Finding a pedagogy of empathy in a Common Read Project

Inspired by common read projects, wherein first-year students read a shared text as a means of acclimating to the university community, our writing program adopted a project introducing students to bell hooks' 'Teaching With Love' through an empathy-based pedagogy. The researchers, with faculty participants, used a heuristic method of indwelling to reflect on core issues of equity, inclusivity, diversity, and justice as the basis for developing overarching practices of inquiry, critical reading, and analytical writing. We found that a pedagogy of empathy is (1) anti-objectivist, (2) anti-domination, and (3) rigorous about listening. These findings were generated through our synthesis and analysis of interviews with faculty collaborators, revealing early strategies for accomplishing these features. Our study raises questions about how institutions might support empathy-based pedagogy as a post-pandemic and anti-racist practice to benefit teachers and students.