Discussing the unfathomable

Classroom-Based Responses to Tragedy

How do we discuss the unfathomable? How do we learn in the face of violence and threat, making meaning out of events that seem meaningless by their very nature? How do we speak across differences in what we know, feel, and believe? These are common questions in the wake of tragedy-- from a horrific national tragedy such as the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, to smaller-scale tragedies such as homicides and natural disasters that occur on only one campus. Such events pose particular challenges for teachers working with students who want answers to these questions.

Education is based upon the development of skills and structures that both promote discussion of complex or contradictory events and viewpoints and also engage people in critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving. By developing higher-order critical thinking, people can interpret, analyze, sort, find patterns, and support arguments in the midst of data that might appear arbitrary, random, or absurd. Thus, through education, people develop the capacity to confront seemingly incomprehensible experiences and create new possibilities for response.

However, some college and university instructors feel unprepared for the turmoil that accompanies discussion of topics such as terrorism and inter-group conflicts. Instructors might not have full command of a pertinent body of expertise or even an adequate understanding of relevant information or interpretive frameworks. The classroom instructor may not have up-to-the-minute news regarding a recent catastrophe. Furthermore, catastrophes have an emotional effect on instructors as well as well as on students, adding further challenge to addressing tragedy.

Fortunately, dealing with volatile discussions, student emotions, instructional constraints, and complex human realities is the norm for some educators. In particular, faculty and other educational professionals in interdisciplinary arenas such

as inter-group relations, women's studies, and ethnic studies have pioneered effective classroom techniques for such discussions. Additionally, discipline-based educators with a commitment to multicultural education have developed skills, classroom exercises, and wisdom relevant to these difficult but necessary conversations. These classrooms are ones in which many forms of knowing and varied expressions of knowledge are integrated into comprehensive analyses of human experience.

The application of these perspectives, skills, and classroom strategies to the university as a whole came into stark relief last September. In response to the national tragedy on September 11, Lee Bollinger, president of the University of Michigan, asked that faculty devote all classes on September 12 to discussion of these events. This call was historic in a number of ways. First, classroom-based, campuswide attention to public events is a departure from a decades-long practice of teach-ins held outside of classrooms in response to immediate social crises and long-term social concerns. Second, a campuswide call involves a widely diverse group of people and thus a more complex discussion, because the participants are not self-- selected. Third, this event required instructors to guide students in discussions of social and personal complexity.

Responding to the president's request to instructors, Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) knew that many instructors would need support and direction. CRLT staff drew on three sources to provide that support: our collective experience in helping faculty create inclusive classrooms, research findings about the use of emotions and motivations for productive pedagogical purposes, and our individual experiences as college teachers. We compiled the following list of guidelines which were posted in a similar form on September 11 on the University of Michigan Web site (www.crlt.umich.edu/tragedydiscussion.html):

Guidelines For UM Instructors Leading Class Discussions on the Tragedy of September 11, 2001

1) Think through supportive ways to introduce and close the session.

2) Ask the class to establish ground rules for the discussion. Some ideas to propose to students before they begin discussion include:

* Avoid blame and speculation.

* Respect each other's views and avoid inflammatory language.

* Share personal stories and feelings. (Be prepared for students to be emotional, and try to support and comfort them.)

* Express anger and frustration within limits. (While it is important for students to express themselves, it is also vital to control the class and maintain an environment that feels safe for all students.)

3) Be prepared for blaming. A backlash might emerge against people who share an ethnic/cultural/religious heritage with those accused. It is important that students not be doubly hurt by this tragedy-first by the horrific news that has shaken everyone and second by misguided generalizations.

4) Be mindful that when someone compares the severity of this event to historical or other events it might offend or estrange those who see themselves in different relationship to the examples given. For many reasons, students may have different relationships with the examples, such as, personal history or age, past experience of violence or tragedy, group membership, or geographical or cultural origins or reference points.

5) Create a framework for the discussion. Possible discussion topics include:

* What hopes and fears do you have about this discussion?

* In what ways are you personally affected by these events?

* How might these events affect your/our future?

* What positive actions can individuals take in response to this tragedy (for example, give blood, support students new to campus or far from home)?

6) Allow everyone a chance to talk (when possible), but don't force students to participate. Ways to encourage participation include:

* Use a "round." Give each student a chance to speak in response to a guiding question without interruption or discussion, allowing students to pass if they desire. Following the round, open the discussion for general response.

* Divide students into discussion partners or groups.

