The principles below can help with difficult conversations. For more information, please check the resources following these principles.
- Academia is a place to have conversations about current events
- Discussion customs should be established early in the course. It is hard to establish “new” processes during highly emotional/charged conversations.
- Show empathy. Understand that people connect to these issues from a variety of cognitive and emotional reasons. I try not to imply approval but instead that I understand the emotional component.
- Direct the conversation to where you are in the course/study. Ask questions that get students to think about current events in the context of the course material.
- Direct the conversation so that people are not attacking each other. Direct the comments back to the context of the course material.
- Make yourself available to students to talk privately if they get entangled in the heat of the moment.
- If it comes up, don’t ignore it. If you aren’t prepared, let the student(s) know that you aren’t fully prepared to discuss the issue but make sure you revisit very soon. It’s OK to say, “Like you, I’m upset about XX so I haven’t had time to think about it. Let’s come back to this next time we talk.”
- Be aware of yourself. Take a moment to think through your answers. Don’t get caught up in your own personal reaction.
- Exploring Pedagogical and Emotional Response in Higher Education Classrooms During the Boston Marathon Bombing Crisis Hosek, A. M., & Austin, L. (2016). Exploring Pedagogical and Emotional Response in Higher Education Classrooms During the Boston Marathon Bombing Crisis. Qualitative Research Reports In Communication, 17(1), 68-76. doi:10.1080/17459435.2016.1143386
- Practicing What We Teach: Trauma-Informed Educational Practice Carello, J., & Butler, L. D. (2015). Practicing What We Teach: Trauma-Informed Educational Practice. Journal Of Teaching In Social Work, 35(3), 262-278. doi:10.1080/08841233.2015.1030059
- Teaching with Awareness: The Hidden Effects of Trauma on Learning Sitler, H. C. (2009). Teaching with Awareness: The Hidden Effects of Trauma on Learning. Clearing House, 82(3), 119.
Resiliency: Enhancing Coping with Crisis and Terrorism
This book contributes to a better understanding of what makes people and communities resilient in the face of disasters, violence and terrorism. This resilience is understood as a resource that facilitates recovery, effective functioning and positive outcomes in the wake of major critical events that threaten the well-being of individuals, families, communities and nations. The chapters in this publication present complementary perspectives on resilience in a variety of socially adverse settings and how to assess resilience beyond the level of an individual. The contributing authors not only consider evidence of resilience in the aftermath of mass trauma, but uniquely explore it from a developmental perspective and expand the focus from individual resilience to the broader ecological levels of community and society.The book contains 11 chapters reflecting different aspects of resilience. Presentation of these different perspectives will be helpful to scholars and students of human behavior affected by life-threatening crises. Together, the chapters present up-to-date research that affirms human strength when confronted by the extreme experiences. The book also covers the broad landscape of current knowledge and research topics on resilience that are related to mass violence and terrorism, which is one of the growing concerns of the world today.
ISBN: 9781614994893Publication Date: 2015
