layout | title | previous | next |
---|---|---|---|
page |
How to respond to and support your students |
/teach-the-past-and-present.html |
/teachers-10-questions-for-students.html |
-
Teachers and school leaders can support students' right to protest without taking a stand on those views themselves. Defending students' right to voice their views can help foster civic participation.
-
Align your response to your existing school/district mission.
-
Encourage conversations about controversial issues throughout the year. Let students exercise their voices respectfully in school newspapers, podcasts, and YouTube channels, or in student council debates.
-
At the same time, it's vital that schools protect students with dissenting views from harassment or bullying.
-
Support Students’ Civil Rights . . .
“School leaders can articulate that while they support students’ civil rights — including their right to engage in peaceful protest — students’ beliefs are their own. Schools can defend students’ rights to express themselves, without taking a stand on the content of that expression."
- . . . and Align Your Response with Your School/District Mission
"The school or district’s mission statement can also be a helpful guide as leaders consider how to respond to protest incidents. What are your core values — the set of guiding principles that you’re always talking about? These can provide an essential touchstone as you try to navigate among stakeholders with deeply divided opinions.”