Empathy to Impact: Student Voices on Global Citizenship Education & Community Engagement

Scott Jamieson: Welcome to the empathy to impact. Podcast we are back visiting Asd in Saudi Arabia and checking in with some middle school students who've been doing some compassion training with my colleague Iv. From inspired citizens, and I am really excited to connect today to learn a little bit more about what they were learning in those workshops. And what's that has inspired them to do in their school community.

Scott Jamieson: But before we start, I'm gonna pass over to my podcast guest today to do some quick introductions.

Hyeonsu: Hello! This is this is Hyeonsu. I'm in Great 7, and from Asd.

Hyeonsu: Hello! This is Amani. I'm in grade 7 as well, and I'm from Az Hi! My name is Sarah, and I'm in 7th B also, and I'm also from Asd.

Hyeonsu: So just like them. My name is Amelia, and I'm also in Santa Clue and

Hyeonsu: nasty.

Hyeonsu: Maria. I'm 9th grade.

Scott Jamieson: Maria, can you do that again for me? I think you'd be just a little far from the mic. Sorry.

Hyeonsu: My name is Maria, and 8th grade is.

Scott Jamieson: And we do it one more time. As we were moving the mic, it would go to rattle for me. Sorry.

Hyeonsu: Hi! My name is Maria. I'm in April, as T.

Scott Jamieson: Thank you so much. I'm really excited to connect with all of you and learn a little bit more about the compassion training that you were doing in the workshops, and a little bit more about something called operation kindness that we'll get to in just a minute. But I wonder if you could share a little bit with our listeners about

Scott Jamieson: how these workshops kind of came about at your school, maybe, and what you were learning when you were working with ivy.

Hyeonsu: So when we 1st joined this Compassion Club, we knew that we were doing 4 h sessions with Miss Ibn. We've learned from Miss Ivy about how compassion works, what compassion means, and compassion for yourself, compassion for others, and compile it. Compassion with nature.

Hyeonsu: We did many activities like to practice compassion, and she also inspired us to create our own projects.

Scott Jamieson: What were some of your favorite activities from those workshops? What were the ones that really stood out and kind of connected with you?

Hyeonsu: So I think the one that I enjoyed the most was the like. I think it was Bobi Sabi, where we would have to go around like 3 min and take pictures of

Hyeonsu: things that like. Not that like, are not that much appreciated.

Hyeonsu: It was really fun to say, like.

Scott Jamieson: So what can you guys share? Not everybody who's listening is probably familiar with what Wabi Sabi is. Can you kinda unpack that a little bit and explain what that means.

Hyeonsu: So Wabi Savi is a Japanese philosophy about accepting imperfection

Hyeonsu: and considering it beautiful. So one example is the very famous ceramics, which are broken and then glued back together and high. The cracks are highlighted with gold, so it's a perfect example of accepting yourself with all your flaws and highlighting them and becoming a unique piece of art. So, miss, I began, masterfully connected

Hyeonsu: this philosophy with compassion to self, in order to teach us to accept and acknowledge ourselves as who we are with our cause and imperfections.

Scott Jamieson: Maria. I really appreciate how you were able to kind of connect the dots between this Japanese philosophy and really what it means for us, and maybe as students in middle school. And I think that's so important to kinda see that connection. And yeah, that there's beauty in Inferno. I say that again. See, I mess this up all the time.

Scott Jamieson: There's beauty in imperfection, and

Scott Jamieson: we don't have to be perfect all the time.

Scott Jamieson: and I know that's sometimes hard in schools, because our assessment policies in schools sometimes

Scott Jamieson: reward being perfect when you think about, you know writing a paper or writing a test. And you know, we say we value a mistake, because sometimes it's challenging. What are some experiences that you've had where you were able to maybe

Scott Jamieson: be a little bit more compassionate with yourself since learning about Wabi Sabi, does anyone have a story they could share.

Hyeonsu: So one time, like.

Hyeonsu: like, I have like us kind of strict family, where I like, I should get at least good grades right? So I think, like just that expectation of like being like the best, and being the top of your class of all the time is a little like

Hyeonsu: like a little makes like. Makes me a little anxious sometimes, but I think like just realizing that everybody has remote improvement is like a big step in developing and like helping yourself grow.

