Roots of Empathy Students learn from local baby

Ken Johnston

The grade 4/5 class at Riverview Elementary School in Rainy River has spent most of the school year learning from a baby.
Newborn Ronan Ivall, son of Earl and Stephanie Ivall, began visiting their classroom last November as part of the Roots of Empathy (ROE) program. The idea behind the program is to teach school kids to better understand the feelings of others.
ROE instructor Gabe Langlais coordinated the program and visited the classroom twice each month without Ronan and Stephanie and once a month with the baby and his mom.
The 27 visits over the school year cover a variety of themes including “Crying, caring and planning, sleep, safety and emotions.”
The class adopts the baby at the beginning of the ROE and participates in a curriculum designed for their specific age group. They also do things that relate to their other school work with the baby. For instance the students used math to see how much Ronan grew. When born he was 8 lbs. 2 oz. and last Wednesday on the last visit to the classroom he was 19lbs. 2.5 oz. He was also 20.5 inches long when he was born and last week was 28 inches.
It has been proven that as a person learns to be more empathetic they tend to demonstrate less and less aggressive behaviours.
Students were coached to observe the baby’s development, celebrate milestones, interact with Ronan and learn about his needs. Langlais then visits twice more each month to prepare and reinforce teachings.
“The heart of the program is the family bringing the living experience of empathy to the students, playing a vital role in changing the world classroom by classroom,” said Langlais. She also noted that since 1996 the ROE has reached 107,325 students in 4,293 classrooms across Canada.
Ronan’s mom, Stephanie, said, “At first I was nervous and so was Ronan. But as the program went on we felt welcome and learned from the experience to. It is a great program!”
Last Wednesday the kids demonstrated that they had learned a lot from the visits. They welcomed Ronan quietly with a group song that they almost whispered as to not frighten him. Sitting in a circle around a blanket they asked questions about Ronan and spoke of milestones they had witnessed. One milestone noted was that Ronan could not roll over when he came and now can almost walk.
Langlais was very pleased with the program and hopes to be back in the school next year noting, “I have a newborn and mom in mind already!”