The Day After: Teaching After the Election
Last week, en route to a school in Washington, DC, I nipped into a few of the Smithsonian museums. I saw a Rembrandt and a Monet. In a dimly-lit section of the American History Museum, I gazed upon the original Stars and Stripes. And in the Air and Space Museum, I unexpectedly stumbled upon a display about the TV special The Day After, a film that vividly portrayed a hypothetical Cold War nuclear exchange. Today, it seems as if it is our own internal divisions threatening to lay waste to American society, and educators wonder what school should look like “the day after” the election.
To answer that question, it seems helpful to think about two distinct constituencies: the kids and the adults. Having visited a dozen or so schools over the past few weeks, I sense a degree of projection on the part of at least some educators. This presidential election is the subject of intense focus for many of us, a source of constant anxiety. Consumed as we are, we may unconsciously assume that others—including students—are equally invested.
Anecdotally, though, it seems that many of them are not. I’ve had several teachers at schools in various states tell me that, to their surprise, these students are more disconnected from the election than students in previous election cycles, that they have less interest in this horse race than the adults, certainly, but also less interest than those who sat in their seats four or eight or twenty years ago. I have yet to encounter a teacher who has said the opposite—that their students are uncommonly engaged by the election.
This is a generalization. Some students are indeed captivated by this political season, or terrified of it. Some, by virtue of their personal circumstances, may feel that the results of the election could imperil their families or threaten their most cherished values. But lots of kids are not really that focused on politics. The cautionary signal I read, then, is that we should move gently as we plan for the day after, careful not to assume an acute need among a preponderance of students to parse election results or interrupt school routines; “the day after” may in fact call for normalcy.
Where there is a curricular connection, teachers will want to make the most of the election, leveraging it not only in the obvious domains such as social studies, but anywhere else the election could enhance learning (think electoral math or the art generated by protest, etc.). So for some educators, the day after (or weeks after) will provide a teachable moment to make an organic curricular connection.
Beyond those curricular touch points, schools may want to carve out some containers for students who would benefit from further processing. As is the case with traumatic events generally, some students will come to school feeling wounded or lost in the wake of the election (while others, of course, may feel jubilant and righteous). We want to be sure to open ourselves to those who will need extra support, which we might do by asking kids to give us an emotional “fist to five” in an advisory period (see page 32 of this Learning for Justice guide) or other community gathering. I could imagine an optional meeting at lunch or some co-curricular block, as well, that would provide a space for those who are interested.
In general, then, I suggest a “business at least somewhat as usual” approach to school following the election. We cannot lose sight of the fact, though, that some students will need us more than others, and we must find ways to identify those students and then create the time and space to follow up with them individually or in small groups.
Some schools may also want to seize the moment by building in an antidote to the madness of the coming weeks. Messages and modeling of unity, conciliation, curiosity, and empathy could be just the thing to soften the rhetoric of division and worry that is sure to prevail in most media circles. See this page of my website for several options, or take a peek at this new 90-second video. Let’s remember, though, that there’s not necessarily any hurry—I’m not sure the time following the election is that much more ripe for this sort of teaching than, say, the rest of the school year. The election will come and go. The need to prepare students to reach across lines of divide and disagreement will remain.
But all of that still leaves the adults. We are the fragile ones.
It would be helpful if school leaders could articulate for teachers what it would mean to show up as a “professional” the day (or week) after the election. I have been reminded over and over recently of the number of schools in which one or more teachers came to work after the 2016 election emotionally distraught and unable to, in the eyes of their colleagues, be the grown-ups their students needed. Schools expect their teachers to hold it together this time around, regardless of the outcome. What does that mean, though? I personally believe that it can be instructive for students to see at least some of their teachers model healthy emotional responses in times of need—to hear an adult say, for example, “I’m having sort of a rough day, but I’ve been sad before. I know I’ll get through this day, too.” People will have different views about the question of what professionalism looks like the day after. It would be helpful to clarify.
Beyond the façade we show our students, it is reasonable to predict that teachers may broadly need some support in the wake of the election. It is plausible that we may enter a period of uncertainty regarding the electoral outcome, and that this uncertainty will breed anxiety. School leaders may want to see this handful of hypothetical election outcomes created by the TRUST Network and the Bridging Movement Alignment Council in order to imagine what may lie ahead.
I know that some schools will have extra counseling resources on hand after the election. But we can help ourselves, as well, by tending to our media hygiene in the days and weeks after the election. In order to pay the bills, news outlets require attention, and attention is most easily commanded by serving up incendiary content that triggers strong emotional responses (I recently learned the term “rage bait” from a student). Let’s limit our news consumption to a reasonable amount as we ride the roller coaster of emotions following the election, and perhaps some may want to try less sensational, more even-handed sources of news, such as Tangle or 1440. On election night, Braver Angels is holding an online meeting to bring together Americans across the political divide for conversation and community, kicking off a week of similar events; I could imagine many educators would benefit from a gathering of this nature.
Yes, it’s true. The day (or week, or month) after is coming. Let’s see it as yet another chance to do some good teaching.
