Youth at Risk: How to Discuss Violence and Trauma
Format
Individual Presentation
Location
Vernon
Strand #1
Safety & Violence Prevention
Strand #2
Academic Achievement & School Leadership
Relevance
This session will address the strand “hands." During the presentation youth who have personally experienced violence will be discussed. The presentation will address how high quality literature helps promote resiliency in children dealing with violence. Additionally this session addresses the strand “head.” The session will discuss how educators can incorporate literature to help children preserve through the difficult situation.
Brief Program Description
Violence has a lifetime impact on youth. Constant media coverage in the immediate aftermath of violence further amplifies the issue. Children's literature helps build students' resilience to these traumas. This session will address how high quality literature helps promote resiliency in children dealing with violence, and how teachers can incorporate literature to help children persevere though the difficult situation.
Summary
"Youth violence is a global public health problem (World Health Organization, 2014). Violence has a lifetime impact on youth. Constant media coverage in the immediate aftermath of violence further amplifies the issue. This presentation will highlight how violence impacts children and how quality literature helps children promote resiliency in traumatic situations. All educators encounter students who have experienced violence. These children need educators who can meet their needs in a non-threatening approach. Literature is the perfect vehicle to meet these children's needs. Currently, very little training is available for teachers to appropriately work with students who have experienced violence. This presentation seeks to fill the gap of knowledge present in today's schools. Additionally, this presentation seeks to provide educators an opportunity to discuss their personal experiences from their own classroom. Each participant will leave with a list of current children’s literature to use with youth in traumatic situations (none of the books are authored by the presenter or will result in any financial compensation to the presenter).
Evidence
"Youth violence has a serious, often lifelong, impact on a person's psychological and social functioning" (WHO, 2014). This presentation will discuss violence and the impact on today's youth. Bishop (1990) coined two phrases that will be further examined during this session: 'mirror books' and 'window books.' 'Mirror books' emphasize the importance of children having books that reflect their life and experiences while 'window books' provide children a glimpse of their world outside of their experiences. In this session research on children who have experienced violence and how quality literature impacts resiliency will be addressed. Children's literature that would be beneficial to use in the classroom setting will be discussed. Each participant will leave with a list of current children's literature to use with children in traumatic situations.
Biographical Sketch
Beth Gregory is an Assistant Professor of Education at Graceland University in Independence, MO. Prior to teaching at the collegiate level, Beth was an elementary teacher in 1st-4th grade who worked with urban youth in high poverty schools. Beth earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Keyword Descriptors
violence, resiliency, literature, communication
Presentation Year
2015
Start Date
3-3-2015 1:00 PM
End Date
3-3-2015 2:15 PM
Recommended Citation
Gregory, Beth Anne, "Youth at Risk: How to Discuss Violence and Trauma" (2015). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 182.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2015/2015/182
Youth at Risk: How to Discuss Violence and Trauma
Vernon
Violence has a lifetime impact on youth. Constant media coverage in the immediate aftermath of violence further amplifies the issue. Children's literature helps build students' resilience to these traumas. This session will address how high quality literature helps promote resiliency in children dealing with violence, and how teachers can incorporate literature to help children persevere though the difficult situation.
