• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

September 15, 2014 Current Events in Education

Dealing With Death

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Paula Kay Glass

Paula has a Masters degree in education with an emphasis on child development and child behavior. She has been an educator for 22 years. She founded a private elementary school in 2003 and is now working through the Moore Public School District in Moore, Oklahoma as a special education teacher. Paula is also a contributing writer to The Huffington Post and has a children's book published. Paula has three grown children and resides in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. You can contact her at glass foundations@sbcglobal.net or paulaglass@moorepublicschools.com.
  • Staying Within Law: Special Education Teachers and IDEA - September 1, 2020
  • Teaching With Minecraft EDU - April 3, 2019
  • Self-Care Is Priority One for This Teacher - February 13, 2019
  • Preparing Students For Teacher Absences - February 12, 2019
  • Respect in the Classroom: Earned, Not Expected - February 11, 2019
  • Dissing the Family Crazies: A Christmas Story - January 6, 2019
  • Band-Aiding The Mental Health of Our Children - November 23, 2018
  • We Must Love Them - November 5, 2018
  • Take One For the Team: The Need for Self-Care - August 19, 2018
  • The New Teacher Smell - August 19, 2018

orange_treeMy husband has been a high school teacher for twelve years. During his fifth year, several of his students from the soccer team were killed in a car accident. The driver lost control of his car, went through a barrier, flipped the jeep and landed in a ravine full of water. A few years later, another student was killed on the train tracks by the high school. The latest was four years ago when a student was killed by a drunk driver. I had just met this student at prom of that year where my husband and I served as chaperones. It was heartbreaking.

When the May 20, 2013 tornado ripped through Oklahoma City, hitting two elementary schools, it took seven young lives. Most of these students died either in their teachers’ arms or right next to the teacher. It was devastating for everyone involved especially those teachers who were with their students as they died. The entire community of Moore still grieves these losses.

Last year, one of my former parents died. She was very actively involved with our school and many students still remembered her and were still friends with her son and daughter. Even though this wasn’t a student of mine, my students still needed to know that they could come to me to talk about it.

So what happens when we have to deal with a death? What happens when we go to the funerals of young children and young adults who have been taken all too soon?

We spend many hours each year with our students. We invest in their lives and they impress themselves upon us. We teach them to collaborate in class, work in groups with other students and help them grow academically, emotionally and sometimes even spiritually. When one of them is taken from us, it takes part of us, and part of our classroom team.

Counselors are usually available when this happens, but counselors don’t always know our students like we do and it’s difficult for kids to speak with someone they don’t know very well, and even more difficult when those students are young adults who know that the counselor doesn’t truly know them. More often than not the job of helping students through grief is left with the teachers who have invested in them, but do teachers really know HOW to help these students with this process?

We first need to help ourselves by realizing that it is okay for US to grieve with our students. We are caregivers. We are the ones who are always helping and nurturing others. A lot of times we forget that we need to take care of ourselves as well. We should all be familiar with our staff counselors and principals. We should have an excellent professional working relationship with these leaders so if the time comes where we need this kind of help for ourselves we know whom we can go to.

We also need to be aware of the stages of grief and we need to be vigilant when talking to our students about deaths that have affected our schools and classrooms. Developing relationships with our students is crucial BEFORE this kind of situation arises. Each year we need to be conscious about learning our students’ names and trying to remember as much as possible about our students so they know that they can come to us to talk about things that are bothering them. These students spend more time in school during the week than they spend at home. They need to feel safe and secure with their teachers. Deaths of classmates can lead to students feeling hopeless, depressed and lost. Teachers need to be aware of changes in their students’ behaviors, attitude and affect so they can help identify those students who are having a difficult time dealing with a death.

When we signed up as teachers we knew the responsibilities we were agreeing to. We also knew that this was going to be more than a ‘job’ and that our days don’t end when the bell rings. We must be ready for every possible situation that may occur, no matter how terrible it may be.

Have you ever had to deal with the death of a student? What did you do?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailLet's Talk School Start-Up--Again "I'm Looking For..." On Mispronouncing Names, A Teacher's Guide The Mental State of Teaching Default ThumbnailA Dream Followed: 5 Burning Questions About Running Your Own School
« All Professions Deserve Summers Off
Teacher Professionalism (With a Twist of Occasional Humor) »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • Ask The Educator's Room: I'm dating a student's dad. Should we tell the school?
  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.