Pedagogical Check-Ins

I had a podcast episode ready for today, but I decided to write this blog post instead because it simply did not feel right to release a podcast episode with all socio-political unrest. And that is part of what this post is about. It is about how educational spaces need to get a whole lot better at being responsive to what is happening in the world and stop pretending academic institutions live and operate in a vacuum. 

Yesterday George Brown sent an email to everyone acknowledging what was happening in Iran and providing links to support for student and staff if they needed it. And when I read that email yesterday that came hours after it became clear what was going on, the first thing that came to my mind is so so many other institutions would absolutely never do that, and that is actually a deep tragedy that says a lot about values and care and leadership. 

Because this isn't just about what may or may not be happening in the world, it is also about what is happening in microcosm at the institution itself or even in their city, province, state, or region. It is about being flexible and dare I say human enough to stop and check-in with what is going on with the people most impacted. People who make up part of the community of the institution.

And I know a lot of folk whenever you mention anything remotely sounding like a check-in say things like the following:

• I have too much material to cover I don't have time to check in
• What is going on in the world has nothing to do with the discipline I am in- I don't teach sociology
• Well that seems too political to me and so I don't want to talk about it
• I don't have the capacity to check-in with people because I am actually drowning myself and no one is checking in on me.

All four of those responses are actually a real response to the same issue, which is that our spaces have devalued our humanity. We are so wrapped up in efficiency culture that we have stopped caring about the people around us and the very real lives, and lived experiences of the people around us. A trauma-informed practice means first recognizing that trauma is a lived experience of so many from so many spaces, including our own workspaces.

Checking-in doesn't mean acting like a therapist, because you are not a therapist so please do not pretend to be one, but it does involve being aware that "how are you?" is not going to cut it as a question anymore because we have been trained to say fine when we are not, because of the fear of saying when we are not, and people not knowing what to do if someone says they are not. So we avoid it, or anything close to human connection, because we don't know what to do or can't hold another person's heavy on top of our own heavy. 

It is also midterm time for some places and on top of what is happening in the world is the stress and pressures of school responsibilities. So this is why it is more important than ever before to have check-in opportunities in your spaces. And what that can look like can vary, and you can make it very personal to the context. Here are some examples:

• If you teach a course you can provide images of different type cats or emojis and ask the students to anonymously vote on which one is the most representative of how they are feeling. Look you can even do this for a chemistry class I promise, give them the periodic table and tell them to identify what element their vibe is today. Just having an opportunity to reflect and express how they are feeling and knowing they are not alone is so so important right now. It also gives you a good idea of what is going on with the students and how you could maybe modify the content for the day to be more engaging for where they are at. It is way more difficult to be able to learn anything anyway if their lived reality is not taken into account (and so many forget this important piece of the pedagogical design).
• Have a slide or a space in your learning management system that links to all the supports available on campus, including counselling services, employee supports (for graduate teaching assistants for example). When someone needs to reach out to a professional for support often one of the barriers is not knowing where that support is, so make it easier for people.
• If you are in meetings this week with your peers (always actually, but especially in the next little while) give some time at the beginning for a check in. This can look different depending on your context and how many people are in the meeting. I promise you that your agenda items are not as important as the well-being of the people in the actual meeting and acknowledging hurt they may be carrying. 
• If you are one of the people who simply can't carry anything more (completely understandable) what you can do is reflect and review lesson plans, agendas, or any other materials you are responsible for, and reflect on what is really foundational, and what could be pushed for another week or another meeting. This goes for someone who may be using work as a distractor for what is heavy in their lives, so that you are not many pushing your need for work onto others who can't carry more right now. This requires deep awareness because folk will say everything is important, and again I promise you it isn't. Academe is one the spaces that is incredibly good at creating false urgency and unrealistic timelines - disrupt this as much as you can. You will thank yourself and your peers (and students) will thank you as well.

There are many things that we can do to bring check-in with peers and students as part of our day-to-day. We absolutely need to bring humanity back into the spaces we are in. We need to acknowledge that so many around us are hurting, that we are hurting, and we simply cannot go on pretending that everything is fine. To do so creates more harm; to do so erases the lived experiences and the reality of 2026.