Empathy to Impact
Unit Design & Certification for Educators

OVERVIEW

Developed by Inspire Citizens co-founders, Steve Sostak and Aaron Moniz, the Empathy to Impact teaching approach and project-cycle addresses the global need for applied learning for active global citizenship, service as action, compassionate empathy, and sustainable development. While these civic-oriented outcomes are included in many school mission statements, great challenges exist in embedding them into curriculum and community engagement that can amplify pre-existing standards, criteria, and deep learning experiences.

The Empathy to Impact approach (Care, Aware, Able, Impact) empowers educators and students to reimagine units and projects through the lens of inquiry, deep learning, and global and intercultural competence: Personalized, transdisciplinary, and human-centered learning and action for a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable world.

Empathy to Impact is a foundational pedagogical element of the ten-pathway Inspire Citizens Global Impact School model and self-study.

GOALS

During the hands-on workshop, we will focus on concrete ways educators can embed global and intercultural competencies as well as a sustainable development toolkit into inquiry-driven and project-based learning opportunities.  After examining the unique contexts of each classroom and school community, we will co-design innovative, enhanced, or reimagined unit plans through an Empathy to Impact approach.

Following the workshop, participants can opt to continue global and intercultural competency-based learning while participating in pioneering action research in order to receive the Inspire Citizens Empathy to Impact Educator Certification.  This would include online modules, participation in an on-going professional learning community, lesson and unit planning mentoring by an Inspire Citizens’ facilitator, and the creation of a student evidence portfolio resulting in the educator certification.

POTENTIAL AUDIENCE

The interactive Empathy to Impact workshop is designed for any educator that wishes for local and global community engagement and compassionate sustainable impact to be essential threads of student learning and a school’s educational model.