EduCon 2.7

The session will begin Laura Pladson telling a story from Eastwood Elementary in West Fargo, ND, describing her school and the impact that social and emotional learning and empathy-focused practices have had on individual students and the whole school. Then Laura will share an overview of the practices used at Eastwood Elementary, modeling some of them and then giving participants the opportunity to try some of them. Laura will be followed by Jean White, who will describe Salem Hills Elementary in Inver Grove Heights, MN and the impact that the empathy-based practices her school uses has had on individual students and the school community as a whole. She will then model some of the school's empathy-building strategies and invite the participants to practice them. Laura and Jean will then invite the participants to share the strategies they use to build empathy in students. The session will end with a discussion of the key principles uniting the strategies: preparing the environment for empathy to thrive, engaging children in activities that build empathy, and giving them opportunities to reflect on what they know and act with empathy.