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Teaching in Tumultuous Times

Written by Tom Laughner

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Create Welcoming Learning Environments

When local, community, or global events impact our classrooms, it can be challenging to maintain focus on teaching and learning. Teaching may feel mundane or even irrelevant in the face of tragedy, violence, or disaster. Faculty and students alike may be personally affected, especially when their identities or communities are targeted or harmed. Faculty should recognize their own limitations in assisting students and encourage them to reach out to trained professionals for mental health and resource-based support. At the same time, faculty can foster a sense of safety and belonging by acknowledging tumultuous events, extending flexibility, and providing access to resources.

Reviewed:
March 1, 2026

First Published:
March 18, 2022

Why Use This Strategy

  • Recent research suggests that instructors can support student well-being by communicating care, recognizing students’ challenges, connecting students with resources, and incorporating reasonable flexibility into teaching practices.

    • Boman, J., Lindsay, B., Bernier, E., & Boyce, M. A. (2025). Fostering student wellbeing in the postsecondary teaching and learning environment. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 49(2), 230–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2024.2447852

  • Faculty should also attend to their own well-being during tumultuous times. Teaching through crisis can create significant emotional demands, particularly when instructors are supporting students who are also experiencing distress. Connecting with colleagues, using institutional support resources, and recognizing personal limits can help faculty manage these demands and sustain their capacity to teach effectively.

    • Dutton, H., & Sotardi, V. A. (2023). The impact of student self-disclosure on the stress and wellbeing of tertiary educators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 47(7), 966–979. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2023.2208053

Teaching Tips

  1. Acknowledge tumultuous events. Recognizing natural disaster, tragedy, or violence, even in a brief statement of acknowledgement, can help students learn and increase their sense of well-being.  

  2. Prepare before you facilitate discussions on the topic. If you decide to talk to your students about tumultuous events, prepare in advance so that you are ready to include all your students, provide moments for written reflection and offer students a chance to sit quietly as needed. You can use strategies like ‘rounds’ in which each student is given time to respond to or pass on a prompt without interruption or judgement. Alternately, you can give writing prompts and ask students to write about their emotions and thoughts.  

  3. Present a balanced perspective when discussing difficult topics. When addressing tragedy or hardship, avoid focusing solely on loss or suffering. Instead, include examples of strength, perseverance, and positive outcomes that individuals or communities have demonstrated in response to challenges.

  4. Offer your students campus and community resources, such as hotlines, food banks, and counseling centers to utilize if they are struggling with mental health, food or housing insecurity or other pressing needs.

  5. Elections can bring strong emotions and add stress for many students. Instructors can support learning and maintain a respectful classroom environment by:

    1. (Before the election) Acknowledging the emotional weight of the season and adjusting course plans if needed. Offering guidance on handling political conversations in clinical settings.

    2. (During the election) Setting clear expectations for discussions and using structured strategies like the Open the Front Door technique (Observe, Think, Feel, Desire) to manage tense moments.

    3. (After the election) Directing students to mental health and support resources and encouraging reflection and community care.

Resources
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