Events of crisis, tragedy, or social unrest can have a significant impact on teaching and learning. Such events impact students emotionally and cognitively and affect their ability to show up to class ready to learn. How we choose to respond to these events in our courses depends on course materials and topics, the skills and knowledge they are developing, our own social position, as well as how we, as a learning community (broadly defined and diverse in its constitution) are impacted by these events.
We may choose to teach through these moments, recognizing the potential impact they have on students and providing them with reasonable support, but not deliberately addressing them in the class. Or we may choose to teach with these events and engage with them in class. Teaching in Tumultuous Times: Teaching Through and Teaching With provides some considerations and resources for faculty and instructors as they make decisions about how to engage, or not, with current events in the classroom.