Build Empathy
Build empathy
Notice each other — practice perspective, listening, and care.
A Day in Their Shoes
Forces students out of their own perspective and into the texture of another life.
Start nowBefore and After
Makes change and consequence visible and physical — students understand cause and effect through their bodies.
Start nowEmpty Chair
The empty chair creates presence through absence — students feel the weight of who is not in the room.
Freeze and Feel
Shows students that the same situation can be experienced in radically different ways depending on perspective.
Hot Conscience
Makes moral complexity embodied rather than abstract — students feel the pull of competing values.
Letter to the Past
Creates emotional connection to historical figures — makes the past feel inhabited rather than abstract.
Mantle of the Expert
Combines role and responsibility — students invest more deeply when they have a stake in the outcome.
Memory Box
Creates deep character understanding through object choice — students must think about values, not just facts.
Newspaper Story
Teaches students to see the human dimension behind abstract events — history as lived experience, not just dates.
The Object Speaks
Removes the pressure of personal opinion — students speak through an object, which makes bold statements easier.
Ripple Effect
Builds systemic thinking and empathy simultaneously — students see that every action has a human cost and benefit.
Shared Map
Makes the group's diversity visible and gives every student a place in the story.
Shoes in the Middle
Uses a physical object to open up storytelling and perspective-taking in a playful, low-stakes way.
Silent Witness
Trains observation before interpretation — students learn to look before they conclude.
Two Monologues
The simultaneity creates the experience of two truths existing at the same time — impossible to ignore either.
Walk in Their World
Physical embodiment creates empathy faster than description — students understand a character through their body.