Responding to students who disclose the violence in their lives.

Abstract: 

The article discusses how teachers respond to students who disclose violence in their lives. The case of Briana, who grew up in the inner city, is considered. It is said that violence and death are part of her life. She wrote a poem about death. Five common ways how teachers can respond to disclosures of difficult subjects in writing include the Ostrich Approach which is ignoring the disclosure and not addressing it, the Rush Limbaugh Approach, which focus on grammar or spelling errors but ignoring the difficult content, the Sally Jessy Approach, which ask for more information but not addressing the pain, the Dr. Quinn Approach, which overreacts to the information when the writer was simply looking for a listener, and the Professional Approach, which recognizes the disclosure while offering help and asking the writer what he or she would like the listener to do, if anything.