I asked students two weeks ago how they wanted class tonight to feel, how they might want class to go. I’m not inclined to cancel class the day after an election, no matter how bad it goes. But I feel the need to gather insights from students and consider those when planning class – especially when those students aspire to be teachers. It’s my design inclination, I think. They wanted two things, one serious and one silly: A chance to process the election together and Tik Tok videos that might cheer them up.

To process, I turned to a favorite analog tool: feeling cards. I spread these out digitally on our Mural with this prompt: “Look through all the feeling cards and pick one that describes how you are feeling about the election. Pick more than one if need. But don’t pick too many.” We then did a 10 minute solo write around this prompt: Which cards did you choose and why? I asked them to write in prose, not in bullet points or outline form. I told students they would be invited to share what they write but would not be requited.

Then we wrote. Myself included.+

I reminded students of a norm we set together at the start of the semester: Use disagreements as an opportunity to learn, respect, and educate. I told them we set the norm before we might need it. We might need it tonight; who knows. So let’s speak it in the space and hold ourselves to it, if we can.

I then invited students to share what they wrote. I was clear to say, “What you wrote is for yourself. You are invited to share, but you are not required.” For students who shared, I asked them to read exactly what they wrote rather than paraphrase it. This was to give them a useful constraint, a script — so to speak. But they were also free to finish any thoughts the time limit had cut off or to comment on what they wrote if they felt it was necessary. I did this because feeling confined to what you wrote in a timed, inauthentic writing setting can be stifling. Sometimes you write what you mean. Other times you don’t and need to explain.

I gave students three filters — sentence starters, if you will — through which to listen and respond to one another, if they wanted. I offered these to direct the conversation and anticipate different positions students might hold in class. I felt these filters might promote generative interaction and give students productive ways to respond to one another. Here they are:

“I also feel that way because…”

“I hadn’t thought about…”

“Your response challenges me to…”

Some read. Some respond. Some listened. And everything spoken is sacred to the space, so I won’t share it here.

I then moved us to think about self and community care. I did this with four areas and asked students to drop one sticky note in each.

“One thing I can do right now to take care of myself is…”

“One thing we can do right now to take care of each other is…”

“One thing I can do in the coming weeks to take care of myself is…”

“One thing we can do in the coming weeks to take care of each other is…”

I feel the individual and collective is important. I feel the immediate and long-term is important.

Before we finished, I told students I wanted to return to what we did tonight at some point and talk with them as educators about it. I want to explain the reasons behind the order of things, the phrasing of things, and the design of things. At their request, one reason we did this is so they — as aspiring educators — could see and feel one way to help students process “day after” events. From the experiential standpoint, those purposes might not be clear, so we need to return and debrief later.

+What I wrote:

I picked the word “peaceful” because, to my credit, I feel like the boundaries I set for myself in the last 24 hours have been right on. I haven’t been glued to media, watching every single uptick in percentage points. I haven’t been doing electoral math in my head. And I haven’t let countless tweets or posts get their hooks in me. I’ve jumped over to a news site only a few times to get an update and jumped out before it could pull me in. I’m proud of this clarity and the boundary I set. I haven’t always known how to do that.

I also picked the word “tense” because I think it describes the relational state of some people in my family who have different social convictions and beliefs. I imagine us in this distant orbit with gravities pulling upon one another from afar as all these votes are counted, and I wonder what will happen to the orbits when it’s all finalized, whenever that may be. Orbits are pretty predictable unless space objects like meteors or NASA junk get in the way. [Metaphor incomplete.]