There is never an easy answer. Never a single answer. No easy way to prepare for the conversations in your classrooms and schools over the next few days. But we are here for you. We are working to curate resources to help, organize opportunities for conversations, and focusing on how we can better support you during these unprecedented times. We know we do not and will not have all the answers, but we are here for you.
This post will continue to be updated with additional resources as we find them and they are shared with our team. If you have a resource you think will help others, please email it to info@teachbetter.com. Please reach out if we can support you, if you need to talk, if you need to vent, if you need anything.
Recent Resources
- Teach Better: Live Support for Conversations with students around recent events (January 7, 2021)
- Leading Conversations After the Insurrection In Washington, D.C. – Teaching Tolerance (January 7, 2021)
- Talking to Kids about the Violence at the U.S. Capitol – Common Sense Media (January 7, 2021)
- How to Talk to Students After Today’s Events – recorded video by C.J. Reynolds (January 6, 2021)
- Resources for Teachers on the Days After the Attack on the U.S. Capitol – Beyond the Stoplight by Jennifer Bradley (January 6, 2021)
- Tomorrow is Not Simply Another Day at School – Kylene Beers (January 6, 2021)
- Talking to Students About The Riots at the Capitol – Everyone Deserves to Learn (January 6, 2021)
- Letter to stakeholders – Bradford Hubbard, Superintendent of Antioch School District 34 (January 6, 2021)
- 5 Social Justice Focused Ideas to Keep in Mind When Responding to Violence and Crisis in Washington D.C. – Henry J. Turner, Ed.D (January 7, 2021)
- Pro-Trump Mob Storms U.S. Capitol in Bid to Overturn Election, Newsela (January 6, 2021)
- Lesson Plan Ideas – Noor Ali (January 6, 2021)
- Reflecting on January 6th, 2021 – Washington, D.C. – The Parlay Universe
Resources for Difficult Conversations
- Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers – National Association of School Psychologists [PDF] [Infographic]
- Strategies and Tools for Digging Into Difficult Conversions with Teens – Shifting Schools Podcast by Georgina Pecas (October 28, 2020)
- Bringing Tough Topics into the Classroom – Teach Better by Katelynn Giordano (June 12, 2020)
- How to Talk to Children About Difficult News – American Psychological Association (April 13, 2020)
- How to Talk to Kids About Difficult Subjects – Common Sense Media (March 12, 2020)
- Listening is a Teacher’s Most Powerful Tool – Education Week by Beth Pandolfo (March 7, 2018)
- Shifting Out of Neutral – Teaching Tolerance (Spring 2016)
- The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies – Cult of Pedagogy (October 15, 2015)
- Difficult Dialogues – Vanderbilt University
- What’s in Your News? – Sara Ahmed
- Templates for Discussing Hard Topics – Peardeck
- How Students Can Sort through Misinformation – PBS
- When Bad Things Happen – Teaching Tolerance
- Unbiased Balanced News – AllSides
Resources for Trauma-Informed Teaching
- What is trauma-informed SEL? – Transforming Education
- The How and Why of Trauma-Informed Teaching – Edutopia by Alex Shevrin Venet (August 3, 2018)
- Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty & Stress – Course developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence
Resources for Self-Care
- Self-Care Starts with YOU! – Teach Better by Lindsay Titus (December 17, 2020)
- Therapy for Teachers: Let’s Talk About It – Teach Better by Jennifer Manly (December 10, 2020)
Resources for the US Election
- Character in Context: Slide presentations about character after the recent US election: Elementary lesson and Secondary lesson – Character Strong
- Contentious Elections and the Peaceful Transition of Power – Bill of Rights Institute
