Pedagogies of Care

Students bring their lived experiences with them into the classroom. At various points in their lives, the students in your class may have reproduced, ignored, resisted, and/or been harmed by inequality.  These experiences shape the emotional responses students may have to course content:  hope, rage, indifference, shame, etc.  Here are some strategies you can use to cultivate a safer space for learning:

• Use a strength-based approach – Invite students to explore capabilities, resilience, and excellence within Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities. For example, instead of leading with statistics on the lack of access to safe drinking water in Indigenous communities, you might introduce students to Indigenous water protectors and encourage exploration of their actions and motivations. Taking a strength-based approach helps students in developing critical hope.  It also reduces the risk of the harm inflicted on racialized and Indigenous students by repeated exposure to narratives and data that portray people who look like them as problem to be solved.  
• Provide content warnings – At the start of the semester, ask students to brainstorm topics that might be triggering. As the semester progresses, offer advance notice, either verbally or in writing, when one of these topics will be addressed. These warnings enable students who may have encountered trauma to ready themselves for the upcoming discussion, and distance themselves or seek out support if needed.
• Make mental health resources available – Make mental health resources available for all students, including resources specifically by and for Black, Indigenous, and racialised peoples.
• Use wellness activities in class – Relieve some of the emotional labour involved in thinking deeply about inequality by facilitating wellness activities in class.

What can you do if a student in your class becomes aggressive in the face of these discussions?

• Avoid platforming. Tell them that you are stopping the conversation and ‘tabling’ it to be continued apart from the class. 
• Emphasize that you are talking about systems and institutions, not individuals. Be clear that you aren’t suggesting that all police officers (as an example) are guilty of racism, but that you are talking about a system that supports these oppressive practices.
• Have a one-on-one conversation rather than allowing the student to air out their anger in front of the whole class. It is wonderful to encourage discussion, but you must protect all the students in your class. If a student is behaving in a threatening manner or hateful way, then the priority is to stop the behaviour before it goes any further.  
• Remind your students of your expectations vis-a-vis classroom conduct. Once things have calmed down (perhaps the next class), you can return to the classroom guidelines you may have created at the outset of the semester and ask students to talk about what they need to feel safe in a classroom.

When teachers create space to discuss racism, colonialism, and other forms of discrimination, students might be very candid in sharing their own experiences.  For example, students may confide about experiences of discrimination or share about how they struggle with the stereotypes imposed upon them.  It can be challenging to know how to respond.  Here are some strategies teachers can use, taken from Trinh Mai and Jean Whitlock’s article, How to Respond when Someone Is Hurt by Racism  

1. Be mindful: Pause before you respond.  Think about what emotion you’re feeling: anxiety, insecurity, resistance, anger, shame? 
2. Acknowledge and validate: Use words that validate the hurt the person is experiencing.  You might say something like “You are upset and you have reason to be.  I’m sorry you had to go through that” or “This is a hard issue to bring up.  I appreciate you trusting me with your story.” 
3. Ask questions: Ask questions from a place of care and curiosity, rather than to disprove or contradict.  You might say something like “This is the first time we’re talking about it, but I’m betting you’ve had to deal with this before on your own” or “What was it about today that made you decide to talk about it?” 
4. Show kindness and compassion: Let the person know they are not alone and show your desire to help.  You might say something like “I’m here to support you” or “You’re not alone.  I have heard this from other Black students before.”