Utilize trauma-informed teaching practices. Alex Shevrin Venet, in the excellent book Equity-Centered, Trauma-Informed Education, shares four priorities to guide pedagogical choices.
a. Predictability – routines and structures contribute to a feeling of safety. Additionally, transparency and communication provide signals when change is about to occur.
b. Flexibility – this may look like flexibility for individuals, but it can also be built into the routines and structures (everything from a 5-minute break during class to no-questions-asked coupons that allow students to extend a due date). During and after a critical incident, you may wish to implement flexibility to the content or structure of the course that provides grace for you and your students.
c. Empowerment – providing students with a sense of decision-making and control acknowledges their agency. Even small opportunities for self-directed learning can have a big impact, such as student-written discussion questions or student-chosen topics for research.
d. Connection – authentic relationships with peers and faculty support learning. Meaningful small group work, individual check-ins with students, and whole-class check-ins (such as fist-to-five where students indicate with one hand their readiness for an activity or ability to focus or confidence in content) are all ways to facilitate this sense of a connected class community.