In many classrooms, teachers have always taken time to help kids process the events going on in the world, dissecting the big stories that students might see in the news or hear their parents talking about. But it鈥檚 been an especially steep task for teachers to take on these past few years.
Teachers have fielded students鈥� questions and heard their fears about the COVID-19 pandemic. They鈥檝e talked to their classes about the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests against racism and police brutality. When thousands of people stormed the Capitol in January of last year, teachers helped students understand the facts and work through their feelings.
Now, some teachers have found themselves once again answering questions about an issue making headlines: the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two separatist territories in Ukraine. The United States and other countries have imposed sanctions against Russia, in an effort to deter Putin from moving troops further into Ukraine and escalating to war. The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the world is 鈥渇acing a moment of peril鈥� over the crisis.
The situation may seem far-removed to many students in the United States. But in some classrooms over the past few weeks, teachers have been fielding questions about why the conflict started and what will happen.
Often, students aren鈥檛 just curious about these events鈥攖hey may also be afraid, anxious, or even have feelings of hopelessness. Teachers can play a critical role in supporting students as they process these emotions, said Kathleen Minke, the executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists.
鈥淎s an adult, you can help them. You can acknowledge their feelings, you can normalize what they鈥檙e feeling,鈥� she said.
Education Week spoke with Minke about how teachers can support students emotionally when discussing scary or troubling news鈥攁nd what teachers can do to help students stay hopeful.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How can teachers know when to bring up something in class that鈥檚 happening in the news?
We鈥檙e in very interesting times at the moment, with teachers feeling a lot of external pressure about what they can and cannot talk to kids about. We see a lot in the news from school board meetings I think that teachers are feeling a lot of pressure around that.
But in general, teachers know a lot about students鈥� developmental levels and what they鈥檙e prepared to think about and talk about and what they鈥檙e not. As a teacher, you want to think about who your kids are, first of all. For example, in the current situation, we鈥檙e not seeing U.S. troops being deployed, but that could happen. And if you鈥檙e working in a school, or in a system, where there鈥檚 a large percentage of military-connected families, you鈥檙e going to want to be a little bit more careful and sensitive to the kinds of stressors that those kids, in particular, might be experiencing.
With individual kids, you鈥檙e always looking for changes in behavior: a student who typically presents as sunny and happy and enthusiastic suddenly becomes more withdrawn. Kids come into school suddenly very tired or sleepy, unable to concentrate. Those kinds of changes in behavior would be important to look for.
And how do you start that conversation with an individual student if you are seeing those kinds of changes in behavior?
You want to be pretty forthright and just say, 鈥淗ere鈥檚 what I have noticed about you over the last couple of days. I鈥檓 wondering if everything is OK, or if there鈥檚 something you would like to talk about.鈥� You try not to make assumptions. As an adult, whether you鈥檙e a teacher or a school psychologist or a parent, you want to give the kid space to talk with you, and to let them know that you are interested in what they have to say.
Often, social studies teachers bring up current events in class and try to teach some history or context. Should this be woven into instruction? Or should discussing these events be more like emotional processing, which should be handled by others鈥攍ike a student鈥檚 school counselor?
I think it depends on the developmental levels that we鈥檙e talking about. When you鈥檙e talking about high school kids, they鈥檙e hearing things, they鈥檙e seeing things on the news. Younger kids as well, but certainly in a high school setting, current events are really important to connect to what they鈥檙e studying. Those connections can actually deepen the students鈥� understanding of why certain things are happening and why it matters.
With younger kids, again, you usually want to take your cues from the kids themselves鈥攁s far as how much they are seeing and hearing, whether they understand the things that they鈥檙e seeing and hearing, and then offering them some ideas and possibilities for how to manage or cope with their emotions.
How can classroom teachers partner with school psychologists to do some of this work?
Teachers are the absolute frontline of recognizing when a student is struggling鈥攚hether they鈥檙e struggling academically, or they鈥檙e struggling emotionally and behaviorally. When they do notice changes in behavior or unusual behaviors for a particular child, talking with the school psychologist [can provide] some feedback on what they鈥檙e seeing. And then developing a plan for whether or not that child needs additional attention is really important.
From your experience working with school psychologists, what are the current issues that students are most worried about, or that instill feelings of hopelessness?
Kids are very perceptive. They鈥檙e paying attention to what鈥檚 going on around them. Every child has experienced some disruption to their pre-COVID lives, and that鈥檚 certainly having an impact. Kids are also resilient. But that doesn鈥檛 mean that they may not need some assistance in making sense of the things that they鈥檙e experiencing.
Usually, you have a sense of hopefulness if you feel like you鈥檙e able to impact something. With younger kids, it may be a simple thing of, we鈥檙e going to make cards and send them to people [with COVID] who aren鈥檛 feeling well. That may be one thing that you can do that helps with coping. With older kids, they may be volunteering in the community or other ways of supporting their community as a way of taking action. Not simply letting things happen to them, but feeling like they have some agency and some mastery over the things that are happening to them.
You talked about agency. Are there other ways that teachers can help cultivate hope about the future?
We all have to think about how we talk to kids and how we manage our own emotions. Kids are always watching, as we know. What they need to see from the adults in their lives is positive coping strategies for themselves.
It鈥檚 not about pretending like nothing is wrong or pretending like this hasn鈥檛 been an extraordinarily difficult couple of years. But it is about being careful about what you say in front of children, so that you鈥檙e presenting to them your 鈥渃oping self,鈥� rather than your own feelings of despair. That should be worked out with other adults, not really worked out in front of children, because, again, reassurance and reaffirming students鈥� sense of safety is the baseline of helping kids cope. They need to know that the adults in their lives are managing things, that they鈥檙e safe, that, yes, things are difficult, but we can do hard things.
