WALK IN SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES:

A Yellow Team Interdisciplinary Task

Empathy: the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing. Literally, you are learning to
walk in someone else’s shoes in order to understand what they experience day-to-day.

We often speak about having empathy for others, but - in these uncertain times - we need to practice it more than
ever. All our lives are in some way affected by this global pandemic, uniting people worldwide in a way we’ve
never experienced before. It’s helpful to think about how we can approach ourselves and others with kindness and
compassion. This Walk In Someone Else’s Shoes task can help all of us think globally and hopefully come out of
these unprecedented times with a different way of looking at the world and each other.

NOTE: If a word or phrase is blue and underlined, it contains a hyperlink to a website or video. CTRL+Click on the
link to get more information about the word or phrase. The primary sources and secondary sources phrases to the
left and below include hyperlinks, for example.

PROCEDURE

1. CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC: There are a list of topics in the next section of this handout. If a topic of interest
is not listed and you would like to do it, please contact your teacher directly. You are working
independently for this task; make sure that your topic is something you are interested in or, perhaps, you
have a personal connection to.

2. BEGIN YOUR RESEARCH: Begin by doing preliminary research. This might consist of watching a
documentary about your subject or reading through different articles and accounts. Once you are sure
that you have chosen the right topic for you, begin your research in earnest. You need to look for two
types of sources:
 Primary sources - first-hand accounts of a topic, from people who have a direct connection with it
 Secondary sources - items created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate
in the events or conditions you're researching

Make sure you record every source you use. One part of this task is to organize the sources you
reference into a Works Cited page. Another part is presenting your research in a PowerPoint that will be
shared with your teacher through Microsoft Teams.

3. COMPLETE THE RESEARCH DOCUMENT: There are 3 parts to the research process:
 Research #1 - Explain Your Topic
 Research #2 - Who is Commonly Affected By Your Topic?
 Research #3 - First-Person Perspective
Each of these are outlined in a file that will be handed out and in through Microsoft Teams. Each note
should be 8 words or less and use as many of your own words as possible; please avoid simply cutting and
pasting as this doesn’t allow you to make sense of the information as you gather it. Make sure you have
at least 3 resources – 1 primary and 2 secondary – and that you are keeping track of the details related to
your sources in in the Research Document. You may find that gathering more information than the
minimum requirements allows you to develop a richer understanding of your topic.

4. CREATE A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION THAT HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANT IDEAS FROM YOUR

RESEARCH. Your presentation should fully explore your topic. It should cover at least all 3 parts of your
Research Document. You will include visuals to support the written information and a voice over that
allows you to fully explain the bullet point ideas presented in your PowerPoint slideshow. Your last slide
should show your Works Cited page.
5. CREATE AN EXPERIENTIAL ACCOUNT: This is where you put your audience in the shoes of someone who
has experienced this topic. For example, what might it be like to experience living with deafness?
Possible end products for a you to consider include, but are not limited to, the following:
a. Visualization: Read an “Imagine you...” scenario, where you ask the audience to close their eyes,
and picture themselves in the shoes a person dealing with your topic
b. Video: Create a short film that demonstrates what it is like to live with your topic
c. Podcast: Create a podcast – a spoken word digital audio file featuring one or more hosts engaged
in a discussion about an idea or current event. As the podcast host, you could interview a
fictional guest about what it’s like to live with your topic, for example
d. Your choice: If you can think of another clever and engaging way to present your content in the
first-person, please check with your teacher.
 TOPIC CHOICES

You may choose a topic from the list below. If you can’t find one from the list that interests you, come up with an
idea of your own and check with your teacher to see if it might work for this task.

 What is it like to live somewhere that is not your native country?

 What is it like to have a learning disability?
 What is it like to have ADHD?
 What is it like to experience a natural disaster?
 What is it like to experience trauma as a child?
 What is it like to be 75 years old? Any other senior age? (Please, leave us out of it!)
 What is it like to be blind?
 What is it like to be deaf?
 What is it like to be autistic?
 What is it like to be colourblind?
 What is it like to have depression?
 What is it like to go hungry?
 What is it like to have OCD?
 What is it like to live in poverty?
 What is it like to have dementia or Alzheimer’s?
 What is it like to be dyslexic?
 What is it like to have addicts for parents?
 What is it like to have cancer?
 What is it like to have an eating disorder?
 What is it like to be a little person?
 What is it like to have alopecia – hair loss - as a kid?

