Teaching in Uncertain Times

Introduction

Attention, context, and relationships influence teaching and learning just as much as course content. During periods of broad social uncertainty and disruption, how instructors remain present, oriented, and clear in their pedagogical roles can strongly shape whether learning feels possible and sustainable. This resource focuses on instructional approaches that help instructors stay grounded in their teaching responsibilities while navigating complex conditions alongside their students.

The orientation outlined here is informed by three intersecting bodies of scholarship that examine how attention, embodiment, and context shape learning:

• Contemplative pedagogy emphasizes intentional awareness in teaching as a way instructors notice classroom dynamics and respond with discernment and clarity, supporting pedagogical judgment rather than emotional processing (Barbezat & Bush, 2013; Berila, 2023).
• Somatic and relational awareness highlights how attention to pacing, transitions, and presence can support instructional steadiness when classrooms feel tense or unsettled, understood here as orientation to the learning environment rather than co-regulation or therapeutic intervention (Imad, 2022; Rigg, 2018).
• Trauma-aware scholarship underscores that stress, disengagement, and uneven participation are shaped by social and institutional conditions rather than individual deficits, informing a stance of recognition without positioning instructors as providers of care or treatment (Carello & Thompson, 2022; Haines, 2019).

Within this pedagogical framing, mindfulness-informed attention is expressed through routine instructional choices, such as how learning activities are framed and sequenced, how ambiguity or silence is allowed to stand, and how limits, expectations, and referral pathways are communicated. Here, attention is part of everyday teaching practice, shaping how instructors structure activities and respond in the moment.

Strategies to consider

The strategies that follow describe instructional orientations that help instructors attend to context, capacity, and structure during turbulent times. They are pedagogical rather than therapeutic, supporting learning through clarity and boundaries rather than emotional intervention.

1. Acknowledge the broader context of learning

Teaching during uncertain times often begins by recognizing that learning is taking place within a broader social context that may be affecting attention, energy, or focus. A brief acknowledgment of this shared context signals awareness without asking students to explain their experiences or engage in discussion.

This kind of acknowledgment does not require instructors to take on additional emotional labor or responsibility. Instead, it affirms that teaching and learning may feel more difficult in this moment, while allowing the class to remain focused on its academic work. Attending to both student experience and instructor capacity in this way helps sustain learning without ignoring what is present (Zembylas, 2006).

2. Orient students to the learning space and task

Once the broader context of learning has been acknowledged, students still need support entering the learning space itself. In uncertain moments, attention may be uneven, and students may be unsure how to engage with the work at hand (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007).

Orienting students involves making the learning pathway visible: where the class is in the course, what the session will focus on, how activities are sequenced, and what forms of participation are expected. Explicit framing, clear transitions, and visible expectations help reduce cognitive load and direct limited attentional resources toward learning (Winkelmes et al., 2023).

3. Make space for connection

Research in contemplative pedagogy and learning sciences suggests that low-stakes forms of connection can support attention and engagement, particularly when conditions are uncertain (Barbezat & Bush, 2013; Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007). These forms of connection do not need to advance course content directly; instead, they can help establish a shared sense of presence that makes learning feel more accessible.

In classroom contexts, making space for connection does not require personal sharing or emotional exchange. Instructors can plan for brief, informal transitions that allow students to settle into the space together as a community. This might mean opening the classroom a few minutes early for casual conversation or inviting students to share non-academic interests, such music playlists, favorite study spots, or small everyday interests. These small gestures recognize students as people learning alongside one another while maintaining clear instructional roles and boundaries (Imad, 2022).

4. Design for flexibility

Uncertainty can disrupt attention, planning, and decision-making, making rigid structures harder to navigate (Harper & Neubauer, 2020). At the same time, open-ended flexibility can increase ambiguity and cognitive load. From a pedagogical perspective, flexibility is most effective when it is clearly structured and predictable.

Offering limited choices, making flexibility visible to all students, or building optional pathways into assignments can support varied capacity without relying on individual negotiation. Framed as a design feature rather than an exception, flexibility supports inclusion while preserving clarity, fairness, and instructor sustainability (Imad, 2022).

5. Normalize help-seeking

Under conditions of uncertainty, students may need additional support while also feeling less able to seek it. Regularly naming academic and institutional resources helps position help-seeking as an ordinary part of academic life rather than as a response to crisis or personal difficulty (Carello & Thompson, 2022).

Instructors can integrate brief references to advising, accessibility services, counseling, financial aid, and basic needs resources into course communications and class sessions. From a trauma-aware perspective, this practice maintains clear instructional boundaries by connecting students to appropriate forms of support without positioning instructors as providers of care or intervention (Carello & Thompson, 2022).

In closing

Teaching under conditions of uncertainty requires clarity of role, attentiveness to context, and the willingness to remain present to what cannot be settled within a classroom. By approaching uncertainty as a pedagogical condition, instructors can sustain learning that is intellectually honest, relationally responsible, and professionally bounded.

The strategies in this guide offer ways to support students' engagement with complex material while protecting instructor capacity and reinforcing that ethical teaching in uncertain times is a shared, institutional responsibility.

This work does not belong to individual instructors alone. Supporting student learning requires attending to instructor well-being and to the communities that sustain teaching over time. The Center for Teaching and Learning, along with UNM campus partners such as Counseling, Assistance and Referral Services (CARS); Ombuds Services, and Student Health and Counseling, offers resources for reflection, conversation, and shared problem-solving. Engaging with these services can provide both practical support and a reminder that teaching is a collective practice shaped by communal care, connection, and responsibility.

Acknowledgements

This resource is inspired by existing work on teaching in times of disruption, including guidance developed by peer Center for Teaching and Learning centers, and extends that work by focusing on presence, discernment, and sustainability in everyday teaching practice.

References

Barbezat, D. P., & Bush, M. (2013). Contemplative practices in higher education: Powerful methods to transform teaching and learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Berila, B. (2023). Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy: Social justice in higher education. Routledge.

Carello, J., & Thompson, P. (Eds.). (2022). Trauma-informed pedagogies: A guide for responding to crisis and inequality in higher education. Springer.

Fabrey, C., & Keith, H. (2021). Resilient and flexible teaching (RAFT): Integrating a whole-person experience into online teaching. In Thurston, T. N., Lundstrom, K., & González, C. (Eds.), Resilient pedagogy: Practical teaching strategies to overcome distance, disruption, and distraction (pp. 115-129). Utah State University.

Haines, S. K. (2019). The politics of trauma: Somatics, healing, and social justice. North Atlantic Books.

Imad, M. (2022). Our brains, emotions, and learning: Eight principles of trauma-informed teaching. In J. Carello & P. Thompson (Eds.), Trauma-informed pedagogies: A guide for responding to crisis and inequality in higher education (pp. 35–47). Springer.

Immordino‐Yang, M. H., & Damasio, A. (2007). We feel, therefore we learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education. Mind, brain, and education, 1(1), 3-10.

Rigg, C. (2018). Somatic learning: Bringing the body into critical reflection. Management Learning, 49(2), 150-167.

Winkelmes, M. A., Boye, A., & Tapp, S. (Eds.). (2023). Transparent design in higher education teaching and leadership: A guide to implementing the transparency framework institution-wide to improve learning and retention. Taylor & Francis.

Zembylas, M. (2006). Witnessing in the classroom: The ethics and politics of affect. Educational Theory, 56(3), 305-324.