As a teacher it’s a thing that you don’t really want to have to deal with, but it will inevitably happen: grief and loss. There are so many types of grief that could appear in the classroom. It could range from a student moving away, to a family member medical diagnosis, to death itself. Then there’s you, the teacher, what about when grief hits you and your personal life? How do you model healthy expression, sharing, and accepting support? These are tough questions to handle. So today, we’re going to talk about how you can help students handle grief.
Spoiler Alert: One of the best (FREE!) resources out there to support teachers and students comes from The Coalition to Support Grieving Students. There you can find everything you need including how to have a conversation with students, being culturally sensitive, and crisis intervention. It’s important information to be prepared for because they estimate that 1 in 20 student will lose a parent before they finish high school.
No matter how young a student might be, they know when loss has been experienced. Depending on how great the loss is, it will be constant impact on their life. I’ve known so many students who have lost a parent, or sibling, or friend, and there for every holiday there is grief and remembrance. Whether they lost someone early or late, it shadows their life experience as they navigate making sense of it all.
For younger students there are books on every topic to open up the conversation one-on-one or for the whole class. The Invisible String is a great book for loss.
In addition to reading books and answering questions, art is a great way to help elementary students express their emotions and remember their loved ones. Give students space to draw about who they miss whether a pet or a friend that moved away.
Here are some prompts for drawing…
Similarly, with older it’s important to say something and give the student space to talk if they need to. That space could be with you as the teacher, the school counselor, or in a special space in the classroom. Some older students may still be interested in drawing their experience of grief, but writing can be just as powerful an activity to help express their grief.
Here are some prompts for writing:
This could be done as a group or individually. It’s important to simply be available to students grieving. You may not need to do a lot or say a lot, but you need to make yourself and the grieving space available.
I want to reiterate, you don’t need to force anything with this. Some students may keep things more private with art and writing and one-on-one conversation, while others want to have a ceremony for every lost pet. Here are some more ideas to support students
This is such a serious topic, and it can’t be avoided. What have you done for your students when grief hits?