* Give students a chance to write before speaking. Ask students to do some writing when discussion seems to be getting out of hand.

7) Where you can, explore links to the content of your class or discipline. Try to balance emotional and intellectual approaches. 8) Collaborate with other instructors:

* Join sections to have more than one discussion leader.

* In large classes, break students into small groups with instructors and/or graduate students as discussion leaders.

* Exchange ideas and strategies with other instructors, including debriefing the class discussion.

9) Don't feel compelled to lead a discussion if your own emotions or reactions make you feel unable to do so. Give a simple statement to the class to this effect and move to class work. Outside of class, be sure to seek appropriate support for yourself.

10) Tell students where they can find counseling support on campus and advise them that counseling during times of crisis is often very helpful.

11) Use the teaching center or other instructional consultation services to find resources for discussion of the issues you face in the classroom.

On September 12, 2001, many instructors at Michigan used these guidelines as they framed class discussion in the terms of their disciplines and in terms of their own capacities as thinkers and as citizens. When instructors relate their specializations to social crises, students who attend a variety of classes experience multiple approaches to complex issues, and thereby gain a deeper understanding of the distinctions and intersections between disciplines. Thus, classroom instruction in times of crisis can contribute not only to students' ability to discuss and listen, but also to their ability to think appreciatively and critically both within and across the boundaries of disciplines.

The Michigan guidelines are compiled from a broad range of experiences and are supported by an extensive literature on multicultural teaching. Such guidelines enhance teaching in times of calm as well as times of crisis. The Michigan Center regularly circulates the following suggestions about inclusive teaching in workshops and consultations with faculty in the full range of disciplines. The following list is adapted from a handout entitled "Effective Multicultural Teaching: Goals and Related Activities" developed by Pamela Motoike, Andrea Monroe-Fowler, and Diana Kardia:

* Create an open, comfortable, and challenging classroom environment.

* Promote an atmosphere of safety and trust in which mistakes are tolerated and differences are used constructively.

* Engage students with the expectation that students take shared responsibility for the learning process and the classroom environment.

* Encou34, no. 1 (Jan/Feb 2002): p. 18-22rage full participation of all class members, paying attention to variations in style and to classroom dynamics that inhibit a subset of participants.

* Take the focus of attention off individual students who might express surprising or unpopular ideas by situating their statements in a broader context or by responding to the statement first yourself.

* Provide a variety of teaching and learning modalities.

* Help students move from submergence in their personal reality to a position of "critical consciousness" from which they are better able to recognize underlying patterns and meanings.

* Guide and support students as they apply social and theoretical perspectives to their individual experiences.

These recommended practices provide a foundation to draw on when current events overwhelm the everyday rhythms and relationships of teaching. On this foundation instructors can build the kind of classroom participation that helps students and faculty members to deal with crises and to accomplish learning goals. It is when instructors seek to avoid or repress the genuine anxieties and reactions of students in the face of significant events that students become distracted and disengaged from classes.

Michigan's guidelines for September 12 classes sought to open discussions, in order to accommodate a range of responses from the strongly emotional to the sharply analytical to uncertain groping. Once such discussions are held, the classroom becomes free for continued coursework, because students know that, if necessary, that classroom is also available for support. As events unfold and continue, institutions often develop other forums for response, including public meetings or private counseling. Students with continuing needs for discussion and processing can then have their needs met outside of the classroom, and those students who find comfort in the return of the academic routine have their space, too.

The extraordinary events of September 11, 2001, have called on the extraordinary capacities within individuals and communities to tend to and repair the fabric of communal life. The classroom environment is one powerful venue for this work. General educational principles and guiding principles for special times facilitate these efforts. In the midst of grief, anger, and confusion, by applying guidelines for discussion and action people can address together the difficult questions posed by community tragedy.

RESOURCES

* Adams, M., L. Bell, and P. Griffin. Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice: A Sourcebook, New York: Routledge, 1997.

* Adams, M., ed. Promoting Diversity in College Classrooms: Innovative Responses for the Curriculum, Faculty, and Institutions, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 52, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.

* Fox, H. When Race Breaks Out: Conversations About Race and Racism in College Classrooms, New York: Peter Lang, 2001.

* Schoem, D., L. Frankel, X. Zuniga, and E. Lewis, eds. Multicultural Teaching in the University, Westport: Praeger, 1995.

* Schoem, D. and S. Hurtado, eds. Intergroup Dialogue: Deliberative Democracy in School, College, Community, and Workplace, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001.