Week 6- In the Classroom: Helping Children Speak about Death and Loss

Any individual dealing with the loss of a loved one whether it be a parent, sibling, grandparent or pet is extremely difficult. However, there is just something more difficult about seeing children experiencing the emotional pain attached to death. All teachers, at some point in their career, have to deal with students who experience a loss. The blog written by Maurice Elias entitled, In the Classroom: Helping Children Speak about Death and Loss points out that "we live in a culture that does not always encourage or support expressions of loss and, frankly, expects people "to get over" grief fairly quickly. So educators may well have their own issues with personal losses. And they may also feel that are not capable of handling the raw emotions that might emerge if a door is opened to emotional expression" (Elias, 2014). I have to say I was a little taken back by this statement because I feel most teachers would not be teachers if they were not caring, compassionate, supportive and understanding. I felt this blog gave teachers little credit for the constant support we offer students. Many times we are the only support system these children have and would do anything to help ease a child's pain and suffering. At the end of the day we have children's best interest at heart.

The blog did point out that "carrying around these strong feelings is not easy and can serve as a barrier to learning. It might also affect children's relationships with peers (and teachers) as they might be pensive, anxious, or angry. without it being obvious from what is happening around them"(Elias, 2014). I do agree with this statement and think that a teacher should always be prepared and have methods of dealing with death within the classroom. The article suggests allowing students to express themselves through a range of modalities and to include activities that can help honor and remember the loss of a loved one.Visual arts can include songwriting, painting, sculpting, or collages. This can be done individually or as a group. The blog suggests that this will allow students to process and express their emotions, but also listen to and support the feelings of their peers. All individuals deal with death differently, and bottom line is that way we help children deal with death is going to vary child to child. As teachers, we can be supportive and do what we feel is appropriate to have the best outcome for the child.

Elias, M. (2014, June 6). In the Classroom: Helping Children Speak about Death and Loss. Edutopia. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/helping-children-speak-about-death-loss-maurice-elias