Grade 5 · SEL · Lesson 17

Empathy & Perspective Taking

Empathy is the social-awareness superpower. It means trying to feel WITH another person — to step inside their experience for a moment — instead of judging them, fixing them, or feeling sorry for them from the outside. When people feel truly heard, they relax and connect.

What this lesson teaches

1Define empathy as feeling with someone, not for them
2Step into another person's perspective with curiosity
3Choose words that show you heard them
4Notice when sympathy slips into pity

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