Traumatic experiences and chronic low-grade stressors can disrupt students’ ability to feel connected to peers, instructors, and other campus staff who can provide needed support. BIPOC students at PWIs (predominantly/persistently white institutions) may feel “institutionally unwelcomed” as a result of microaggressions or their institutions’ failure to support or reflect their experiences, identities, and cultures (Grier-Reed, Said, and Quiñones, 9). Trauma-informed approaches can help foster these connections and direct students to support services.
Remember that relationships (to peers, to instructors and staff, and to course material) help inspire students to learn and to persist in college.
Active and engaged learning pedagogies that you may already be using also help to promote the sense of connection and support students need to recover from chronic stress and trauma.
Simply telling your students that you know they have the capacity to learn and grow can help them to feel they belong in your class and in college.
Start your course and assignment design from the assumption that you and your students are allies, rather than adversaries (Carello). This perspective can be particularly important for students who do not see themselves represented in the campus community as a whole (Hallett et al., 2019).
Avoid jumping to conclusions when students make mistakes, disappear, or otherwise need to be held accountable for their actions. As Janice Carello suggests, approach these situations by asking “What’s happened to the student?” instead of “What’s wrong with the student?” (Carello)
Make it easy for students to find information about campus services such as tutoring, academic support advisors, and counseling and health services (e.g., by including on a syllabus or course site), and have this information handy so that you can refer students during conversations after class or during office hours.
Encourage students to connect their previous experiences to course materials. For BIPOC and other minoritized students, treating their lived experience as a valued source of knowledge and insight can promote their sense that they belong on campus (Hallett et al., 2019).
Felten, P., & Lambert, L. (2020). Relationship-rich education: How human connections drive success in college. Johns Hopkins Press.
Felten and Lambert offer a deep dive into the research on students’ sense of belonging at college, offering recommendations for how to promote these connections in classrooms and across campus.
Hallett et al. (2019). The Process of Academic Validation Within a Comprehensive College Transition Program. American Behavioral Scientist, 64(3), 253–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219869419
Hallett et al. studied a two-year support program for racially minoritized and first-generation college students, finding that students benefited from experiences of “academic validation,” or affirmation of their ability to belong and succeed at their chosen college or university.
Have students write their reactions to the event on index cards. This can be framed as immediate feelings or be guided by a more specific prompt. Shuffle the cards and hand them back out to the students. Have students read quietly, or aloud, others’ reactions. This can be helpful for getting the temperature of the room, seeing what students need to focus on, and encouraging students to really listen to one another’s feelings and needs.
Open an anonymous chat function using a survey site like Slido. Ask students to put one or two words in the chat as a check in and broadcast it on the screen in the classroom. Like the above activity, students can take the time to reflect and also read/asborb the ideas and feelings of their classmates. This activity can serve as a starting point for a longer conversation, or simply a moment to vent or reflect before turning back to course material.
Build transparency into your teaching style from the start, being honest with students about why you choose to do certain things and when you don’t have the answers or expertise on a certain subject. This makes it easier to be honest on “days after” about your own reactions, the things you know and understand about the event (or that you don’t), and why you chose to address the event in the way you have.
Develop discussion guidelines/ground rules as a class at the beginning of term. Revisit these regularly and return to them especially when discussing traumatic events.
Dunn, A. H. (2021). Teaching on days after: Educating for equity in the wake of injustice. Teachers College Press. Dunn uses the experience of teaching after seismic events (both traumatic and celebratory) as a way to advocate for more equitable, transparent, intellectually honest pedagogies, both on “days after” and on all other days. A mixture of interviews with teachers, students, and Dunn’s own personal experiences offer templates for educators. Dunn advocates for abandoning any pretension of pedagogical neutrality in favor of pedagogy that centers equity, embraces the humanity of teachers and students, and encourages students to connect their learning to their lived experiences outside of the classroom.