Scott Jamieson: I love that Amanni, I think, he said.

Scott Jamieson: or Amelia. Sorry I think you did such a great job explaining that. And you're right. There's a lot of pressure.

Scott Jamieson: and I think all of our parents want. Are you want children to do? Well? My daughter is in grade 7, too, and I always want her to do well. But sometimes we do feel that pressure. And I think thinking about Wabi Savi and the beauty of the process, and sometimes it's a little bit messy to get from point A to Point BI think that can be really helpful.

Scott Jamieson: Were there any other learning experiences with Iv. That resonated with any of you.

Hyeonsu: So for our second session we talked about compassion for others, and the main activity that we focused on was practicing compassionate listening which is actively listening to the person that you are talking with. Without interacting, without criticizing or

Hyeonsu: commenting on anything, just providing them the opportunity to listen, to be listened.

Hyeonsu: And we all found out that this activity was truly beneficial both for us and the other person that we were listening to, we were able to connect better with them, and actually find a solution to the problem they were describing, because we were listening to them all the time.

Hyeonsu: and it was when we were the ones talking to the other person. It felt extremely

Hyeonsu: helpful and healing to talk to the person about a problem that we face or our emotions and be listened throughout the entire conversation, and then discuss on how to find a solution and get it better. So this activity then, helped us, I believe, to create our lesson plans and try to incorporate different voices. And listen to the students so, and it's also very inspiring for everyday lives.

Scott Jamieson: I like how you're talking about the feeling, and we don't. Often we're so busy a lot of the time that we don't often give everyone or even anyone our complete attention. So it's a real gift, I think, when we can connect on that level and really listen to somebody. And, Maria, I love you. Talk about how that makes you feel and really deepening that sense of connection

Scott Jamieson: between both the listener and the speaker. And also you talked about how it really kind of helps us to resolve issues, maybe find a spot of common ground. We might be able to move forward on a problem.

Scott Jamieson: So I think you spoke to that really? Well.

Scott Jamieson: I want to circle back and think about compassion flow.

Scott Jamieson: And I'm curious what drew the 5 of you

Scott Jamieson: to Compassion Club. In the 1st place, what encouraged you to sign up for these workshops, or kind of check this out.

Hyeonsu: So like before, like compassion, come pacific like only like a few people.

Hyeonsu: and like

Hyeonsu: we yes, we may be only 5 people here, but we have one more person who couldn't come, and as a hybrid so like Miss fills that so fills up with any time that we have one of their classes.

Hyeonsu: They would like give an invitation to us, asking if they wanted if we wanted to join.

Hyeonsu: and so like, if I started with.

Hyeonsu: We had to go to India and Maria, and then.

Hyeonsu: and Piper was there like way back before.

Hyeonsu: and then a monitor in the

Hyeonsu: so then we all decided to just

Hyeonsu: work together. So I think, like all of us, got due to the idea of compassionate action. How all of us like have like a side to us that we want to like explore and to modern. So like, by joining Compassion Club, I think it was a very great opportunity to work with this Iv course

Hyeonsu: and with our supervisors and staff and Ms. Felixa to like, unlock our compassionate side and be more compassionate for ourselves, others, and the nature.

Scott Jamieson: Anyone else like to add to that thing about your personal reasons for connecting with the Compassion Club.

Hyeonsu: I think I joined the fashion because

Hyeonsu: I enjoy being clients either. I enjoy like making people feel better about themselves, and which helps me feel better about myself as well.

Hyeonsu: So that's why compassion was a really helpful way for me to like spread it

Hyeonsu: spread, being like nice. And

Hyeonsu: Brian.

Scott Jamieson: Amani, that really leads me into my next question.

Scott Jamieson: thinking about how we're taking our learning and sharing that out. I spent a lot of time as a middle school teacher and a middle school administrator before I came to inspire citizens, and I don't like to say, but compassion was not probably the 1st thing that word that would come to mind, as I think about some of the middle schools where I've been, and

Scott Jamieson: how have we taken our learning and

Scott Jamieson: not to see how I want to articulate this question.

