Empathy refers to “a wide range of psychological capacities that are thought of as being central for constituting humans as social creatures allowing us to know what other people are thinking and feeling, to emotionally engage with them, to share their thoughts and feelings, and to care for their well–being” (Stueber, 2019, par. 1).
Social commitment is the offering up of oneself as a facilitator in an attempt to help others to achieve their objectives. Social commitment means that an individual is obligated or a duty and he or she must do whatever it takes to honor the obligation. Teachers' commitment is to the students who come to an educational institution hoping that they will have achieved some educational goals at the end. In this case, the teacher is obligated to invest time and other resources to ensure that students' goals are translated into tangible results in the form of academic excellence. The social commitment framework has three features, which are expectations, commitment creation, and attribution creation process, and working on the outlined commitments. The teacher must describe the expectations and actions needed to achieve those expectations and earn learners' trust before he or she can actualize these expectations. As a teacher who deals with 7 th and 8 th graders, I must align myself to three roadmaps that will help my commitment towards these learners. One roadmap that informs my practice is that students are aware of their roles and responsibilities when it comes to advocating for appropriate and equitable educational services for all. Moreover, students are aware of their roles and responsibilities in the improvement of schools, classrooms, and communities. The last roadmap establishes that students can adhere to academic integrity, demonstrate professional liability, and live within ethical provisions in guiding scholarship and practice.
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Roadmap Points and their Application in Teaching Practice
Students are aware of their roles and responsibilities when it comes to advocating for appropriate and equitable educational services for all. This roadmap indicates that students have a lot of experience, considering that they are the products of society. They understand all too well what it means to have appropriate and equitable educational services. Some of the students may have come from marginalized communities that have to struggle to get a decent education. This thought is advanced by Paris & Alim by claiming that "students do not feel that their identities are affirmed through the curriculum taught; it is irrelevant, impractical and exclusionary to their backgrounds, experiences, and lives" (2017, p. 35). This proposition indicates that students know when the education they get does not recognize their unique needs and for this reason, it becomes inappropriate. As a teacher, I am responsible for ensuring that I address students' needs individually as opposed to a group. I need to understand my students' social and cultural backgrounds so that I can personalize the curriculum to meet their needs. For instance if I realize that my students are from poor backgrounds which is the case, I will not give them assignments that require expensive and unavailable resources. Instead, I will need them to use readily available resources that are accessible to all the students. I anticipate that such a move would be impractical, considering that the curriculum is restrictive, but I will commit myself to enhance learners' experiences.
Students are aware of their roles and responsibilities in the improvement of schools, classrooms, and communities. The roadmap to social commitment indicates that students, too, have expectations, which they hope school, class, and the community will help to achieve. With this kind of knowledge, they do all they can to ensure that they create a friendly environment that facilitates the achievement of their goals. Students are products of society, and they understand what their communities need if they are to become better. Esposito & Swain capture this position by establishing that "culturally relevant pedagogy draws on students' home cultures as a mechanism for helping them achieve success in school" (2009, p. 38). In such a case it is true that students will do, all they can being guided by their community needs hoping that education will address those inherent needs. As a teacher, I must view my students as members of a community who are keen on improving their communities. In such a case, I ought to understand their drives and find ways of helping them giving back to the community. One way of doing so is involving their parents and other community members in addressing unique community needs. In the same breath, I have to give them a chance to design solutions for the challenges we face in the classroom and in the school. Cammarota establishes that one should "allow young people to reflect positively on who they are, where they live, and how they might bring changes to the world around them." (2011, p. 829). This proposition points to the fact that students have a significant role in improving their environment.
Students can adhere to academic integrity, demonstrate professional responsibility, and live within ethical provisions in guiding scholarship and practice. This road map is indicative of the fact that students should be viewed as mature individuals with the ability to live within ethical provisions. They understand that they are moral agents who ought to live within social, academic, professional, and legal confines if education is to be a tool for enhancing their lives. Cammarota & Fine establish that teachers should emphasize that "education is something students do—instead of something being done to them—to address the injustices that limit possibilities" (2008, p. 4) In this case students must understand that they have to be responsible individuals if education is to be meaningful and produce desired results. The issue of injustice indicates the need for the teacher to help students to understand the ethical implications of failing to adhere to existing rules. As a teacher, I have to remind my students that they will be entrusted with running this nation in the future. Students have to develop into moral agents who can respect and uphold the rule of law always.
Conclusion
The roadmap points on social commitment are indicative of the fact that students are not only members of the classroom, but they represent communities with various needs. These communities are multifaceted, with each of the community fashioning its students to pursue specific educational goals. The roadmaps indicate that students are aware of their roles and responsibilities when it comes to advocating for appropriate and equitable educational services for all. Additionally, understand their unique roles and responsibilities in the improvement of schools, classrooms, and communities. Of importance is the fact that students can adhere to academic integrity, demonstrate professional liability, and live within ethical provisions in guiding scholarship and practice. These roadmaps establish that the teacher must show commitment to helping the students not only to understand their roles and responsibilities but also to put them into action. Moreover, teachers must be committed to guiding students to adhere to social, academic, professional, and ethical structures to make the best out of their education. In this way, the teacher will be empathetic to students' needs and, more so, show commitment to place them on the right path.
References
Cammarota, J. (2011). From hopelessness to hope: Social justice pedagogy in urban education and youth development. Urban Education, 46(4), 828–844. 10.1177/0042085911399931
Cammarota, J., & Fine, M. (2008). Youth participatory action research: A pedagogy for transformational resistance. In Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research in Motion (pp. 1-11). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203932100
Esposito, J., Swain, A. N. (2009). Pathways to social justice: Urban teachers' uses of culturally relevant pedagogy as a conduit for teaching for social justice. Perspectives on Urban Education, 6, 38-48.
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. The Journal of Teaching and Learning , 11(1), 35–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.22329/jtl.v11i1.4987
Stueber, K. Empathy. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/empathy/
