Empathetic Educators Make for Empowered Learners

 Questions to Consider When Examining How Empathy Works for Learners

A Question for My Future Students: Is your voice being heard?

Despite being the facilitator of my classroom environment, I do believe that a student should be allowed to express themselves within the four walls of an educational facility. This looks like not being afraid to speak with adults about hard topics and the freedom to share their opinion in class. Perhaps leaving this question vague and generic would be the best way to hear what students actually believe. As educators, the response could be startling as we must be prepared to receive negative feedback from our learners in order to better serve them in the future.

A Question for My Cooperating Teacher: How do you incorporate learner input into instruction?

Obviously a monkey can't run a zoo they live in, but learners aren't always monkeys, which means they may have a role in running the classroom. This could be a matter of personal opinion but it would seem appropriate to engage students in a way that gives them autonomy in their learning. Autonomy being one the three items identifying by McClelland's Human Motivation theory. Considering this, it would be helpful to know how learner autonomy is provided in my cooperating teachers classroom and if student input is considered when creating that autonomy.

A Question for My Cohort: How has being a part of #psuaged22 prepared you to be an empathetic educator? 

Alright, so we have some pretty Rockstar teacher educators @TeachAgPSU. That's a no brainer. I'd like to know how the entirety of our university experience has made us better educators and specifically how the coursework and those administrating that coursework have made us out to be more empathetic educators.