36 Responding to emotional events

When a local, national, or world event has a widespread emotional impact, consider taking a moment to acknowledge the situation and ask students how they are doing. Even a simple acknowledgment, a reflective activity, a quick breathing or mindfulness exercise, or an offer of support can help your students. In How Learning Works, Susan Ambrose, Michael Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha Lovett, and Marie Norman show that “we need to consider students holistically as intellectual, social, and emotional beings” (Ambrose et al., 2010, p. 187), and they demonstrate how this consideration informs course climate and student success.

Studies show that students value when professors and TAs acknowledge concerning events, which helps foster a supportive and inclusive learning environment. Therese Huston and Michele DiPietro demonstrate in their research on students’ and teachers’ experiences after 9-11 that students appreciate any effort to address stressful events (Huston & DiPietro, 2007). Acknowledgement was “helpful, regardless of whether the instructor’s response required relatively little effort, such as asking for one minute of silence … or a great deal of effort and preparation, such as incorporating the event into the lesson plan or topics for the course” (Huston & DiPietro, 2007, p. 216).

Here is one way to acknowledge events and their potential impact on students while taking care not to delve into questions beyond the scope of your role as an instructor of the course:

“I recognize that there are major events happening that may be affecting some of you, your families, and friends. I understand if you might be feeling worried, angry, distracted, or numbed. I welcome any student who wants to check in, share, or request support, and I can also help you to connect you to additional campus resources.

I want to share my commitment to nurturing a culture of care in this class during this time, and also during times when students may be reckoning with other crises that may not receive as much attention on our campus, or that may be personal to them. 

Please know I am here to support you through this difficult time as best I can and please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.”

Depending on your own positionality and feelings about the situation, you may want to normalize students’ anxiety by sharing—in an appropriate way—your emotions and acknowledging that it may be hard to focus for many.

The University Counseling Service provides additional guidance on having difficult conversations after a crisis.

Some instructors offer to post course notes after a major event to ensure that students who are most affected by the event can still study. If you are feeling overwhelmed yourself, those notes might also help you to make sure that you are conveying complete information.