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©All the material in this website is copyrighted to Kathleen L. Fowler unless explicitly indicated otherwise.
Permission is granted to use and distribute this material freely but please attribute properly by retaining the full header information.  11/16/99

 Grief, Crisis, and Hope in a School Context SGET63601

SGET 63601 will meet in the first summer session on Tues, Wed., and Thurs.  from May 31 - June 30 from 5 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. in A216 (MAHWAH CAMPUS)

Office: School of Social Sciences and Human Services, E-222 Office Phone: 1-201-684-7565  Fax:  1-201-684-7978 web address: http://orion.ramapo.edu/~kfowler email: kfowler@ramapo.edu Office hours: 

Course Description:

In this course, we will focus on grief, crisis and hope -- with an emphasis on hope -- as they occur in, and affect, teaching and learning in the schools.   Death, dying, illness, loss, bereavement, violence, etc. are difficult to face in our own lives and are especially challenging for teachers and school administrators to cope with as they try to provide the safest, most responsive educational environment for students.  Tragedy can erupt into the classrooms abruptly and without warning or can be an immediate presence in the school over an extended period of time.  One is never fully prepared -- whether it be the grave illness of a student in the class, a child's loss of a family member, or the announcement on the news of a devastating tragedy such as the Oklahoma City Bombing or the massive and widespread impact of the recent tsunami.  Whatever subject matter or grade level one teaches, whatever one's role in the school, thoughtful preparation and education are key to responding appropriately to tragedy, to developing best practices for prevention/intervention/postvention of violence and suicide, and in finding ways to foster hope in your students and to help them find meaning in difficult times and to make appropriate ethical decisions.   The class will involve discussion, workshop activities, readings, a/v materials and participation in WebCT.  Students will also research a specific aspect of grief, crisis, etc. and develop a formal response plan for their own classrooms which they will present orally and in Powerpoint with accompanying handouts to the remainder of the class. This is a 4 credit graduate course in the Master's in Educational Technology Program. We will meet for five weeks from 5-8:20 TWR for a total of 10 1/2 hours a week. This demanding schedule will be accompanied by an intensive reading/writing/computing load, so be prepared for a whirlwind ride!

Course Goals:      Students will be able to:
    * Describe how various age groups process grief, based on developmental differences.
    * Describe and demonstrate therapeutic activities appropriate for grieving children of different age groups-including artwork, discussions, and games.
    * Describe the purposes and benefits of funerals and grieving rituals for different age groups.
    * Use existing curriculum content/readings as springboards to explore death and grief topics.
    * Identify how grief may affect a child's school performance and behavior, and describe appropriate interventions.
    * Demonstrate ways to develop and sustain support groups for grieving students.
    * Explain elements of a crisis intervention plan, involving schools and community resources.
    * Identify the characteristics of an effective crisis team within a school.
    * Describe best practices for informing the school community of a death or other crisis.

Required Texts: 
Sandra Helene Straub.  Death 101:  A Workbook for Educating and Healing.  Death, Value and Meaning Series.  Baywood Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0895032740
Robert G. Stevenson, ed. What Will We Do?  Preparing a School Community to Cope with Crises.  2nd ed. Baywood Publishing, 2002 ISBN: 0895032554
Linda Goldman.  Raising Our Children to be Resilient:  A Guide to Helping Children Cope with Trauma in Today's World. 2004  ISBN: 0415949068
Cherie Bennet. Zink.  1989. ISBN: 0440228107
Alice Hoffman.  ISBN: Green Angel.  2003. ISBN: 0439443857

Some additional articles and book chapters will be assigned.

Optional Texts (limited copies available in bookstore): (Note:  The optional texts are not assigned for reading for the course, but may be of interest to you individually as supplemental material).

Ken Doka, ed.  Living with Grief: Children, Adolescents, and Loss.  2000. ISBN:18903349012
Helen Fitzgerald.  The Grieving Teen:  A Guide for Teenagers and Their Friends.  Fireside, 2000.  ISBN:0684868040
Goldman, Linda.  Bart Speaks Out: Breaking the Silence on Suicide 1998. ISBN: 0874243521
Kastenbaum, Robert.  Death, Society, and Human Experience.  8th ed. 2004  ISBN 0205381936
Miller, Sally Downham.  Mourning and Dancing for Schools:  A Grief and Recovery Sourcebook for Students, Teachers and Parents. 2000  ISBN: 1-55874-775-3

Class Handouts/Oral Presentation: You will be researching one aspect of grief, crisis, and hope in the schools and developing a "response" plan which you will be presenting to the class orally, on Powerpoint, and developing appropriate handouts for your classmates.  Topics will be selected the second class to give you adequate time to research and prepare. As you groan through this task, remember that your contribution to the classes' collective knowledge will be returned times every one in the course. (Good investment, No?) The handout for the class should include key issues and questions on the topic, internet/web sources, a brief bibliography, and the proposed response plan.  You will be presenting on your chosen topic during the final week of class. The oral presentation should be planned for about 10-15 minutes.

WebCT Course Management System:  The very first class you will be introduced to the WebCT Course Management System on which the class will run and which we will work on throughout the five weeks.