Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Gregory Boyle has described Homeboy Industries by saying the organization is “in the business of second chances.” If you are familiar with the group, how does this quote support your understanding of its work? If you don’t know the group, what sort of work do you think it does, based on this quote?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may or may not be familiar with Father Gregory Boyle, whose work with Homeboy Industries has reached international renown. If students aren’t familiar, use this as an opportunity to provide some authorial context.

• Homeboy Industries is the organization at the center of Tattoos on the Heart.
• Gregory Boyle, S.J. is the founder of Homeboy Industries and author of Tattoos on the Heart.

2. How do we stop gang violence? What responsibilities do different members of a society (family members, education professionals, law enforcement) have in preventing or contending with gang violence?

Teaching Suggestion: This is a big question, but you can use it to introduce Homeboy Industries and Father Boyle’s work with former gang members. If students hesitate, start small by asking why they think gang violence exists, what they know about attempts to quell it, etc.

• The Center for Children & Youth Justice discusses some of its approaches to reducing youth gang involvement, including education, treatment, and employment opportunities.
• The Urban Institute has researched ways to reduce gang violence and provides several resources documenting its results.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

What does compassion mean to you? Reflect on this question and spend some time freewriting in your notes or reading journal. You may want to add images, symbols, or illustrations.

Teaching Suggestion: The Transformative Power of Compassion is a major theme of this book. Encourage students to think about what the word means and to keep their definition in mind as they read.

Differentiation Suggestion: Visual learners can explore the prompt by illustrating what comes to mind when they think of compassion. Students could do so by drawing a picture of compassion in action, for instance.