Fostering Resilience in a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

St. Mary's College of California

Second Presenter's Institution

N/A

Third Presenter's Institution

N/A

Fourth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Fifth Presenter's Institution

N/A

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Relevance

For children who have experienced trauma, learning can be a big struggle. This session will explore an urgent and growing issue—childhood trauma—and its profound effect on learning and teaching. Come to this interactive workshop to gain practical skills and strategies for creating a trauma-informed classroom.

Brief Program Description

It is vital that educators understand the pervasiveness of trauma in student populations and create new strategies and considerations for educating these students. Increased awareness of how trauma affects performance and behavior allows educators to develop a trauma-informed approach, in order to create a safe and accessible learning environment where students can succeed.

Summary

Why is this program so important?

It is vital that educators understand the pervasiveness of trauma in student populations and create new strategies and considerations for educating these students. Increased awareness of how trauma affects performance and behavior allows educators to develop a trauma-informed approach, in order to create a safe and accessible learning environment where students can succeed.

In the United States, 34 million children have had at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) -- ranging from abuse or neglect to parental incarceration or addiction. Children living in poverty are more likely to have multiple ACEs, compounding the effects of economic insecurity. In addition, the current opioid epidemic is devastating families and overwhelming the foster care system, and many school populations include refugee children who have fled dangerous conditions. Many classrooms in America are touched by trauma.

Why should you and your staff participate in this workshop?

Participants in this workshop will understand the prevalence of unrecognized trauma in the general population and in the educational setting, learn to identify common characteristics of trauma, be able to recognize how maladaptive behaviors serve as coping skills in trauma survivors, learn principles for creating a trauma-informed classroom, and will learn practical strategies to evolve the learning environment and avoid re-traumatization.

Because teachers don’t always know which students are coming to school with traumatic backgrounds – and because they have an obligation to teach all learners – educators “have to consider universal approaches that help everybody and embrace those kids who need it most.” Developing a strong classroom community is foundational to this work. When teachers consistently model compassion in the classroom, the effect can be transformative.

Discover how to create a classroom offering a safe environment and:

  • Understand the impact of trauma on the brain and behavior
  • Learn how to reach relationship-resistant children to increase cooperation
  • Create a culture of compassion, embracing marginalized children
  • Implement practical interventions that help traumatized children learn in school
  • Help lay the groundwork for a lifetime of resilience

Evidence

Educators have long known that what happens outside school can have a profound effect on what happens in school. When the Equality of Educational Opportunity Study was published in 1966, lead researcher James Coleman concluded that the home environment was more predictive of student success than was schooling (Coleman et al., 1966). The "Coleman Study" was an important piece of the educational sociology puzzle and opened the door for further investigation into the external factors that influence academic achievement.

Early research into this phenomenon included explorations of the racially biased orientation of the school institution, student IQ, parental attitudes about school, socioeconomic status, parents' educational attainment, access to resources, vocabulary development, primary language, structures for completing homework and studying, diet and exercise, and student motivation, among other factors. A full library's worth of research explained why some students were successful in school and others weren't (see Hattie, 2009, for a meta-analysis of external factors affecting student achievement).

Let’s examine the definition of trauma to better understand implications. Trauma is an exceptional experience in which powerful and dangerous events overwhelm a person's capacity to cope. (Rice & Groves, 2005, p. 3)

The term complex trauma was first explored in 2003 by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Complex Trauma Task Force, a collective of professionals representing a dozen universities, hospitals, trauma centers, and health programs across the United States. This term emerged from the recognition that many people experience multiple adversities over the course of their lifetime. The task force's concise and useful definition of complex trauma appears in the white paper Complex Trauma in Children and Adolescents:

Complex trauma exposure refers to the simultaneous or sequential occurrences of child maltreatment—including emotional abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence—that are chronic and begin in early childhood. … Complex trauma outcomes refer to the range of clinical symptomatology that appears after such exposures. (Cook, Blaustein, Spinazzola, & van der Kolk, 2003, p. 5)

In the late 1990s, Dr. Robert Anda and Dr. Vincent Felitti led a collaborative project between the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, California, to explore the relationship between children's emotional experiences and their subsequent mental and physical health as adults. This groundbreaking research (Felitti et al., 1998) revealed a strong correlation between adverse childhood experiences and adult health and, perhaps more significantly, signaled that these ACEs were far more prevalent than previously thought.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this seminar, you’ll be able to:

  • Understand the breadth of trauma that is experienced within our student populations
  • Recognized signs of trauma in the classroom
  • Understand common barriers and triggers for trauma survivors in the learning environment
  • Gain practical skills and strategies for creating a trauma-informed classroom

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Kathy Perez, an international consultant, presenter, teacher, administrator and author has worked with students from preschoolers to university graduates. Dr. Kathy is Professor Emerita at Saint Mary’s College of California. She has extensive teaching experience as a general and special educator, literacy/ESL coach, and administrative experience as a principal and curriculum/staff development coordinator.

Teachers from all grade levels and subject areas rave about Kathy Perez’s dynamic approach to teaching. Her innovative and interactive workshops are loaded with teacher-tested materials and activities you can use immediately and share with others. Kathy provides a lively and informative day of hands-on and minds-on learning. Participants learn from an experienced and informed educator who knows first-hand the daily instructional challenges of classroom teachers. Her enthusiasm is infectious!

Dr. Kathy has worked extensively with teachers, administrators and parents throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Qatar, Brazil, Britain, Colombia, Caribbean, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Her best-selling books include: More Than 100+ Brain Friendly Tools and Strategies for Literacy! (Corwin Press), Co-Teaching Book of Lists: A Practical Guide for Teachers (Jossey-Bass); The New Inclusion: Differentiated Strategies to Engage ALL Students! (Teacher College Press, 2013) and her latest: 200+ Proven Strategies for Teaching Reading (Solution Tree, 2016).

Dr. Kathy Perez – 1014 Ironwood Road – Alameda, CA 94502 510.593.0473 drkathyperez.com

kperez@stmarys-ca.edu @drkathyperez

Keyword Descriptors

Trauma, Resilience, Social-emotional learning, compassion, coping

Presentation Year

2021

Start Date

3-10-2021 1:40 PM

End Date

3-10-2021 2:40 PM

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Mar 10th, 1:40 PM Mar 10th, 2:40 PM

Fostering Resilience in a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom

It is vital that educators understand the pervasiveness of trauma in student populations and create new strategies and considerations for educating these students. Increased awareness of how trauma affects performance and behavior allows educators to develop a trauma-informed approach, in order to create a safe and accessible learning environment where students can succeed.