Grief is universal. It is in the kindergarten classroom when a class pet dies, the sixth grade that reads A Bridge to Terabithia, and the college history seminar in which students and teachers parse texts from the Holocaust. Research suggests that seven out of 10 teachers have a student in their classroom who is bereaved or actively grieving, and teachers carry their own losses too, yet mortality is often left out of discourses surrounding social and emotional learning and teacher training. As a consequence, it can feel daunting to discuss the topic with students.
With the right tools, however, teachers can engage in discussions about love and loss in ways that catalyze powerful learning. Though it’s not teachers’ formal responsibility to tackle these subjects in their classrooms or to provide emotional support to students who are grieving, the following suggestions and resources can ease the way for educators who choose to do so.
SAY SOMETHING
RESPECT INDIVIDUALITY
CONNECT STUDENTS WITH PEERS
EMPHASIZE GROWTH
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