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What Exactly is Empathy-Based Pedagogy?
Empathy-Based Pedagogy in the Writing Classroom: Reflection, and Responsive Instruction
How Did I Teach it?
As a GTA, I quickly learned that applying these strategies was not always straightforward. I needed to adapt them to meet the unique dynamics of my students and the challenges of my dual role. In turn, I was inspired by Natalya Hanley’s clear framework for implementing empathy in the classroom, with a formulaic breakdown of three steps: empathetic listening, participation, and behavior (82–3). I was drawn to these steps because they mirrored the four branches of emotional intelligence: (1) perceiving emotions; (2) using emotions to facilitate thought and other cognitive activities; (3) understanding emotion; (4) managing emotion in self and others (Salovey and Grewal 192). Of these, teaching empathetic listening was one of my classroom’s most complex yet important tasks. Empathetic listening is understood as “a process of gathering, proceeding, and learning information to understand another person's perspective, which is different from the story from one's perspective” (Hanley 82). Empathetic listening already assumes that students maintain an open predisposition to different perspectives. Without this openness, effective empathetic listening is nearly impossible.
The reality of today’s classroom underscores a broader issue: some students lack the practical skills needed for empathetic engagement, or even basic listening skills. Classrooms, once a space for dialogue and connection, may now feel marked with quiet disengagement. Slowly, I have observed that small talk and casual conversations were diminishing. Given this shift, I found myself asking: how could I, as a graduate student assistant, teach my students the importance of empathy, humanity, and meaningful connection…when genuine listening did not seem like the norm?
Fortunately, my pleas were answered when I came across a didactic article by Jennifer Borek, recounting their experience teaching and evaluating practical listening skills. In her piece, she claims that “[g]enuine reflective listening is not an accident. It takes effort, self-control, and patience. It means controlling the desire to be in control and to force one's perspective on the other party. Listening is half of all communication. It is a part of communication from which we learn and during which we demonstrate respect and build trust” (Borek 5). Many instructors assume that behaviors like note-taking or eye contact signal engagement, but these alone don’t foster the deeper listening essential for empathy.
There were moments when the classroom felt resistant to empathy-based practices. Despite my best efforts, many students seemed unwilling to engage often due to a lack of confidence or reluctance to display vulnerability. As a GTA, I struggled with how to handle these moments. However, rather than viewing these emotional responses as a concrete barrier, I recognized that emotional intelligence lessons, particularly the second and third branches, would help my students deepen their empathetic listening skills. The second branch suggests using emotions to “facilitate thought and other cognitive activities,” while the third refers to “understanding emotion” (Salovey and Grewal 281). In the classroom, this meant encouraging students to use their emotional responses as tools for deeper reflection and understanding of others’ perspectives. For example, I would prompt students to consider how certain issues made them feel and how those emotions could be used to better understand their peers' viewpoints.
Similarly, rather than maintaining a lecture-style classroom that enforced an authoritarian dynamic, I shifted into the role of a facilitator, guiding classroom discussions and encouraging active student participation. I found that smaller and more intimate spaces for discussion, such as cohort groups and community blog posts, broke the ice. While these practices are common in composition pedagogy, I found that my own inflection lay in accentuating vulnerability from both roles in the classroom: student and instructor. I made a point of modeling uncertainty and reflection in our discussions and blog posts, which seemed to give students permission to do the same. Over time, I saw a shift: students began to engage more openly, not just with me but with each other. The shift was not immediate, but when students started to listen actively and participate authentically, it felt like a small victory in creating an empathetic classroom.