About Empathic Instruction
In Teachers' Words
“[EI] definitely causes you to pause, to think, “What am I doing to resolve conflicts? How am I doing it?... How could I make it better?”
“I would totally recommend [EI] because I think as educators we need constant refreshers to bring us back….We're only humans. So I think constantly reminding yourself of what you need to do or change is okay.”
“I love this PD. I feel like it's very useful for all teachers, not just new teachers.”
Short, Simple, Customized
- Teachers complete two online exercises per year, each 35-50 minutes long.
- Activities include brief articles, teachers’ insights on student-teacher interactions, and reflection exercises.
- Activities are updated and customized over time to reflect the best practices and insights from each district.
Evidence-Based
- A kick-off presentation by Dr. Okonofua highlights the latest research and explains the psychological processes that make empathic teaching so powerful.
- EI exercise content and design are based on numerous research-practice collaborations across diverse contexts.
- Empathic teaching promotes positive student outcomes and higher teacher job satisfaction and confidence.
Elevates Teacher Voice
- EI helps districts accurately capture teachers’ insights and challenges, as well as opportunities for district and school leaders to better support teachers in the future.
- Teachers’ opinions and observations remain confidential: they are only shared in aggregated form.
- District leaders receive an end-of-year report summarizing how teachers in the district think and feel about student-teacher interactions.
Easy to Implement
- Districts appoint an EI facilitator who works with the EI team to customize the exercises to your district and schedule activities.
- It takes less than 6 hours per semester for the facilitator to support implementation across a whole district.
- The EI facilitator is provided onboarding materials to recruit teachers, build will, and track teacher participation on a weekly basis. See the EI Guide to learn more.
A Practical, Evidence-based Way to Reduce Disparities
Learn More
The Empathic Instruction Guide provides a quick overview of the research, service options, and implementation steps and timelines.
