Sensitivity 2 - part of a series of posts from the professional learning community at The Fabindia School, they are pursuing the three-year Professional Development Programme offered by the Learning Forward India Academy. First, it was empathy and now they discover what is sensitivity.
Sensitivity for Teachers
Sensitivity is a quality related to feelings of a person. It is what a person feels for an another person and is present in each. It includes feeling like love, care, compassion and respect for others. It also includes anger, jealousy and hatred.
A teacher must be sensitive towards students. If a child gets an environment of love and care, they will be able to learn quickly and in a better way. They will solve their difficulties by clearing their doubts with the help of a teacher. But if the teacher is harsh and scolds the students, they will never be able to remove their doubts. And the result will be students getting fewer marks in tests and exams. A teacher-student relation must be of trust, love and care. If students have any difficulty, they can freely speak to their teacher and remove their doubts. Each teacher must be sensitive to their students.
Difference between Sensitivity and Empathy
Empathy is the ability to pick up on another's feeling, or even senses. Empathy allows the person to have a first-hand experience of what another person is feeling as that person "feels" similar sentiments. It's a shared sensation. An empathy sometimes has trouble differentiating between his/her feelings and that of others.
Being sensitive is similar but different. One can be sensitive to another's feelings and through facial expression, body language, etc., can interpret what the other person is feeling, but unlike an empathy, they don't share the same emotions.
I am talking about classroom practice for a teacher. A culturally sensitive teacher is one who is aware and addresses the student’s cultural and ethnic needs as well their social, emotional and cognitive needs to obtain the students’ cooperation.
This can be done in such ways:
● Oral presentation of students’ native and regional cultural programme
● Discussing current event from the multicultural student viewpoint.
● Regional places history, development, value chart should be display.
● Display all legends person of native and country, their responsibility through their sensitiveness.
● Awareness of socio-cultural differences among students.
● Use good and proper language in classroom.
● Involvement of students with events and activity should be freely and sensitively through the respect of their cultural value.
● Teacher will be good and polite with students.
● Communication and interaction needs for individual students.
So classroom practice is more important for our education, nation, culture and society. That’s why culturally responsible for all person especially a Teacher because the teacher is a backbone of society.
Easily upset by the things people say or do or causing people to be upset, embarrassed, or angry. Sensitivity can be described by the feeling of heart. It may be good or bad. When people say something bad, we get upset and when people say something good we become happy. This feeling of good or bad is related to sensitivity.
I was surfing my Facebook account and suddenly one of my friends sent me a link, I opened that link and read a letter which was written by a kid to his teacher. I want to show that letter to all my colleague and sensitive person to know that kid and feel his sensitivity.Personally, I feel that these days kids are going to be more sensitive behind the picture, so my question to all teacher that, are you ready to handle that kind of kids? You should be more sensitive for caring these new generation kids.
I will show you that letter which is important to us who are directly or indirectly connected with kids.To the Teacher of “That Kid.”
“Teacher, I need you!
I know I am hard to handle, and I take everything you have. I know I push your buttons in all the right ways that make you second guess what you are doing. But I need you. I need you to keep pushing me. I need you to set limits and help me understand them.
I know you don’t know me. I know if you did, we would get a long a lot better. But, please, teacher, I need you to fight to get to know me. I can’t tell you with my words what I need you to know so that I might act out instead. Take that as my sign that I need you. You might be all I have.
I know you have 30 other kids in class. I know they need you too. But, teacher, I need you. I need you to find my good qualities because those other kids don’t see them. My teacher last year didn’t see them, and most days, if not all, I don’t even see them.
I know I throw fits. I know I disrupt your class and what you had on your agenda for the day. But teacher, I need you to believe in me. I need you to believe that my actions are a cry for help, not an act against you. Please don’t take it personally. I need you to believe that I want to fit in, but just don’t know how.
I know I make it hard, but please, I need you. I need you to see me. I need you to see beyond that behaviour, that meltdown, that action and I need you to see the kid behind all “that”. You might be the only one that can get to the real me. It might take time; It might take patience. You know, it might even take learning about something you know nothing about. But, teacher, I need you! I need you to give it your all to see me.
I know you went into teaching to make a difference. I am here to tell you, I am that difference. I am the one that needs you! I promise, if you reach me, you will change my life. You will make a difference like no test can measure.
You might not see the difference today or tomorrow, but I promise, if you see that I need you, you will make a difference.
~ signed “That Kid”
So I will request all teacher be kind and be sensitive with all kids to know their viewpoint and to know about their feeling, their thoughts. One day they will make different. Please help them to make their dreams. Here Sensitivity is the only key to making them succeed. So think about it now, because it is the time to change with sensitivity.
This is an incident which shows sensitively of a child. Some student was playing on the ground. While playing, one student fell down and he got hurt. Others students started to laugh on him and nobody came to help him then one day from the group helped the boy. He took him to the office. This shows the boys sensitivity similarly teacher’s teachers should be sensitive while dealing with a class. If all students do the homework in the class and one has not done, the teacher should not punish him but try to find the reason for not doing homework. Empathy is necessary to be sensitive without empathy there is no sensitivity.
Krishan Gopal Dave