Researching Sociocultural Trauma-Informed Instruction During Protests and Quarantine
Location
Race and Schooling (Session 1 Breakouts)
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
Trauma-informed instruction from a sociocultural perspective acknowledges challenging experiences and the manifestation of oppression that students experience (Dutro & Bien, 2014). In the past year, students have collective challenging experiences as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the existing and current history of racial oppression has been amplified regionally following the death of George Floyd. Traditional approaches to measuring trauma have focused on tools that use a deficit approach to understanding students, families, and communities (Dutro, 2017) and largely position students of Color in terms of what they lack compared to their White and middle-class peers (Dutro & Bien, 2014). This presentation reports findings from a virtual literacy program that used a sociocultural trauma informed framework to support youth experiencing trauma (Garcia & Dutro, 2019). As part of the mixed methods multiple case study (Stake, 2013), the researchers used external measures of social connectivity (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988) and interviews to explore students’ ability to contend with systems of oppression and traumatic experiences (Paris & Alim, 2017). Findings include how researchers can use sociocultural trauma informed instruction research to contend with oppression while resisting damage centered narratives about youth and communities (Tuck, 2009).
Keywords
Trauma-informed instruction, sociocultural perspectives, oppression
Professional Bio
Latoya Tolefree is an educator in the Atlanta area with 13 years of expereince in literacy, curriculum development, and the use of trauma informed instruction. She is currently a student at Mercer University purusing a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Tolefree, Latoya, "Researching Sociocultural Trauma-Informed Instruction During Protests and Quarantine" (2020). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 9.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2020/2020/9
Researching Sociocultural Trauma-Informed Instruction During Protests and Quarantine
Race and Schooling (Session 1 Breakouts)
Trauma-informed instruction from a sociocultural perspective acknowledges challenging experiences and the manifestation of oppression that students experience (Dutro & Bien, 2014). In the past year, students have collective challenging experiences as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the existing and current history of racial oppression has been amplified regionally following the death of George Floyd. Traditional approaches to measuring trauma have focused on tools that use a deficit approach to understanding students, families, and communities (Dutro, 2017) and largely position students of Color in terms of what they lack compared to their White and middle-class peers (Dutro & Bien, 2014). This presentation reports findings from a virtual literacy program that used a sociocultural trauma informed framework to support youth experiencing trauma (Garcia & Dutro, 2019). As part of the mixed methods multiple case study (Stake, 2013), the researchers used external measures of social connectivity (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988) and interviews to explore students’ ability to contend with systems of oppression and traumatic experiences (Paris & Alim, 2017). Findings include how researchers can use sociocultural trauma informed instruction research to contend with oppression while resisting damage centered narratives about youth and communities (Tuck, 2009).
