In the leadup to the November 5 election, you may find that your students are particularly stressed or anxious. Some students may want to discuss the election in your course or may ask you questions or share hopes or anxieties with you. This election may be very personal to students, and the next few weeks may prompt some difficult conversations. 

We encourage you to consider how the election may be impacting your students. This email is intended to provide some ideas and resources to consider in case you’d like to acknowledge or discuss the election with your students, regardless of your course content. Ultimately, it is up to you, the instructor, how or if you’d like to use any of these resources. If you’re considering having a class discussion, please note that it will be helpful to evaluate if discussing seems beneficial to you as the instructor, is appropriate for the class, or if you foresee it doing more harm than good. The resources below are provided for your consideration and support. 

Encouraging Students to Vote 

One thing you may do is encourage students to register to vote, if they are not already. Any member of the ECC community may register to vote via ECC’s voter registration software TurboVote.

Approaches to Engaging with Students About the Election 

Each of the links below lead to strategies and resources for different approaches. 

1. An Email to Acknowledge the Election and Election Results without an Open Discussion 

2. An In-Class Announcement Acknowledging the Election and Election Results without an Open Discussion 

3. Facilitating a Discussion about the Election and Election Results during Class

It is important that you, the instructor, take care of yourself. Determine what is and is not helpful for you to engage in and evaluate your bandwidth and ability to lead a supportive conversation or send a message to students. 

For additional support or questions, you are welcome to contact Heather Martin or Tyler Roeger from ECC’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching, Assessment, and Learning (CETAL) or Jamie Pang and Antonio Ramirez from ECC’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). One additional resource you may find helpful is the University of Michigan’s Preparing to Teach During the 2024 Election | CRLT (umich.edu) page.