Trauma Sensitive Teaching Blog
As teachers we need to acknowledge that our attitudes and responses have a profound impact on the classroom environment. Each day we have a thousand opportunities to escalate or de-escalate a situation with how we choose to engage and respond to the children in our care.
Don't be a trauma detective!
I fell into that trap this year. Trauma informed practices do not mean we are therapists or that we need to have the inside scoop on each child in our classrooms. For example, I have a girl in my classroom this school year that I was absolutely convinced had trauma in the past or on-going trauma. She often refused to talk in class. She would walk around the playground alone at recess. She would not even take off her coat on some days. I kept asking her what was wrong or what was going on, etc. Finally I used the 10 by 2 rule (more about this at the bottom of this post) with her and built a connection. Gradually she started to talk a bit, participate more, but still nothing at recess. One day she started crying in class, and I thought FINALLY we will begin to figure out what was going on. She sat with me, and I begged her to tell me what was wrong. She did. She was embarrassed about being in my special needs classroom. She was being bullied in the neighborhood for it. Her social skills were much higher than many of the kids in my room so she didn’t like playing with them at recess. Here I was convinced something bad was happening at home, and school was the problem the whole time. A few quick schedule changes so that the student got the academic support she needed with more general education time for the rest of the day, and she ended the year a totally different girl. She is smiling and PLAYING at school now.
***10 by 2. Spend 2 minutes for 10 days in a row talking to the student you need to connect with about something not school related. For this student, I found out she loves to craft. I talked to her about the stuff in my art closet at school. I set her up a crafting table for when she was done with her work. This allowed her to finally start talking to me! It is a very effective strategy. I challenge you to try it with the students with whom you find it hard to connect with or even difficult to like.
Discipline vs Punishment
So.....this post is not going to be popular with everyone. It is going to have some hard truths, and I hope it challenges some teachers to think outside of their comfort zones. Schools (and teachers) can be the cause of trauma if we are not careful. The old way of discipline does not work. Things like time out, suspensions, and expulsions are horribly traumatic for students with histories of neglect. These students already feel unloved and unwanted. When the teacher becomes one more person pushing them away, it just confirms their belief that there is something wrong with them, and they are unlovable. Schools have to move past these outdated methods. (Methods, that by the way, unfairly target students of color, LGBTQ students, and students with disabilities. As teachers we have obligations to teach ALL the students, even the ones we may not like or the ones who are so disruptive we don't know what to do. I promise you that no student has ever been sent out of class for not knowing how to behave, and somehow magically reappeared with the skills to behave like the model student. Plus it does not work! It has been proven time and again exclusionary practices do not work! If we have suspended a child for 3 days, what makes us think that suspending him for a 4th is going to do the trick?
It is time to move past these out dated methods of discipline. I will talk more about this, but here is an article to get your thoughts flowing:
Yoga
I tried something new in my classroom this year: Yoga. I was listening to a podcast by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. Let me tell you if you have not read his work or listened to him speak, you should seek him out! Amazing expert in the field of trauma research! Anyway, in this lecture, he spoke of the amazing healing effects of yoga. Now being possibly the most uncoordinated person on the planet, I was a little nervous about this idea. I tried it at home with my own child first. YouTube is a marvelous thing, tons of yoga videos for kids. I noticed I felt more centered and calmer after a yoga session, and so did my child. I decided to try it in my classroom. My class LOVES it. They will ask to do it. We don't do it every day, but a short 15 minute video a couple times a week makes a big difference! I will use it for the days we can't get outside as well for a nice movement break. I have noticed my students are calmer, and they do use the breathing exercises throughout the day. The favorite in my classroom is Cosmic Kids Yoga .
Last Day of School
Today was the last day of school in my district. For many kids, it is exciting! They look forward to long summer days, sleeping in, swimming, summer camp, and vacations. But for way too many children, it signals a time of uncertainty. No more school breakfasts and lunches to count on. A break from the structure that school brings to their lives. And for kids with trauma it can be terrifying. It is another loss of relationships. It is a big change, and they approach summer with dread. Because of the nature of my program, I often have students for multiple years in a row. This year I have one student who will be moving on to middle school next year. So after being his teacher for several years, today was our last day together. He came into class on a mission to stir up as much havoc as he could. Dancing inappropriately, climbing on tables, arguing with other students, anything he could think of to distract from how he was feeling. I had my own mission. We were not going to end our time together with me yelling at him or kicking him out of class. I found him jobs to do around the room. Other staff members who have a soft spot for this young man also took him for parts of the day and gave him jobs to do. At the end of the day, he really amped up. I pulled him aside and said, "look I know you are feeling scared and worried, but this is not how you want to end your school year. We are going to sit here together for a few minutes and calm ourselves." He did. We sat and took a break. We went back in and wrapped up the day. And then this 12 year old, tough as nails, 6th grader asked if he could hold my hand as we walked out to the bus one last time. I only cried a little. It would have been easy to send him home early. He gave me every opportunity to do so. Instead I stayed focused on the feelings driving the behavior. He was worried about leaving the school he knows with people who care about him. He is nervous about the summer. Things are not good and kind in his home, and he is scared.