“For millions of people, this is real trauma”: A pedagogy of political trauma in the wake of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election Beth Sondel a, * , Hannah Carson Baggett b , Alyssa Hadley Dunn c a University of Pittsburgh School of Education, Center for Urban Education and Department of Instruction and Learning, 5300 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, 230 Bouquet, St. Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA b Auburn University College of Education, Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology, 4036 Haley Center, Auburn, AL 36849, USA c Michigan State University College of Education, Department of Teacher Education, Erickson Hall, 620 Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA highlights  K-12 students showed evidence of political trauma following the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.  In response, teachers tended to students' socio-emotional well-being.  Teachers also worked to cultivate students' civic capacities.  Teachers created opportunities for students to develop critical consciousness.  These responses provide a pedagogical framework for teachers in times of political trauma. article info Article history: Received 18 June 2017 Received in revised form 4 November 2017 Accepted 19 November 2017 abstract To explore how teachers navigated the days after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we conducted a national, anonymous questionnaire. In this paper, we focus specifically on those participants who re- ported what we conceptualize as students' political trauma. Drawing on participants' responses, we outline a pedagogy to respond to this political trauma that includes: 1) attending to students' emotions; 2) emphasizing civic knowledge; and 3) developing students’ critical consciousness and activism. We argue that these three domains collectively create opportunities to work toward the democratic and emancipatory purposes of education in the wake of politically traumatic events. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. “You know, several people [at my school] were going through the grief cycle, in a very real way … The day of the election itself, we actually had training on what trauma looks like, and it was incredible what similarities there were. For millions of people, this is real trauma.” “I held students as they sobbed in my arms. Many of my Hispanic students shared that they were petrified and shook in terror. I comforted more students that day than on September 11th.” 1. Introduction On November 8, 2016, despite losing the popular vote, Donald Trump received the electoral college votes to become the 45th president of the United States. In the days that followed, media attention turned to schools and the teachers within them who were expected to serve as a point of contact for youth as they made sense of the campaign, the election, and the new president (i.e. Lonsdorf, 2016). Across the U.S., teachers faced students with disparate feelings and reactions: some brimmed with excitement, wore “Make America Great Again” t-shirts, and spoke about how Trump would bring the change they and their parents hoped for; others arrived with fear, sadness, and anger, wondering whether they would be deported or if they would be safe in their homes, schools, and country (Deruy, Wong, & Glatter, 2016). How were teachers to respond? While scholarship exists on how to teach about elections and other controversial issues (Journell, 2011a, 2011b; Journell, May, Stenhouse, Meyers, & Holbrook, 2012), we argue that the 2016 U.S. presidential election extends beyond existing scholarship given what we refer to as the “political trauma” caused by: (1) the * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: bsondel@pitt.edu (B. Sondel), hcb0017@auburn.edu (H.C. Baggett), ahdunn@msu.edu (A.H. Dunn). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.11.017 0742-051X/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Teaching and Teacher Education 70 (2018) 175e185