Building Empathy and Community in Middle and High School (6-12)

Are you looking for practical strategies to build and foster empathy and community within your middle or high school classroom and/or school? As a teacher, you likely already know that the two values of empathy and community feed into each other and often promote even stronger, more connected school systems. Yet, at the same time, you also know the challenges that many students, teachers, and administrators face when trying to implement these best practices. This online course is designed to provide teachers in grades 6-12 with the necessary tools to build and maintain an environment in which all participants feel respected, celebrated, and valued. Here, teachers will learn how to create a safe, empathetic space to meet the holistic needs of their diverse learners using best social-emotional learning practices, including such things as check-ins and restorative circles. Teachers will also learn how to help their students identify and regulate their emotions so that student choice, agency, and curiosity are cultivated and nourished in a safe classroom environment. Teachers will also learn how to institute common goals using a solid mission/vision statement so that empathetic connections can be promoted within and among school teams as well as the larger community. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES: 

PDI courses receive letter grades. You can register and begin the course at any time and have until the end of Ashland University’s academic year to complete it. This course is web-based so you can access it from any computer with internet access. It is also self-paced, so you can work entirely at your own pace, when it is convenient for you. There are no specific times you must be online and no individual deadline dates for assignments. They can be submitted any time, so long as everything has been submitted by the end of the academic term.

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR COURSE MATERIALS: 

Within 1-2 business days of your Ashland registration, you will receive an email from your course content provider, Professional Development Institute, containing instructions on how to access your course materials. A note, their emails are sometimes forwarded to junk or spam folders. 

You will be working with PDI through their Learning Management System, to complete the course, after which, your instructor will record your grade on your AU transcript. We will notify you by email once this is done, with instructions on how to view and order transcripts. 

Ashland Professional Development: pds@ashland.edu