Compassion Is a Verb, with Dr. Pedro Noguera
Most of us can tell when a kid is having a hard day. The hood pulled up in third period. The quiet ride home. The student who used to raise their hand and doesn't anymore.
Feeling for them is empathy. Doing something about it is compassion.
In this 24-second video, Dr. Pedro Noguera says it plainly: "Compassion is a verb, because compassion requires action." He first said it in a conversation on the Equity Leadership Now! podcast in 2024, and it has stayed with us ever since.
Only 34% of elementary students say they feel a sense of belonging at school, according to a YouthTruth survey of more than 200,000 students in 2024–25. That number isn't a verdict on kids. It's an invitation to the adults around them. When a young person is struggling, what an adult does next matters.
Three moves you can practice
At All It Takes®, we break compassion into three moves we call Notice Choose Act®:
Notice what someone might be feeling.
Choose what would actually help.
Act on it.
That's compassion: empathy in action. And like the six SEL Muscles™, it grows stronger the more you use it.
Try this
Instead of "Be kind to each other today," ask your students: "What's one thing you could do today to make someone's day a little easier?" At the end of the day, ask, "Who noticed someone doing something kind?" Families can ask it at dinner, too.
Keep watching: In If You Can't Envision Change, Dr. Noguera talks about what it takes to create change.
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