What is #Empathetic_Educators?

Setting the scene

Welcome welcome welcome, over the past few years I have been working on my Empathetic Educators project. Creating a podcast and youtube channel where I have been interviewing people from a range of different backgrounds, teachers, parents, students, researchers, neuroscientists, psychologists to name a few. 

I am on a journey to learn about ways we can empathise with ourselves and in turn empathise with ourselves. 

Why empathy some may say?

 I believe Empathy is the Superpower of the future and as you can see in this infographic I think it is important for us to grow our awareness of our actions so that we can actually use the superpower for good. 

I just thought I would put together these images to talk about the difference between Pity, Sympathy and Empathy.
- Example one; getting in the well with the person just gets both people stuck
- Example two;  commenting on the situation but not doing anything about it leaves the person still stuck
- Example three, the person understands what the other is going through and uses this to empower the person to help themselves get out of the well. In the end, it is on the person in the well to get out but we can be there to walk alongside them and support. 

Thank you to Jason Coleman who introduced me to this analogy from his psychology background. I think I really feel passionate about this analogy because it shows my why I am advocating so much for empathy.

I believe it is really important because sometimes we can end up jumping in the well with people and we get caught up complaining or suffering together with limited or no way out. By walking in their shoes without actually going through it ourselves we can offer perspective on the situation and consider what choices me can make to empower circumstances together. 

What is #empathetic_educators?

So, that brings us to the next stage of the project. I really have loved taking part in some slow twitter chats over the past few weeks. In many of my interviews many educators are passionate about having a voice and using Social Media to help us not feel alone. 

Twitter has been such an amazing place for me to connect with people going through similar journeys - passionate about supporting our educational communities!! Not going to lie I have found myself going down many rabbit holes because I got carried away with the amazing content out there! 

In my twitter chats the topic of Empathy has come up many times so I wanted to dedicate time to delve into in deeper. So I will hold this chat every two weeks starting on Sunday 10th May 2020. 

Upcoming dates: 
Sunday 24th May 2020
Sunday 7th June 2020
Sunday 21st June 2020 
Sunday 5th July 2020 

Topics that we will discuss will include:
Neuroscience
Empathy
Relationships
Design thinking
psYchology. 

What topics do you could be good to discuss to help grow our awareness of ourselves and others? 

I hope #empathetic_educators will create a safe place where we can question, learn and grow together. If you have any questions then don't hesitate to get in contact @naomi_toland. Or if you find any areas on twitter that you think might be useful for this project I hope you will tag me and the hashtag in it so we can add it to our learning community.

Also, get in contact if you would like to be part of the Empathetic Educators Interviews! 

Hope you and your bubble are safe! Look forward to having you are part of the #empathetic_educators conversation!! 

Our choices have an impact so what impact are you going to have?