Overview

The death of a student, especially to gun violence, is a life-changing experience that occurs with more and more frequency in America’s schools. For each of these tragedies, there is a classroom and there is a teacher. Yet student death is often a forbidden subject, removed from teacher education and professional development classes where the curriculum is focused instead on learning about standards, lesson plans, and pedagogy. What can and should teachers do when the unbearable happens? An Empty Seat in Class illuminates the tragedy of student death and suggests ways of dealing and healing within the classroom community. This book weaves the story of the author’s very personal experience of a student’s fatal shooting with short pieces by other educators who have worked through equally terrible events and also includes contributions from counselors, therapists, and school principals. Through accumulated wisdom, educators are given the means and the resources to find their own path to healing their students, their communities, and themselves.

Full Product Details

9780807756126

Table of Contents

Reviews

""This book provides a compelling example of how to respond, which is to journal one’s experience and talk to others unabashedly about one’s feelings and about responses to one’s own personal experiences."" —Journal of Loss and Trauma “I am deeply sympathetic to Ayer’s project, and the book makes a convincing argument for this type of intervention and its format….Overall, Ayers’s multi-layered analysis that includes reflection, memorial, research, and deep attention to literature on death and grief will be an invaluable resource for teachers and will hopefully spur additional research on the practical and pedagogical issues that arise as a result of a student’s death.” —The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching

"""I am deeply sympathetic to Ayer's project, and the book makes a convincing argument for this type of intervention and its format....Overall, Ayers's multi-layered analysis that includes reflection, memorial, research, and deep attention to literature on death and grief will be an invaluable resource for teachers and will hopefully spur additional research on the practical and pedagogical issues that arise as a result of a student's death."" --The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching This book provides a compelling example of how to respond, which is to journal one's experience and talk to others unabashedly about one's feelings and about responses to one's own personal experiences. --Journal of Loss and Trauma"

This book provides a compelling example of how to respond, which is to journal one's experience and talk to others unabashedly about one's feelings and about responses to one's own personal experiences. --Journal of Loss and Trauma

Author Information

Rick Ayers founded the Communication Arts and Sciences small school at Berkeley High School and is an assistant professor of teacher education at the University of San Francisco. He is the coauthor of the bestselling book for teachers Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom with William Ayers.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available