Dealing with Death

📖 The Scoop

The intent of this fastback is to give school personnel a strategy for dealing with tragedy affecting their students. approach to dealing with tragedy in a school situation. The approach includes getting accurate information, informing appropriate personnel, procuring counseling and educational materials, involving various parents, and dealing with the media. Next discussed is a staff peer conference to allow staff to talk through their own grief. A section on dealing with death at different age levels gives teacher suggestions for helping students who are dealing with death at the preoperational, concrete operational, and the formal operational stages. Following this, physiological and behavioral responses of bereaved students after their return to school are discussed. The technique of "active listening" is recommended for helping the grieving student. This technique involves reflecting with the student on the death, being aware of the student's cognitive level, responding in a timely fashion, giving honest responses, and providing emotional support. The document concludes that with the knowledge and skills learned in a well-planned inservice program, teachers will be prepared to help their students in a sensitive and compassionate manner. (ABL)

Genre: Family & Relationships / Death, Grief, Bereavement (fancy, right?)