Hannah C Baggett

To explore how teachers navigated the days after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we conducted a national, anonymous questionnaire. In this paper, we focus specifically on those participants who re- ported what we conceptualize as students' political trauma. Drawing on participants' responses, we outline a pedagogy to respond to this political trauma that includes: 1) attending to students' emotions; 2) emphasizing civic knowledge; and 3) developing students’ critical consciousness and activism. We argue that these three domains collectively create opportunities to work toward the democratic and emancipatory purposes of education in the wake of politically traumatic events.

Guided by perspectives on the sociopolitical contexts of schooling, control of teachers' curriculum and instruction, and teaching of elections, we use findings from a national questionnaire to explore the contexts that shaped teachers' pedagogical decision making following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Our findings reveal that classroom, school, district, state, and national contexts often manifested in pressure from colleagues, parents, the administration, the district, and the public. This pressure is reflective of the lack of trust, autonomy, and professionalism for teachers in our current climate. The days immediately following the election revealed new under- standings about teachers’ views on neutrality, opportunities for agency within control of teachers’ work, and a call for justice-oriented pedagogy. Implications for teacher education, practice, and research are discussed.