Roots of Empathy: Changing the World, Child by Child

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Dundurn Press, Aug 13, 2007 - Family & Relationships - 296 pages

Roots of Empathy — an evidence-based program developed in 1996 by longtime educator and social entrepreneur Mary Gordon — has already reached more than 270,000 children in Canada, the U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere.

Now, as The New York Times reports that "empathy lessons are spreading everywhere amid concerns over the pressure on students from high-stakes tests and a race to college that starts in kindergarten", Mary Gordon explains the value of and how best to nurture empathy and social and emotional literacy in all children — and thereby reduce aggression, antisocial behavior, and bullying.

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About the author (2007)

In 1981 Mary Gordon founded Canada's first and largest network of Parenting and Family Literacy Centres. In 1996 she went on to found Roots of Empathy, which now reaches more than 20,000 students in eight provinces and has been piloted in Japan and Australia. Gordon is a recipient of an Ashoka Fellowship, The Fraser Mustard Award, and a Distinguished Canadian Educator Award and the Order of Canada. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Gordon now lives in Toronto.

Michael Fullan is Professor Emeritus, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

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