SHU Professor Shares Gift of Compassion with Children

Maureen Ruby provides a book to every student in Fairfield’s Riverfield Elementary School

Maureen Ruby, endowed chair and associate professor at Sacred Heart University’s Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development, is helping children in a local school understand the concept of compassion by gifting them with a book that promotes caring for others.

Riverfield Elementary School in Fairfield runs an all-school book program each year, a long-standing tradition that sees all classrooms reading the same story. With support from the parent-teacher association (PTA), the program provides a book to every elementary school class. Ruby took that a step further this year and provided a book for each student, not just the classroom, enabling the schoolchildren to learn about the story’s characters and plot in class and to also take it home to share with family and continue exploring its key concepts.

“We are capitalizing on an established school experience and building on it,” said Ruby, a veteran educator. “Students will have discussions in and out of the classroom about important topics. The hope is that by the end of the year, they will truly understand what it means to be compassionate.”

This year’s book, This Story is Not About a Kitten, takes readers on a heartening ride. Characters react to a homeless kitten by showing it compassion—providing it with food, shelter and warmth. Ruby believes schoolchildren need to learn compassion, not just empathy, as it leads people to act when they come upon others in a serious situation.

Each book came with a “This book belongs to” sticker inside so the recipients feel ownership of it. “This is the first time every student is being provided with their own copy to bring home,” said Mary Rose Dymond, Riverfield principal. “Everyone loves receiving gifts, and a new book—with your name inside the front cover that is yours and yours alone—is even more special.”

Dymond said a shared book provides a common language throughout the school community. “Now that every student has a book at home, parents and caregivers will have that language in their hands and will have the opportunity for greater insights into the conversations their children are having at school and for extending those discussions into their experiences at home. We’re also partnering with a subcommittee of our PTA to provide activities and resources for families to use at home that stem from the book and focus on the concept of compassion.”

School staff and faculty are still seeing students grapple with the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. They see the impact it had on students’ thinking, interactions with others, mindset and habits, including an increase in students’ reliance on technology for learning and communication.

“Connecting around a book in a face-to-face setting, without the barriers presented by technology, is an opportunity to build students’ social-emotional skills,” Dymond said. “Sharing these efforts with families has the potential to further support students in developing these skills at home.”

Ruby will be a consultant and, if parents or teachers have questions about how to teach or talk about certain matters, she can help. “We want parents to feel empowered to talk about these topics and students to understand the important concepts they’re learning about,” Ruby said.

The topics the book explores help children develop into their best selves, Ruby said. “We’re trying to foster a school culture of belonging with empathy and compassion and if this works in Riverfield School, we can implement it in other schools.”

Dymond credits Ruby for being a catalyst for thoughtful, informed and caring discussions. “She is prompting our team to consider different perspectives, providing resources for us to enrich our conversations and offering suggestions that will help us further engage our entire community. Maureen has helped positively grow our school culture,” Dymond said.

Feedback on the expanded program has been positive. “Students and staff have shared how much they appreciate the book’s message and how they are applying it during their school days. We’re preparing to launch our family engagement components and look forward to success there as well,” Dymond said.

Pictured: Professor Maureen Ruby and Riverfield School Principal Mary Rose Dymond