How Educators Can Help Students Cope After Disaster
How can educators help students feel safe and supported after a disaster?
I grew up in fire-prone regions of both Northern and Southern California. Wildfire season wasn’t a news event; it was something we planned around. I remember flames near our backyard, orange skies, and ash settling like dust across the neighborhood.
Living through disasters as a child can be deeply unsettling, especially when the adults around you seem panicked. But I was lucky. I had teachers who explained how wildfires happen, how they’re managed, and how we can help prevent them. That knowledge made us feel a little more in control.
Now, disasters are becoming more intense and more frequent. Fires in Los Angeles burned through neighborhoods this past winter. Just months later, devastating floods in Texas displaced families and damaged schools. Historic storms and other weather-related emergencies are happening across the country. The pattern is clear, and the impact on students is growing.
Educators, parents and school staff have a vital role. We can help students understand what’s happening, cope with what they’ve experienced and prepare for whatever comes next.
Disasters don’t just damage buildings—they disrupt lives. Every school needs a plan to support students through the emotional aftershocks.
What’s Changing and Why It Matters
Disasters are no longer rare, isolated events. Across the U.S., schools are dealing with more frequent and more severe disruptions caused by wildfires, floods, hurricanes, heat waves, and even smoke-related closures. Scientists have linked this rise in extreme weather to climate change, and students are noticing.
These events don’t just damage buildings. They destabilize routines, interrupt learning and can leave lasting emotional effects. For students already facing other challenges—poverty, housing insecurity, mental health issues or trauma—disasters layer on even more stress.
Understanding the connections between climate change and disaster risk is a growing priority in K-12 education. Whether you’re teaching science, social studies, health or counseling, these conversations matter. Share My Lesson’s Climate Change Education Collection offers lessons, activities, and discussion guides to help educators build climate literacy and foster resilience in the classroom.
The better we understand what’s changing—and why—the better we can support students.Disasters don’t just damage buildings; they disrupt lives. Every school needs a plan to support students through the emotional aftershocks.
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The aftermath of historic flooding in rural Texas in July 2025. Photo credit: World Central Kitchen
How to Support Students and Communities
Disaster recovery isn’t just about rebuilding structures. It’s about restoring safety, connection and trust—especially for children. Educators, parents and school staff can help students feel grounded and supported in both the short and long term.
Here are a few key strategies:
- Acknowledge the Impact: Give students space to process what they’ve experienced. Even younger children can benefit from sharing their feelings through writing, drawing or discussion. Normalize emotional responses like fear, sadness or anger—and let them know they’re not alone. Experts emphasize the importance of mental health support after disasters like the recent historic floods in Texas.
- Practice Trauma-Informed Teaching: Use calm, predictable routines. Keep expectations clear, but allow for flexibility and grace. Students recovering from disaster may be distracted, tired or emotionally reactive. A trauma-informed classroom can be a powerful stabilizer. Read more about trauma-informed teaching here.
- Connect Families with Resources: After a disaster, families may need help with housing, food, counseling or emergency aid. Consider creating a resource sheet for your school or posting community hotline numbers in visible places. Partner with school counselors and social workers to share the load.
- Integrate SEL and Climate Conversations: Social and emotional learning can help students build the self-awareness and coping tools they need. When appropriate, help students connect the dots between climate, disasters, and community action. You can find ready-to-use resources in the Climate Education Collection and the Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Collection.
- Prepare Together: Hold classroom conversations about emergency preparedness. Run practice drills with compassion and context. Involve students in creating safety plans or emergency kits. When students know the plan, they feel more secure.
No school community is free from disaster—but we can be better prepared, more compassionate, and more connected when a crisis hits.
To support your planning and recovery efforts, explore the Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Collection on Share My Lesson. You’ll find free lesson plans, checklists, SEL tools, and professional development designed to help educators, families and staff respond with care.
Disasters may leave damage behind, but recovery starts with people. When students return to school after a crisis, it’s the calm, informed presence of educators and trusted adults that can help them feel safe again. You don’t need to have all the answers—you just need to be ready to listen, learn and lead with compassion.
Disaster Recovery and Preparedness: Lesson Plans and Resources
Devastation, loss of life, and trauma following a natural disaster like hurricanes, earthquakes or wildfires can be emotionally damaging to our children. Share My Lesson’s curated collection of free resources will help not only you and your students, but your school and community understand and cope with natural disasters and their aftermath.
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Andy Kratochvil is a proud member of the AFT Share My Lesson team, where he’s passionate about discovering and sharing top-tier content with educators across the country. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and French from California State University, Fullerton, and later completed... See More
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