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Helping your students navigate election season stress

The 2020 election season has been more stressful than any election season in recent years (and we all thought 2016 was the pits!).  Your students likely want to engage and discuss the current state of affairs and we do a disservice if we ignore the situation and act like everything is normal.  Sometimes, as instructors, we do this because we’re not comfortable in engaging in discussions outside our areas or expertise, or because we’re worried about how to hold a meaningful discussion in which opinions may be very divergent and emotions charged., or because we are also stressed, or we because we may feel like we don’t have the time in our classes to engage in off topic discussions. You don’t need to be an election expert! Sometimes just sharing resources is all your students may need or just letting students know that you’re also anxious and recognize what they’re going through is what they need to hear. It’s important for our students to know that we recognize that we aren’t teaching in a vacuum and that challenging world and national events that will impact all of our lives are happening now–and we do care. 

Here are four quick to read resources to help you and your students get through this:

GSU’s Difficult Conversations Forum resources cover challenging topics including Politics and voting .

Psychology Today post on helping college students with election anxiety. 

Anthony Crowell, the Dean of New York Law School, published a very helpful opinion piece yesterday in Inside Higher Ed on how to support and channel their feelings into meaningful action.

Boston University posted Nine Tips to Help with Election Stress.

Consider adding these links (or others) to your iCollege course page–to help you and your students. Please share other resources you have found useful!