Dealing with Tragedy and Trauma

As educators, we come in contact with tragedies of a personal or societal order on a regular basis and often struggle to know what to say and how to respond, perhaps especially when the tragedy comes into our classrooms via the news. Teachers may be told by administrators that they are not allowed to discuss these events with students, which can often put teachers into a highly conflicted situation with its own emotional repercussion. Likewise, we recognize that our Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education (CITE) students are trying to assist teacher education students with navigating the many competing pressures related to talking (or not) about highly charged issues in their classrooms that may relate to these tragedies.

Thus, we have planned this program to offer a space for educators to learn from members of the CAPS team and other exports in child and adolescent development about addressing tragedy and trauma in the context of K-20 classrooms.

We hope that you will be able to join us for the workshop!

This event is sponsored by the Department of Teacher Education, the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education and MSU’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services.