In Newtown's Wake: How Grief Is Handled at School | Edutopia

In Newtown's Wake: How Grief Is Handled at School | Edutopia

Alright, I am sharing this because I completely agree with the article. I don't think anyone could be prepared to deal with a tragedy such as Newtown's but that is not what the article is all about. This article hits home on when students have to deal with tragedy, how do we deal with them. Not in one of my college classes did they actually talk even about how to handle students that are grieving. I have only been teaching for 3 years, but in those 3 years we have not done any training on this either. However, in those 3 years, I have had students who have lost parents, siblings to suicide, and grandparents that have pretty much raised them. Most of the time we are notified when a student has lost someone but not always. I will tell you that is usually the most frustrating. When you are wondering what happened to your student. "Why are their grades dropping?" "Where is the attitude coming from?" Then come to find out their grandparent died 2 weeks ago. It can be very frustrating. Even more so when you don't know what to say to the kid.