CoreEmpathy: Literacy Instruction with a Greater Purpose

Why should you cultivate empathy in the classroom? Because it not only encourages mutual understanding and caring but also deepens literacy learning. When students walk in the shoes of story characters, the practice extends thoughtfulness to the real people in their lives. The CoreEmpathy approach, developed by literacy specialist Christie McLean Kesler and children’s author Mary Knight, turns an empathy lens on the reading and writing essential to all K–6 classrooms, optimizing the connection between them. And rather than being one more thing you need to do, CoreEmpathy interweaves with classroom practices already in play, applicable to the stories the authors highlight as well as to student favorites. With its heart in the joy that stories bring to readers of all ages, CoreEmpathy reinvigorates teaching and learning, with effects that last long past the elementary years.