Creating Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Classrooms


Book Description

With accessible strategies grounded in trauma-informed education and positive psychology, this book equips teachers to support all students, particularly the most vulnerable. It will help them to build their resilience, increase their motivation and engagement, and fulfil their full learning potential within the classroom. Trauma-informed, strengths-based classrooms are built upon three core aims: to support children to build their self-regulatory capacities, to build a sense of relatedness and belonging at school, and to integrate wellbeing principles that nurture growth and identify strengths. Taking conventional approaches to trauma one step further, teachers may create a classroom environment which helps students to meet their own needs in a healthy way and progress academically. Based on the successful Berry Street education strategies pioneered by the authors, this book also includes comprehensive case studies, learning points and opportunities for self-reflection, fully supporting teachers to implement these strategies within the classroom.




Developing Trauma-Informed Teachers


Book Description

The vision and development of this edited text are driven by a deep desire to ensure that teacher candidates are thoughtfully prepared to more fully address students’ needs and create classroom environments that are safe for students and teachers. Specifically, this text will provide an understanding of how educator preparation programs are providing teacher candidates with the knowledge and skills to effectively utilize an asset-based approach to foster resiliency skills that support P-12 students who have or are experiencing trauma. This text considers how programs are developing equity-focused content, curriculum, & pedagogy to ensure teacher candidates can integrate trauma-informed practices as well as develop their own resiliency skills. This resource highlights important and relevant tools, strategies, and approaches for preparing future teachers to implement traumainformed practices within their classrooms. In recent years, much attention and resources focused on preparing teachers to more comprehensively address, acknowledge, and understand childhood trauma and the impact it has on students’ lives inside and outside of the classroom. This text will be of interest to all those working in institutes of higher education, alternative licensure programs, and organizations, public schools, and districts involved with the preparation of teachers and/or professional development of in-service educators. It has the potential to serve as a catalyst for teacher preparation programs to more intentionally integrate trauma-informed practices in meaningful ways and contribute to a glaring gap within the literature focused on the systematic ways in which childhood trauma and resiliency development are being addressed in the preparation of teachers.




Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education


Book Description

Educators must both respond to the impact of trauma, and prevent trauma at school. Trauma-informed initiatives tend to focus on the challenging behaviors of students and ascribe them to circumstances that students are facing outside of school. This approach ignores the reality that inequity itself causes trauma, and that schools often heighten inequities when implementing trauma-informed practices that are not based in educational equity. In this fresh look at trauma-informed practice, Alex Shevrin Venet urges educators to shift equity to the center as they consider policies and professional development. Using a framework of six principles for equity-centered trauma-informed education, Venet offers practical action steps that teachers and school leaders can take from any starting point, using the resources and influence at their disposal to make shifts in practice, pedagogy, and policy. Overthrowing inequitable systems is a process, not an overnight change. But transformation is possible when educators work together, and teachers can do more than they realize from within their own classrooms.




Creating Trauma-Informed Schools


Book Description

Children in all educational levels are vulnerable to abuse, neglect, bullying, violence in their homes and neighborhoods, and other traumatic life events; research shows that upwards of 70% of children in schools report experiencing at least one traumatic event before age 16. Though school social workers are on the front lines of service delivery through their work with children who face social and emotional struggles in the pursuit of education, there are scant resources to assist them in the creation of trauma-informed schools. This book presents an overview of the impact of trauma on children and adolescents, as well as interventions for direct practice and collaboration with teachers, families, and communities. Social work practitioners and students will learn distinct examples of how to implement the ten principles of trauma-informed services in their schools; provide students with trauma-informed care that is grounded in the principles of safety, connection, and emotional regulation; and develop beneficial skills for self-care in their work.




Teaching, Learning, and Trauma, Grades 6-12


Book Description

Transform challenging classroom experiences into opportunities for lasting student-teacher relationships, professional growth, and student engagement Chronic stress, anxiety, and trauma have startling effects on teachers and students. The pandemic and distance learning have exacerbated behavior issues and emotional dysregulation, making it difficult for students to engage, learn, and maintain healthy self-esteem. In Teaching, Learning, and Trauma, the authors guide you through the process of creating a learning environment that combats the negative effects of chronic stress and trauma. They show you how to establish rituals and routines, develop personalization, and implement effective student engagement practices that create a relationship-based culture and effectively improve student achievement. This book includes: Self-assessment tools to help teachers make informed decisions Examples of self-care plans and schoolwide policies for maintaining healthy boundaries in and out of school Real-world vignettes and samples of teacher work Planning documents and reflection questions to guide educators in identifying strengths and growth areas Using a synergistic approach, this book unites compelling research data, theories, stories, and best practices from trauma-informed schools, relationship-based psychology, and effective instructional design to dissolve obstacles caused by chronic stress and trauma.




The Trauma-Sensitive Classroom: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching


Book Description

Selected as a "Favorite Book for Educators in 2018" by Greater Good. From the author of Mindfulness for Teachers, a guide to supporting trauma-exposed students. Fully half the students in U.S. schools have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. In the face of this epidemic, it falls increasingly to teachers to provide the adult support these students need to function in school. But most educators have received little training to prepare them for this role. In her new book, Tish Jennings—an internationally recognized leader in the field of social and emotional learning—shares research and experiential knowledge about the practices that support students' healing, build their resilience, and foster compassion in the classroom. In Part I, Jennings describes the effects of trauma on body and mind, and how to recognize them in students' behavior. In Part II, she introduces the trauma-sensitive practices she has implemented in her work with schools. And in Part III, she connects the dots between mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Each chapter contains easy-to-use, practical activities to hone the skills needed to create a compassionate learning environment.




Helping Young Children Impacted by Trauma


Book Description

This go-to guide for educators helping children who have experienced trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) provides accessible information paired with practical, adaptable strategies.




Developing Trauma-Responsive Approaches to Student Discipline


Book Description

"Building on comprehensive research conducted in US schools, this accessible volume offers an effective model of school leadership to develop and implement school-wide, trauma-responsive approaches to student discipline. Recognizing that challenging student behaviours are often rooted in early experiences of trauma, the volume provides an evidence-based, practical framework for leading change toward trauma-responsive discipline. Building on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)'s model of how to support individuals impacted by trauma, chapters walk readers through the processes of realizing, recognizing, responding to, and resisting the impacts of trauma in school contexts. Research and interviews model an educational reform process and explain how a range of differentiated interventions including Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS), social-emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness, restorative justice, and family engagement can be used to boost student resilience, responsibility, and pro-social behaviour. Practical steps are supported by current theory, resources, and stories of implementation from superintendents, principals, teachers, and experts. This text will benefit school leaders, teachers, and counsellors with an interest in restorative student discipline, emotional and behavioural difficulties in young people, and PreK-12 education more broadly. Those interested in school psychology, trauma studies, and trauma counselling with children and adolescents will also benefit from the volume"--




Trauma Informed Behaviour Support


Book Description

This book is a practical guide to developing resilient learners by equipping educators with trauma informed practices and behaviour support strategies.




Building Trauma-sensitive Schools


Book Description

"Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools is a practical, accessible guide to building learning environments that ensure safety, develop regulation skills, and grow caring relationships for all students, including those who have experienced trauma"--