Facilitating Difficult Discussions and Maintaining Pedagogical Wellness
What do we mean by ‘difficult discussions’?
Difficult discussions refer to conversations that involve divisive and/or emotionally-charged content. This can include topics such as race and ethnicity¹, gender and sexuality² ³, mental health⁴ ⁵, political views and ideologies⁶ ⁷, religion and belief systems⁸, sexual assault and consent, income inequality, and socioeconomic status. These topics are integral to social discourse and instructors can anticipate ways to thoughtfully address them throughout their teaching.
There are also topics that involve emerging campus crises and world events. This can include topics such as war, gun violence, pandemics, and police brutality. Such topics can require a more responsive, rather than anticipatory, approach. Here is a comprehensive resource for teaching potentially challenging topics: Equity-Centered Pedagogy.
What is our goal of pedagogical wellness with a difficult discussion? What would success look like?
The goals of pedagogical wellness with having difficult discussions in the classroom are to: provide a supportive environment for students and instructors experiencing a common challenge, create space for conversation, foster student learning through difficult conversations, provide and opportunity for connection of course content to real-life events, and offer professional development opportunities.
Reminder: There’s no single “best” way to respond.
UCI & DTEI Resources
Additional Resources
Centers for Teaching & Learning Webpages
University of Michigan. Hot moments in the classroom.
Vanderbilt University. Difficult dialogues.
University of Connecticut. Difficult dialogues.
Indiana University. Difficult classroom discussions.
Montana State University. Facilitating challenging discussions.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Addressing difficult events in the classroom.