During this session, participants will reflect on the pivotal points in their own educational process and select moments of clarity or misunderstanding which shaped the course of their academic or professional career. Whether positive or negative, these teachable moments made us who we are, and remain relevant to understanding how and what we teach. As a group, we will share some of our personal stories and discuss how to incorporate them into specific courses, how they demonstrate empathy in a relatable way, and what we hope to evoke in our students through this exchange. The handout for this session will serve as a template for participants to refer to, and build upon. This presentation relates directly to the conference theme of validating emotion as an intrinsic component of the educational process and specifically, to the concept of self-disclosure in Chapter 3 of Dr. Cavanagh’s book, The Spark of Learning.