Empowering Empathy

Just before Thanksgiving break, our school staff took time out during a faculty meeting to share a little bit about our college colors to inspire out learners to

dream big.

Here's how mine turned out.

So grateful to Karen S., who created and shared the template.

I'm super excited about how our display pops.

Tomorrow as we launch into our lessons about caring,
we'll work on empowering empathy.

We're going to start by watching this film clip

without any sound. Just watch, not listen.

We'll talk about what they think happened and what they think about what happened. Then we'll watch it again, this time with audio.

After what I think will be a riveting discussion,

students will get to choose from the following activities in Social Stations,
to get them stepping into another's shoes

and thinking about how certain situations feel,

what they would want,
what they might need to make it work.

We'll be building a huge figure 8 with Jenga blocks, blindfolded.

We'll be putting together a Scramble Square puzzle

without speaking to one another, silent.

We'll be playing catch in a circle

with our feet, no hands.
{See the orange ball in the air?}

We'll be writing notes to our President-elect

using our non-dominant hands.
It's super tricky to erase with only one hand available!

I'll have my copy of Hey, Little Ant in Latin out
and see who chooses to attempt language translation.

We'll be writing mirror-image messages about empathy.

And, in the end, I hope that we will have empowered empathy,
that glorious virtue that I firmly believe could be the change
for our superheroes and their future.
Click {here} for more empathy simulation ideas.

Check out these empathy posts for more empowerment:

Why Empathy Holds The Key
This Is Your Brain On Empathy
Empathy By The Book
Teaching Kids Empathy In Denmark A Piece Of Cake

Oh, and if you haven't read UnSelfie by empathy expert Michele Borba yet,
put that on your Christmas list today.