News Article

CNA promotes compassion and empathy at a young age


2/19/2010 11:58:24 AM


College of the North Atlantic has partnered with Roots of Empathy to encourage compassion and anti-bullying in the classroom. CNA’s Student Development Officer, Charlotte Alexander (back left) is the Roots of Empathy instructor for Ms. Gabriel’s Grade 1 class at Stephenville Primary School.

College of the North Atlantic (CNA) is working with the nonprofit organization Roots of Empathy (ROE) to encourage compassion and anti-bullying in the classroom.

Roots of Empathy is a classroom program that’s mission is to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children. This marks the first time a post-secondary institution has partnered with the organization.

CNA Student Development Officer, Charlotte Alexander, was approached by ROE to become one of their instructors. CNA sponsored her training and Alexander is now the ROE instructor with Ms. Gabriel’s Grade 1 class at Stephenville Primary School on the province’s west coast.

“Having support from the college projects a sense of social responsibility to the community and to our future students,” says Alexander. “Any action we can take now as a post-secondary institution to decrease bullying in the school system is something we should be taking part in.”

At the heart of the program are Sandra Target and her daughter Khloe, who visit the classroom every three weeks throughout the school year. The mother and daughter were chosen by Western Health to participate in the program. Alexander coaches the children to observe the baby’s development and to label the baby’s feelings.

“The infant teaches the children concepts of children development, learning empathy and stages of development. The infant is the lever to the goal of anti-bullying and empathy among students,” says Alexander, who takes the children through nine themes throughout the school year.

Four-month-old Khloe and her mother visit the class to show the first graders what to do when the baby cries, sits up, or smiles.

“I will go through the development stages of that baby,” explains Alexander. “The mom and baby come for one session each theme. I will do a pre-visit with Ms. Gabriel’s class, and then when the family visit happens there are games and activities and curriculum that I go by. They get to see what stage the baby is going through.”

Alexander then goes back for a post-visit and talk about what the children experienced. How did it make them feel? How did they see the emotions of the baby and relate it to their own relationships? If the baby cries can they recognize the sadness in classmates?

“They are learning the bond between parent and baby, and they are learning the development stages. They learn so many expressions and feelings and take that back and relate it to their own relationships. Sometimes they will say ‘my baby brother did this or that.’ Later on they can really relate it to their classmates,” says Alexander, noting that parents are provided with frequent newsletters explaining how the children are responding to the program.

The students have become smitten with Khloe. They have a bulletin board with pictures and drawings of the four-month-old and get very excited when she comes to visit.

Alexander will be a ROE instructor for the next two years and hopes to partner with a Grade 8 class next year.

“It’s a recruitment initiative from the college’s perspective, to recruit students through word of mouth. It’s a nice feeling, as a staff member, to know that the college is socially responsible.”

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Media Contact:

Colleen Connors
Public Relations Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709-643-6408
colleen.connors@cna.nl.ca