Through Many Eyes Lesson Plans (Lessons on Empathy)

 Are you then unable to recognize unless it has the same sound as yours?

Andre Gide 1869-1951 French Author

Through These Eyes 

I holla and scream and throw bottles just like everyone else.  To outside eyes I’m ready for whateva, but am I?

Damn, if these dudes come up here I got to fight. Shit hopefully it will be just a free fall.  I don’t really want to fight this kid by myself. I mean I think I can’t beat him but I’m not sure. Man, if push come to shove my homies had betta jump in it. I have a knife but that is just to prove to my friends how tough I am. They don’t call me crazy for nothing. I got a reputation to uphold

.

 Here he comes ready to protect and defend that brother of his. Wow! Who just decided that I would be the one to fight big brother.  I wasn’t the only one who jumped his brother but damn if I didn’t just get put up to fight this dude.

I gotta do it. I gotta keep my rep. I can’t look soft.  My homies gonna clown me if I back down.  Here goes nothing!

Damn, this dude can fight.  I can’t seem to get a good shot in.  Oh my God! Am I really losing? Why hasn’t anyone jumped in yet to help! I can hear these dudes cheering me on telling me to fuck him up and kill this kid.  Kill this kid? Are they really telling me to kill this kid? My boys know I have a knife, but what if I use it? That blood gonna be on my hands. I talk a tough talk about not being afraid to get locked up but I really am.

This kid is getting me, my boys are still screaming and cheering me on, they are hype telling me again to get this dude, kill this dude.

 So I get him. . . . . . . . . . .  For a minute I forget where I am until I hear the dumbest words come out of my mouth. . . . . I got you!

What? Did I just say that? Is this kid really bleeding all through his shirt? Am I really standing here with a bloody kitchen knife in my hand? His eyes look weird I think I really hurt this kid.

As I run off I hear screaming not with pure excitement but with alarm and panic.  My boys are no longer cheering we are all running.

What have I done? What have I done?

         Through Their Eyes 

We holla and throw bottles down the street at these dudes. Shit we 20 deep and ready to beat these dudes down. We all got weapons, you name it we gotta.  Knives, a Taser gun, a crutch and shit even a samurai sword. We ready for anything.  We gonna ride down on these cats.  Its gonna be like the time at the park and in the boys bathroom. Somebody gettin fucked up tonight.

Someone suggested a one on one rumble. Hey that’s cool with us. If we have complete faith in our homie.  He does have a reputation for being crazy, plus he packing a knife.

Damn, dude can fight. He is gettin the best of my man. That’s ok we cheer my man on to pump him up telling him to fuck this dude up and kill him. Wait a minute did somebody or did all of us just say kill him. Naw, Naw we didn’t just say that. But my man really is losing. Yo, he can’t go out like this. He know the rules, we gonna ride his ass if he lose. We all look around at each other wondering why nobody has jumped in yet. Shit, not me…not me….. Not me…… not me……who said that?  We really only here to look tough yeah we got weapons and a few of us have been locked up, but not all of us.  Hell it ain’t really even about us.

Let us just keep cheering my man on and hopefully he will get it together. Fuck him up, kill this dude, fuck him up and kill this dude.  Again, are we really yelling these words to our man?

Oh my God! Oh my God did our boy just……naw naw my eyes are lying.  Our man just stabbed this kid about 2 or 3 times.  Is this kid really bleeding all through his shirt? Is that really blood on my man kitchen knife? The dude look like he really hurt, his eyes look weird.

Did my man just say I got you? Why did he say that did he really hear and listen to us?  What have we done? What have we done?

I can’t believe these young dudes came back. I thought we were done with that earlier shit. Its okay though I’m still gonna protect my brother. I don’t know how much longer I can listen to these young boyz calling us names and throwing shit down the street. Let me go up here whip somebody ass real quick and send them home to their mommas.

As I get closer I see some of the main dudes who jumped my brother and just how young some of their crew is. It is decided that I will rumble one of the main dudes that got beef with my little brother. I gotta  fight this dude to teach him a lesson.  He can’t touch my brother or come and disrespect my crew and our block.

As I thought, I’m whoopin this young ass. Hopefully he will get the point and leave my brother alone. I’m gonna beat him just enough to teach him a lesson.

Whoa! Do I really here his people telling him to fuck me up, kill me. They must really think he can put me down with his fist.  Not gonna happen. I’m giving it to this dude, my brother gotta feel proud. I’m doing what any big brother would do, which is protecting my family. There they go again they can’t see that this fight about to be a wrap. They still telling him to fuck me up and kill me.

Ouch! Ouch! Damn those blows hurt! Wait a minute . . . . . something ain’t right. I feel all weird. . . .my breathing ain’t right. Oh my God! I’m bleeding all through my shirt! This kid got blood on a knife! He looks crazy babbling something about he got me. He got what I’m confused. Where is my brother? I gotta get to my crib. I can’t breathe. I hear everyone screaming with panic and horror. Mom stop screaming and crying...... Mom I can’t breathe, I’m dying.

The Lesson

1. Three short stories; “Through These Eyes”, “Through Their Eyes”, “Through His Eyes”
2. Chart paper
3. markers/crayons
4. construction paper

1. Teacher will explain to students that they will be spending the next week discussing a crime from three different points of view. Students will be directed to think about the themselves as the character as the teacher reads the story to them.
2. Teacher will hold a discussion after the story is read, writing responses the students give.
   1. Can you understand how this situation happened?
   2. Do you think the person in the story had another choice?
   3. What do you think the outcome will be now, how will this story end?
   4. How could have this scenario played out differently?
   5. What do you think you would have done if you were the person in this story?

1. Steps 1 and 2 will be repeated for the next 2 days using the other two short stories.
2. On Day 4 of the lesson the teacher will display all three chart paper responses the students have given.  Teacher will ask the students who they can relate the most to, and why?  Is that the person you empathize the most with?
3. Students will brainstorm a list of reasons they empathize with each of the three characters.
4. On Day 5 students will create a book sleeve using construction paper to house their essays.  There essays will be written to explain the level of empathy they have for each character, how they feel each character impacted their own lives and how they feel each character impacted other peoples lives.

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