USING FILM TO TEACH EMPATHY IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

Downing discusses the use of film to teach empathy in the English classroom. As a teacher of media and film, she recognizes the emotional impact that films can have for audiences and have been inspired to explore whether using film in the classroom can increase awareness of mental health and wellbeing to support the academic engagement of students resitting GCSE English Language in Further Education. As part of her research, she designed a 75-minute lesson structured around carefully chosen film scenes and short films to achieve objectives which include comparing and reflecting on how care is communicated in a film scene, writing ways that characters' perspectives are communicated, and identifying ways to show empathy. The intentions for these objectives were to establish the students' existing understanding of empathy and their ability to apply an empathic response prior to analysis of a character's actions.