A Tokyo Teacher's Lessons in Empathy

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October 22, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Empathy is the greatest thing. There's an expression I love: 'Let people live in your heart.'

- Toshiro Kanamori, 4th grade teacher -

A Tokyo Teacher's Lessons in Empathy

"What's the most important thing this year?" asks Toshiro Kanamori to his students? "To be happy!" comes the joyous response. The class goal truly is to understand how to be happy and care for other people. It sounds like the sort of class a stressed or overworked adult would find, long after they graduated school. Instead, it is a different teaching approach taken by a grammar teacher in Tokyo, Toshiro Kanamori. One tradition in his class is that every day, three students read out "notebook letters," authentic journal entries that express happiness, irritation, gratitude -- or, as 10-year-old Ren expressed -- sadness over his grandmother's death. Watch Kanamori in action in this video, as he uses Ren's letter to teach his students how to understand their inner thoughts, and deeply empathize with each other in the process. { read more }