#AussieED- Empathy

Really me, my sister and my dad really dressed up to
really go to a Star Trek convention

Empathy is the most important tool in a teacher's bag of tricks. It's more important than tech know-how, more important than pedagogy, more important that recess duty. Empathy is the core of what makes a great teacher great because empathy means you are trying to reach your kids. You're not talking at them, you're not teaching to them, you're reaching them.

Tonight I want to talk about empathy. Where it comes from, how we build it, and why we should have it. If you've never done one of my chats here's something you should know about me- I encourage side conversations, silliness, and irreverence. There is learning in silliness. The opposite of Funny is not Serious. The opposite of Funny is Not Funny.*

What that means is I want you to loosen up and be honest. Trust me, trust your fellow teachers. Have fun. My questions are (hopefully) layered in a way that encourages you to answer them deeply while still having a good time.

Empathy is a rich vein and I want to mine it as much as we can in the hour we have together. Let us see if we can figure out what we know about empathy and how best we can wield it in the classroom.

*stole this from Neil Gaiman talking about Terry Pratchett. Watch it. Cry a little if you're like me and Terry Pratchett meant a lot to you.  Then read everything they both ever wrote.

My #AussieEd pre-chat interview with Brett Salakas (special guest Weirdling Number One)



My #AussieEdcast podcasts pt 1 and pt 2