Scott Jamieson: how have we taken our learning and shared that around our community? And what changes have you seen as a result of this work in your school.

Hyeonsu: As

Hyeonsu: so, there are multiple ways. We can share. Our knowledge that we found 1st of all is by doing small compassionate actions every day holding a door for someone or complimenting them

Hyeonsu: personally for me. After being introduced to the sessions, it was way easier to compliment someone about something that they did, or something that I liked in them. That it was before and then we have we made our compassion project the operation kindness with which we try to share our knowledge to the younger elementary, the 4th graders specifically

Hyeonsu: and to create a pooling effect of compassion. So 1st you inquire the knowledge, and then you get motivated to act.

Hyeonsu: And for this action we had the 4th graders do a small project to spread more compassionate awareness about a topic they would like to the even younger generation, the 1st graders.

Hyeonsu: So we see that we tried to make this chain of impact in our school from middle school to elementary to the younger kids. And it all came really from just learning about compassion.

Hyeonsu: So like in the beginning, we started like off big, like we wanted to go to the hospital, help them. But when we thought back to our lessons. We we were like, oh, it's good that we're spreading compassion. But if if you're not spreading awareness like what good it does so we started going back to when we were in elementary school.

Hyeonsu: We have been informed about compassion before, but but since, like 7th grade. We didn't really know the full definition so we wanted to create an active project where the 4th younger kids can actually get engaged.

Hyeonsu: And the project so that it doesn't end like this is compassion. And this is what should you do?

Hyeonsu: So it really like inspires action.

Scott Jamieson: Sorry. I'm just gonna I'm I'm just seeing notes over here on the side. I'm not checking my Instagram as you're speaking. I thought I should mention that. One thing I didn't also mention to my introduction is is, I'm a quadriplegic. I'm actually I have a my broke my neck in a car accident. So my mobility below my shoulders is actually pretty restricted.

Scott Jamieson: So yeah, I'm just kinda taking some notes over here on the side, and I'm gonna jump back into character here in a second. But in my thing is, you watch me looking over here and typing that I'm being rude.

Scott Jamieson: I want to circle back to something that he wants to was just talking about. And that idea of going beyond a definition. And it's important to have a shared understanding.

Scott Jamieson: But I think it's also I'd love for you talking about. How do we take this a little bit further than just awareness to action. Why was action so important when you're designing your project with operation, kindness.

Hyeonsu: So we all select, for example, we all know about climate change, and we all know about, like how that we are ruining the environment. But like, just by knowing that doesn't change anything to the world. And I think like, action is really important in that way. Where where we know the full definition of like climate change, but also take it into action. So like, what can we do to prevent it?

Hyeonsu: For me that way, like action is more important than words.

Hyeonsu: because words might have an impact. But action is stronger.

Scott Jamieson: I like that. Words can have an impact. But action is stronger.

Scott Jamieson: I think that's such a great way to say that. And I, 100% agree.

Scott Jamieson: I think that's so important. So you're talking about you. Had you took your learning from these workshops. And you said Alright, we've we understand this a little bit better. We're gonna take that a little bit further. We're gonna go work with the elementary school students. And I think you said you're working with grade 4 and also grade one.

Scott Jamieson: Can you maybe give us a little bit more detail about kind of how that project came together, and how you were able to kind of organize that work, because I'm sure, like people are thinking about teaching, you know, grade four's and grade ones. That's a big responsibility for some 7th and 8th grade students.

Scott Jamieson: How did you kind of bring that to life down there?

Hyeonsu: Like we when we thought about the idea of going contact for the readers, we 1st had to contact teachers.

Hyeonsu: And so, after we got customeration of his goals. We went like to the classroom with the 4th graders, so we had 3 sessions that we did so. Our 1st session was so all these sessions were 1 h. So the for the 1st 1 h session we talked to the 4th graders, and presented to this like a presentation of slides, of what is compassion and like

Hyeonsu: what project they will be doing.

