Through Other Eyes: Developing Empathy and Multicultural Perspectives in the Social Studies

by Joan Skolnick, Nancy Dulberg, Thea Maestre

Full of practical strategies and lesson plans, Through Other Eyes is brimming with clear and inspiring ideas for teachers eager to help their students develop an empathetic understanding of history.

Genres: Teaching

140 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 1999

Reviews

[Monica Kirkpatrick]

This book gives an excellent framework (The thinking-feeling spiral) for teaching social studies through a multicultural perspective. Instead of teaching using one group's perspective and teaching a "single story", teachers can use this book to expose students to history through "other eyes." Each event in history may look different to a child, a Chinese immigrant in the 1800's, a white factory worker, a king....

The other 2 important themes in this book is using social studies to teach student empathy and perspective taking. The book gives many strategies, and even several example of full lesson plans to explicitly teach students HOW to empathize and see the world through different perspectives. It teaches students to always ask questions and be considerate of how certain rules can target specific groups. To teach these skills of empathizing and perspective taking, students are asked to interact with history through writing historical fiction, role playing, and other strategies that being history to life and connect it to the present.

[Michelle G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The authors of this book are unafraid to explore the uncomfortable topics in history/social studies in a way that makes students care and feel for what they are learning about.