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The process is simple but should be followed exactly to produce the best results. At the beginning of the exercise, tell the class:

Write NON-STOP for the next 5 minutes. I will tell you what you're going to focus on in a minute. Do not lift your pen/pencil from the page. If you run out of words/ideas, or "block" in any way, keep on writing either copy the end of the last group of words, or write "Help, help" or nonsense words until you get back on the track. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation don't count -- nobody will ever see this, you can write fragments, phrases, questions, complete sentences, poems, images anything relevant. Do not censor any words, ideas, feeling, or questions that come to mind. Put them all on paper however they come to you. This is freewriting, not editing, so don't cross out anything or hold back on things that seem "silly" or "stupid". I will tell you when to stop writing.

Then tell them the question you want them to respond to, and instruct them to begin writing immediately. At the end of the 5 minutes, tell them to stop writing and ask then to discuss in small groups or in pairs what they have written about. They should not be asked to share what they have actually written, just to talk about the thoughts that came to them. These discussions can be limited to 5 minutes, and you can simply instruct the groups to make sure that each person has a minute or so to talk about what s/he wrote. If you wish, you can ask each group to appoint a "recorder" who will report briefly to the whole class what the responses were.

1. Where were you when you first heard about the outbreak of war? What do you recall about your reactions?
2. What are your personal worries or concerns about the crises?
3. In what way(s) has the crisis affected you? (In any way, at any level.)
4. Which of your feelings or ideas has changed/remained the same?
5. What do you find confusing about the war?
6. How do you feel about a friend/relative who is or could be in the New York, Washington or an area directly affected?
7. What are your reactions to events on the campus?
8. How are other people's reactions to the crisis affecting you?
9. How have your thoughts changed in the past few weeks?
10. What are you learning as the events in surrounding the tragedies unfold?
11. What are the most successful ways of coping you have found to deal with the crisis and the feelings it brings up?
12. What do you feel about a possible renewal of the draft? (Corollary question: Do you think women should be included if the draft is revived?)
13. What is your view of the amount of time your professors are spending on this issue?
14. How do things you learn in this class/field of study contribute to your understanding of the situation?
15. In what way(s) have you changed/not changed in reaction to the prospect of war?

These are intended only as suggestions: you can use your own imagination, intelligence, discretion, and common sense to make up questions of your own.

The following are suggestions for strategies you may wish to adopt in your classrooms. Feel free to adapt them to your own needs and those of your students.

Q. How do I enable students to express their concerns but still teach my course?

1. "Check-in" to determine whether the class is ready to go ahead with the day's coursework (they may need or wish to spend a few minutes on current events):

2. Begin the class with small-group discussions of current events, or concerns, asking each group to designate a recorder to report back to the class.
3. Assign out-of-class journals in which students can keep a record of their responses, questions, and so on. Read and respond to what they say but do not "comment on" or judge the content of the journals, or grade them. You may want to use a check/check plus/check minus system, recording that the journals have been submitted. Students should know that the journals will "count" toward the course grade.

Q. What changes could I make in my course design to allow for limited discussion of current events?

1. Without undercutting your course goals, restructure the time during the semester. For example, the typical semester includes about 14 or 15 weeks of instruction. Consider that over the course of the semester you might devote a weeks worth of attention to the events. If you are comfortable doing so, you may want to spend time during the first two class meetings discussing the war, contextualizing the discussion if possible in the content of your discipline or the particular course. Then, you might take shorter periods during several of the class periods during the semester.
2. If possible, resequence course materials so that early classes focus on reading or lecture material that you can explicitly relate to the crisis.
3. Make a practice of stating explicitly the connections (conceptual, ethical, procedural, or whatever) between your coursework and the events.
4. Rethink the way you allocate time in each class meeting, e.g., build in time for impromptu writing about or discussion of the Gulf issues.
5. Where the coursework makes this appropriate, design formal or informal writing assignments that encourage students to form their own connections, ask (and discuss) their own questions. Help them find ways to make the connection between the things they learn in your class and "real world" events.

Q. If I choose to have group discussions, how do I encourage students to act toward others with respect, tolerance, and appreciation of a diversity of beliefs, feelings, and circumstances?

1. At the outset of the course, you may find it useful to point out to your classes that the students, faculty, staff and administrators on this campus represent wide spectrum of beliefs, values, and circumstances. Some of us have children, spouses, relatives or friends on active duty or eligible for call-up. Some of us have family living in Afghanistan or the Middle East where war may be waged, and may be finding it difficult to maintain contact with them. Some of us strongly support the position of the U.S., while others may not.
2. You may find it beneficial to practice "preventive medicine", that is, at the outset of a discussion, to set limits/ground-rules about how you expect differences to be dealt with, or to specify the length you will allow for discussions or for each speaker, or to state explicitly that in the university we seek discussion, not hostile attacks.
3. You may prefer to keep the focus of discussions on students and their concerns about the crisis. It will help if you model respect, tolerance, and appreciation of their right to hold and to articulate what will be widely divergent perspectives. You may therefore want to find ways of acknowledging or validating what each student says, especially if someone voices an unpopular perspective.
4. Listen carefully to what students say and encourage then to listen to each other with great care.
5. To show that you are listening to all viewpoints, you may want to paraphrase as closely as possible what the speaker has said. You may also want to encourage students to paraphrase each other's statements. The goal in each case is to verify accuracy of interpretation without judgment of what the speaker has said.
6. Ask students to:

7. At the end of a discussion, you may find it helpful to summarize the points of common concern or other commonalities that have arisen, facility reminding your listeners that despite points of disagreement they have shared feelings and thoughts.
8. You may want to share with them copies of the Principles of Conduct for a Multicultural University as a sense of the kinds of values shared by many on campus. Do not use them, inappropriately, as policies or rules but as a way to encourage them to think about their values concerning how they wish to be treated and how they wish to treat others.

Q. How should I respond if the students ask about my position or my concerns with respect to the war?

A. There is no single or simple answer to this question - but it may come up. You may want to prepare a response should the question be asked.