Part 4: Feelings, Perspective Taking, Theory of Mind, Empathy & Mr. Hatch!

During National Autism Awareness Month, we have been using text and illustrations of the picture book Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch to enhance our teaching of feelings using the SGM heart icon, Feelings mini poster, and newly created maps. This is the final post of the Mr. Hatch series.

After completing these activities, older students may enjoy using the same Feelings template we began this blog with and a You Tube presentation of The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan. Click here to watch The Lost Thing.

The template below has been designed to have the video stopped at the times indicated. You may adjust to meet the needs of your students using the blank template from Part 2 of this blog.

Ask students to work with partners to discuss how The Lost Thing is feeling at the specified stop times using the Feelings mini-poster and strategies they have learned. Then, share and discuss the feeling words they chose with the group. Without facial expressions, the students must rely on the actions and gestures of The Lost Thing, the music of the video, the interaction with other characters, and the scenes/dialogue from the selection to determine the feelings of The Lost Thing. A sample completed map from The Lost Thing’s perspective is below.

Combining text with illustrations in picture books is a powerful vehicle to begin to explore feelings and their effects on the motivations and plans of characters. As we have seen, the SGM heart icon is an easily recognizable, universal symbol of feeling and emotional response for children. Its iridescence reflects different colors depending on the surroundings, just as feelings change according to various stimuli. For more information regarding feelings and the SGM, check out our materials and blogs posted on this site.

Also, click here for the Mr. Hatch Blog Series Bibliography.

This Mr. Hatch Blog Series was created by Sheila Zagula, M.Ed. Sheila’s teaching career spans thirty eight years. During this time Sheila has taught kindergarten, special education and served as a general education inclusion teacher as well as literacy coach, utilizing the Story Grammar Marker®. This combination of roles within public education underscores Sheila’s experience as an early childhood educator, a teacher of children with special needs, and a collaborative instructor within an inclusion framework serving children in grades K-5. Throughout her career she sought to empower students through explicit instructional strategies and professional collaboration. After retiring from the public school system, MindWing Concepts was lucky to have Sheila accept a position, drawing on her expertise and talents as well as many years of implementing the Story Grammar Marker® and related materials.

BLOGS COMING SOON:

Theory of Mind: understanding others’ knowledge and beliefs. The “Theory of Mind” is the ability to reason about the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of self and others. (Premack & Woodruff, 1978)
Technology Tuesday: Getting the “Story” of a Situation By Sean J. Sweeney