Making a Connection to Understand Our Learners

As an educator, I know I have had several moments throughout my career when my eyes were opened to what was really going on with a learner outside of class.  It's the moment when all the little signs of missed assignments and changed behavior come together to reveal a situation beyond my belief or understanding.  It is in these moments my patiences truly kicks in and I can do my best to try to understand.

I remember standing in the hallway monitoring students as they entered the building eager to get to class.  It was the first cold day of winter.  Everyone was bundled up in coats, hats, mittens.  Then, one child in 3rd grade came walking down the hallway with his hands crossed and folded up wearing shorts and a T-shirt.  Every morning we would always exchange a "Hello!"  But, today I asked why he wasn't wearing a coat.  "It's literally freezing outside!"  With a big smile he responded, "It's not too cold for me!"  Later I would find out there was no money for a coat, food, or an extra bed.  The family barely had money for the apartment where they were living.  The fact the child made it to school most days was a miracle in itself.  That day my heart broke when I finally understood why school was not the most important thing for this child, but survival came first.

When designing the Leading Innovative Change Series for educators, the first characteristic introduced in the book Innovator's Mindset by George Couros, is empathy.  We have to be able to understand and connect with our learners no matter their circumstances in order to move their learning forward.  When I start to focus on a topic, it's interesting how so many examples begin to stick out everywhere I look.  I found a great video by Brene Brown of what empathy really means while going through tweets one afternoon.  I felt it was important to share the video in order for all of our educators to have the same understanding of the term.

When designing the learning experience for our educators it was also important to me to connect the larger concept of empathy to our district's Learning Framework, specifically in the area of building appropriate and positive relationships that foster a mutual respect.  To make this connection, educators were then challenged to tweet messages that supported, modeled, and promoted empathy at our campus.  The objective was to share our campus story beyond our walls.  Twitter is a tool the educators have been introduced to at various times; and, this opportunity gave educators a very specific purpose for their tweets.  The educators were encouraged to use hashtags popular within our district to help spread our story at Coppell Middle School West.

Here is the presentation used to share the concept of innovation regarding empathy: