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Thanks to @participate, @Empatico, and @NEAFoundation I was able to earn digital badges for my learning and my students learning.

Why Empatico?

I use Empatico because..

* my students have opportunities to experience empathy and kindness

*my students/myself stretch our thinking/widen our perspectives about the why we all need to care

* it makes connecting globally so easy for teachers

*Empatico takes care of notifying you of all correspondences

*you can create files of photographs that you wish to share

*they take care of running a sound test prior to your experience

*they have many teacher made lessons for you to choose from 

What I notice..

* My students enjoy using Empatico.

*students have been able to post  we use on our map(building a global awareness)

*children know the continents and are making observations about climate on our map

*by creating a map with my students we now have another learning opportunity to think about where we are in relation to others. This is important because as we explore other cultures, we are learning about empathy and what it means to live where someone else does, feel what they feel, imagine what life is like for them where they live.

*through the interactions my students learn about and experience empathy. This is the heart of my work and why I choose Empatico

*children are kind and exploring empathy with each other inside/outside of our classroom

*empathy is extending into our work with the Global Goals

*friendships are formed through our sharing

*authentic experiences and ideas for future conversations emerge

*children are becoming curious about the world and asking more questions about where animals live and what the weather is like

*children are asking for more books to read about the world so they can learn

*children are learning how to learn through their curiosity..WOW!

My friend.. Ms. Barbie

ISTE Standards:

ISTE(Student/Educator Standards):

Student:(look here)

• Empowered Learner

• Digital Citizen

• Knowledge Constructor

• Global Collaborator

Educator:(look here)

• Learner

• Leader

• Citizen

• Collaborator

How it works:

1. All you have to do is visit: https://empatico.org/ 

2. Create an account and sign up!

3. You will be notified within a week of who your connection is. The reach out through Empatico. If you do not hear back from your connection within a week or two, end connection and resubmit!

5. Check out the lessons that are in Empatico.

6. Select a day and time that works for you and your connection. 

7. You will receive an email each time you have a message in Empatico. I love this so I do not have to check.

Ways We Play:

Artifacts:

Below are photos from some of our exchanges with Ms. Barbie in Ghana. My students explored school life, weather, ways to play, and food.

My students had an opportunity to think deeply about something they wondered about before our 1st connection. Later after we connected more, my students were able to think back about their wonderings and illustrate what they learned and now know.

We created a map of the world so that we were able to share not only where we were connecting in the world, but how. This way my students learned about the platform that they used to have conversations with our new friends. Our wonder wall encourages us to look at our map of the world and think about what we know and are still curious about. This is also a great tool for reflection.

 My students shared ways they played. Empatico is an easy platform to navigate and use to have conversations. My students were always excited to connect and share.

As part of our reflection we created messages to our friends in Africa. This was a fun and easy way to represent feelings we had from this experience.

As an educator I learned so much from this experience. I not only met a new colleague, but a new friend.  Ms. Barbie and I continue to connect thanks to Empatico. As an educator I want to be sure that I am always modeling the positive change I hope to contribute to others.

My students had endless opportunities to explore and experience how digital tools and platforms can be used to enhance learning. Through this exposure my students experience 1st hand what it means to be a safe, kind, and responsible digital citizen as well as why this matters.

Later we had an opportunity to send boxes of books and materials to our friends. My students were able to give from their hearts. Helping others be successful and have access to materials that support and enrich their learning.