NOTE: Due to the serious nature of this project, you must handle each topic with sensitivity and maturity.
Jokes, stereotypes, and prejudicial judgements will not be tolerated.
 POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
You will: (1) create a 10-slide PowerPoint slideshow and (2) add a voice over to fully explain the bullet
point contents of each slide. Here’s the slide-by-slide breakdown:

Slide Slide Contents Contents Description

#
1 Title Page  Write an eye-catching title for your PowerPoint
o Try these strategies outlined in the article “5 Ideas for Writing Eye-
Catching Titles for PPT”:
 Promise some benefits
 Come up with a story
 Put a number in front of it
 Make your audience curious
 Tell your audience what to do
o Your topic – ADHD, poverty, dyslexic, or the like – should be mentioned
somewhere in your title

2&3 Research #1 - Explain Your  Descriptions, definitions, statistics and other details you discovered as you
Topic learned about your topic

4&5 Research #2 – Who Is  What sorts of people experience your topic?

Commonly Affected By  What, if anything, makes it more likely that this group of people would be
Your Topic? affected?

6&7 Research #3 – First-person  Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Living With [Your Topic]
Perspective o What do people living with your topic indicate are the most important
ways it impacts their life on a daily, weekly, yearly, or lifelong basis?

8 Reflection - Topic  Answer at least 2 of the following questions about your work on this task:
Understanding o What are the most important 3 things you have learned about your
topic? Why are these things so important?
o Describe something you know/understand/can do better as a result of
this inquiry project.
o What did you find surprising about your topic?
o What questions do you still have about your topic?
o Describe how your understanding has changed as a result of learning
about your topic.
o How might you act or think differently as a result of learning about
your topic?

9 Reflection - Work Process  Answer at least 1 of the following questions about your work on this task:
o What did you find most interesting, most confusing, or difficult while
completing this task?
o How might this task have played out differently if you were doing it at
school and not at home?
o Describe an obstacle you encountered and how to avoid it when
pursuing another inquiry project.
o The next time you do an inquiry project, what will you do the same?
What will you do differently?

10 Works Cited Page  Use CloudCite to enter the data from your sources and create a Works Cited
page
 Cut and paste the citations – the information about your sources in proper
Works Cited format – onto your PPT slide
 EXPERIENTIAL ACCOUNT

This is an opportunity for you to put your audience in the shoes of someone who has experienced your topic. For
example, what might it be like to live with deafness? Possible end products for a you to consider include, but are
not limited to, the following:

 VISUALIZATION: Read an “Imagine you...” scenario, where you ask the audience to close their eyes, and
picture themselves in the shoes a person dealing with your topic

o Suggested Starting point – In media res

 To grab the attention of your audience, begin your visualization “in media res” – a Latin
phrase meaning in the middle of things.
 Ignore a (potentially) dull set up and drop your listeners into the middle of a real-life
situation that highlights the challenges of living with your topic.
 Below is the start of a piece visualizing an elderly blind man crossing an alley packed
with racing scooters in Ho Chi Minh City, a bustling city of 9 million people in Vietnam.
 Mr. Holbrook saw this scene for himself, and he was astonished by the man’s confidence
as he dealt with the challenge of crossing a street full of scooters, cars, bicycles and
people in a city that is renowned for its chaotic traffic
 “Honk! Honk! Whizz. Whoosh. Beep. The sound of rushing traffic fills your ears
while the pungent smell of exhaust hits your nose. You stop at the side of the
buzzing alleyway, raise your cane, and wave it frantically to capture the
attention of the speeding motorists. You hope they will pick up on this signal…”
 Notice how he started the piece with the act of crossing the street – the exciting bit! –
and not the old man putting on his walking shoes in his apartment– the boring bit.

 VIDEO: Create a short film that demonstrates what it is like to live with your topic

o Suggested Starting Point – “A day in the Life”

 Effective stories often follow a beginning – middle – end structure
 Showing a person living with your topic over the course of a day fits this structure
 Choose a typical day; what might: waking up, going to work or school, having dinner,
interacting with family members, and the bedtime routine look like?
 Choose a unique or unusual day; what might preparing for a wedding, a trip to the skate
park, or an outing to the movies look like?

 PODCAST INTERVIEW: Create a podcast – a spoken word digital audio file featuring one or more hosts
engaged in a discussion about an idea or current event. As the podcast host, you could: (a) interview a
fictional guest about what it’s like to live with your topic or (b) imagine you are living with the topic
yourself and are sharing first-hand experiences.

o Suggested Starting Point – Choose an Interesting Approach to Your Topic

 You could try:
 A “How To” Podcast - A show that describes the best way to deal with your topic
o How To Manage Your OCD
o How To Survive With Colourblindness
 Go for Pathos – A podcast that focuses on the emotional and/or mental health
impacts of your topic
o The Emotional Impact of Learning Disabilities
o How Does Hunger Affect Mental Health?
 YOUR CHOICE: If you can think of another clever and engaging way to present your content in the first-
person, please check with your teacher