Teaching is a very demanding career. When a teacher is in mourning due to the loss of a parent it is one of the most stressful times in life. Thus it is important for coworkers to reach out and help a fellow teacher who is mourning a death in the family.
There are many ways one may gently offer help to a teacher in crisis due to a death. One may make a general offer to help in any way possible. It is also helpful to give specific suggestions of tasks you could help the teacher with.
Team Teach
Offering to team teach a few lessons may be very helpful to a teacher in mourning. Working as a team to conduct a lesson takes a bit of pressure off the teacher recovering from a loss. It is a comfort to have another adult in the room when one is full of intense emotions and grief. The team teaching project could be for a few classes or it could be an ongoing project one day a week or whatever schedule you decide upon.
Cover Duties
Give the teacher in mourning a bit of privacy by offering to cover a duty period for them if the school will allow that. Covering the teacher’s lunch or hall duty will give them some time to regroup alone in the classroom. Private time is often lacking during a teacher’s day. During times of stress this makes handling the difficult time even tougher.
Offer Lesson Plans or to Create Projects
Offer some time to create lesson plans for the teacher or to share project ideas that have been successful in the past. Some projects will keep a class highly engrossed for the entire period. This is the sort of project that is very helpful to a teacher in mourning. Sometimes when feeling a lot of grief it is difficult to be front and center in the classroom running the discussion. Projects let the students occupy themselves with creating something or writing and researching something.
Grade Papers
Offer to grade homework assignments or tests for the teacher. A teacher in mourning may have many tasks that must be handled quickly in their personal life. For example, handling the parent’s estate may require many meetings with lawyers or bankers. The teacher in mourning finds too much of their after work time occupied with tasks related to the loss. Sometimes a teacher has to collect or clear out a parent’s belonging. This is an excruciatingly emotional task. Thus if another teacher is able to step in and handle some of the routine grading work for the teacher is will be a tremendous help.
Let Teacher Know you are Available to Talk
After a death a teacher sometimes needs to talk to let emotions out. Personal friends may not live nearby and thus work friends who offer an “ear” during this difficult time are invaluable. So offer some time to the teacher to share a cup of tea or coffee or a lunch and to take time to talk about how they are doing. Reach out and try to comfort the teacher with some kind words.
Find a Volunteer
Perhaps you know a retired teacher or someone else with some free time who might like to volunteer in the teacher’s class for a few months as they move through the mourning period. It is very helpful to have another adult in the room when one is in mourning and perhaps sleep deprived and exhausted from the emotions involved in handling the estate of the parent. A volunteer could do a huge good deed by helping a teacher through this difficult time.