Hyeonsu: I mean, they basically couldn't be any project that they wanted that could help teach 1st phases about what compassion is. So on the second day they started working on their project, and most of them did recycling, and how like to stop the site like how to like solve, like

Hyeonsu: like trash and global pollution. And what did about bullying, how to stop bullying. So on the 3rd session they presented to 2 1st video classes.

Hyeonsu: And yeah.

Hyeonsu: so I think, like, this was like, really a learning experience for us as well, because not only did we have fun, of course, working with the 4th graders. We also saw how they learned and rode on their idea of compassion. And of course, like our whole idea, was to spread compassion onwards, like

Hyeonsu: forwards and forwards. So I think, by spreading compassion to the 4th graders, like the 1st graders who like listen to the project. We're also impacted

Hyeonsu: from like our compassion.

Hyeonsu: we could see we were going around and

Hyeonsu: asking, while the 4th graders were presenting. We were asking the 1st graders, what did you learn? Do you feel like you could do something to prevent what the kids are presenting to you. And

Hyeonsu: all the time we were getting a positive answer, and that they were inspired by them to take some kind of action, and that next time they would see, for example, a trash can on the ground. They would pick it up, and they would have throw trash at the sea, or they would try to incorporate more people with playing so that nobody feels left out. And that was just truly wonderful to witness.

Scott Jamieson: That's really empowering. When we see these young learners kind of getting excited about this and becoming involved, and something that we are passionate about

Scott Jamieson: and imagine they're gonna go home. They're gonna talk to their parents, gonna talk to their families and share what they learned. And just kinda think about. It's almost like those ripples in a pond. Right? As you know, the the your group goes and talks to some 4th graders that now big group goes out and take action, and they're talking to 1st graders, and I love the peer to peer learning that's happening here.

Scott Jamieson: And I'm curious. Maria spoke to this a little bit, and I wanna kind of dig in a little deeper here to see what kind of reaction, what kind of response or feedback did you get, maybe from the elementary school students you worked with. Maybe it's from teachers. Maybe it's from other people around the school. What sort of feedback have you received from your community?

Hyeonsu: So basically the class that we went to the 4th graders class was actually my brother's class, and my brother was very excited at like home he was like, can you do this next year, too?

Hyeonsu: And the teachers were really proud of us, because, we are like the only groups like who actually like contacted, like many classes, to work with each other. And also we could see that there was a learning impact like when we asked the 1st graders, like what they learned, they all like, came up with like different solutions to solve the problems they that the 4th graders introduced to them.

Hyeonsu: and also the 1st readers. After our lessons we interviewed them to ask about something new that they learned, and a lot of them talked about how they learned that compassion for self comes first.st And that was an area that we as well did not know before the lessons with Masai began. So we can see that we truly have some kind of impact

Hyeonsu: both in the 1st graders, lives, and in the 1st graders as well.

Scott Jamieson: In the back. Do you guys have anything else to add? Sorry I saw you

Scott Jamieson: Sarah or Amelia.

Hyeonsu: So I think, like the 1st graders also, it's like love, love, the experience like, and their teachers as well like. I think, like all in all, everything was like good, positive feedback, like, I think they really enjoyed working with us. And like, I think everybody learned something new that those lessons that we had.

Scott Jamieson: That's amazing.

Scott Jamieson: I wonder. Now, I'm thinking to some of my experiences. I have the privilege of working with a lot of different schools around the world and talking to teachers and designing learning experiences for students. And some of the things that I hear some feedback I get is well, middle school students. They only want to be on their phone. And they're not really interested. And if there's no grades, they're probably not gonna do it.

Scott Jamieson: What would you say in response to that.

Hyeonsu: I will hear.

Hyeonsu: I think, that

Hyeonsu: if you give them the opportunity to do something like this, then they would work together.

Hyeonsu: and we're well, like

Hyeonsu: they would

Hyeonsu: they. I feel like everyone wants to spread compassion their own way.

Hyeonsu: But they didn't.

Hyeonsu: When everyone, when everyone is going around about Comportium club

Hyeonsu: I don't think they took them into like an idea. But if I could give them something to do, then they might.

