate about?
·
After teaching a
challenging lesson, let a student explain the lesson again to the class in their
own words. Watch how the student’s perspective affects the manner in which they
explain the lesson.
·
Sit at a student’s
desk and really see from their perspective.
·
Think about something
someone did for you recently. Then, look at the situation from their
perspective by thinking about what the “cost” was for their action. Did they
give up time or spend some money to help you? Then, reach out and thank them in
person or write them a meaningful note.
·
Ask students to
explore a scenario from multiple perspectives. Discuss the various
perspectives, and invite students to share changes in their thoughts, feelings,
and judgments about different people in the scenario at the beginning and at
the end of the exercise.
·
Tell stories like “The
Blind Men and the Elephant,” shared below, exploring how different perspectives
add up to a better vision of a situation and more effective solutions to
problems.
The Blind Men and the
Elephant
One way to communicate
the idea of perspective-taking to educators and students is to tell the fable
of “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” In this story, six blind men surround an
elephant, each feeling a different part of the animal. One man feels the side
of the elephant and concludes it is a wall. Another feels a tusk and thinks it
is a spear. Still, a different man feels the tail and proclaims that this is a
rope.
Then, the men step
back from the elephant, communicate their thoughts and listen to each other,
putting together the idea that they all have one part of an elephant. The six
blind men must use perspective-taking to open themselves up to this solution.
Individually, they are limited in what they “see.” When collaborating with
educators or working with students, we must remember that there are times when
we only see one part of a situation. As this story illustrates,
perspective-taking inspires collaboration, which in turn brings about a more
complete picture of a situation with new solutions emerging as people explore
other viewpoints.
Perspective-taking involves perception and interpretation.
In the case of the blind men and the elephant, alone, they were unable to
figure out the mystery, yet, together, they could see the big picture.
Likewise, for students and educators, as we
cultivate our capacity for perspective-taking we open ourselves up to infinite
possibilities of how we might learn from and support one another to see beyond
our own narrow perspective. For that, we can be truly grateful.
[1] Greater Good Science Center, Expanding
Gratitude
Owen M. Griffith is an educator, consultant,
and author, who wrote, Gratitude: A Way of Teaching. With
generous funding from the Greater Good Science Center and working in
collaboration with the New Teacher Center, Owen has been creating articles to
help educators implement gratitude successfully in the classroom.
Wendy Baron, MA, is co-founder and Chief
Officer, Social and Emotional Learning at New Teacher Center. Wendy is a
teacher, coach, author, researcher, and champion for optimal learning
environments where students and educators can thrive.