Hyeonsu: So basically, with a bit of encouragement and guidance. Everyone can

Hyeonsu: like spread compassion in their own ways. There. There were different groups in the Compassion Club somewhere, talking about

Hyeonsu: doing an event to help English learners. There's we're talking about protecting the environment. Others wanted to spread more awareness about how friendships are made. So we can see that everyone has something to contribute, no matter how addicted to their phones, they may be or not but what is really needed in schools in general is the stimuli to do so. For example, the existence of

Hyeonsu: Passion Club, or of teachers that are suited, and seminars like the ones that we conducted, and even some conferences like the Compassion Summit that we participated in that was also stimuli to make us

Hyeonsu: do our best. And in the project, and put our entire heart into it. So everything is possible. It just needs encouragement.

Scott Jamieson: I think that sounds so cool. I'm gonna use a bit of a plant analogy here, I think what our compassion for nature but what I'm hearing. If I can kind of bring this all together is there's some responsibility of the school to make sure that we're creating opportunities like Compassion club, and we're going to summits and creating some spaces for students to become more aware of this and get engaged and maybe get some guest speakers and workshops in so kind of making sure this soil is fertile.

Scott Jamieson: But once we do that, it's we have this opportunity to plant some seeds and just kinda see where students will go with it. And it sounds like we're growing a very diverse garden

Scott Jamieson: to continue that analogy in your Compassion Club. With all these different initiatives and activities.

Scott Jamieson: And I wonder if we can go around the room just for a minute, as we're getting close to wrapping up. What are you most proud of of the work you've accomplished.

Hyeonsu: I think I'm for me. The thing that I'm most proud of is like the 4th graders and the projects that they did

Hyeonsu: when they presented, like, I have the pictures, they're so cute they're still so young.

Hyeonsu: but they made something on their own. One group even did a video. And even though they look and sound so young like they they were actually like inspiring to 1st graders. So for me, that was like the most proudest part

Hyeonsu: for me.

Hyeonsu: as well along with fansos we both shared that part it was also my personal growth during all these activities because I actually discovered the new side to myself. That I did not know of before. And I came to love that side. And I want to practice it more and I believe that was one of the greatest accomplishments this year.

Hyeonsu: So I think, like for me, I'm most proud of my team like my fellow partners like they've all put so much effort in this like and I think like without them I couldn't have done this project on my own, like I think they like like can assume. She was like the braids of operation. Sorrow was like the ideas Maria was a like big heavy on the compa like compassion, and like

Hyeonsu: I think all of us having those separate ideas of, and like bringing them together like put like the best effort, and got the best image at the end.

Hyeonsu: So like what I'm proud about is like hyper animani cause like they have like like sometimes, like they get a bit scared in front of big crowds. And I like when we're presenting our conference. I love how like they like pull themselves together. And they actually, like, you know, having fun. And we're doing amazing.

Hyeonsu: I think I'm most part of my team for everything that they've done just like you said.

Hyeonsu: And I'm also part of

Hyeonsu: like all the work we were able to achieve, everything that we did, even though, like how young. We are like who this middle school is, but we were able to achieve quite a lot.

Scott Jamieson: That was beautiful, and I am so proud of all of you. I know we've only just met, but I'm feeling so inspired by the work that you're doing at your school, and I'm so excited that your school has really

Scott Jamieson: prioritize compassion

Scott Jamieson: because I think that is something we need more of in the world. And I think if we can start that from where you are in your Compassion Club with operation kindness, we're gonna see that spread across our community. And it's so powerful

Scott Jamieson: to really shape the culture of our school through this work.

Scott Jamieson: So I am so impressed by all of you. And I just wanna say thank you for taking your time out of, you know a busy time in the school year to connect and Maria Fiance, Amelia Amani and Sarah.

Scott Jamieson: such amazing work. I think it's so inspiring. And I'm so excited to be able to share your story with our podcast listener. So thank you so much for spending some time with me.

Hyeonsu: Thank you so much for having us.

Scott Jamieson: And we'll stop our recording. You guys, we're fast.