Trauma-Informed Teaching

by | Sep 15, 2022 | Building Community, DEI (Diversity/Equity Inclusion)

All students enter a classroom with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Their experiences could possibly include trauma which the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines as: “an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physi­cally or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the in­dividual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.” As educators, it’s critical that we recognize these stressors in students’ lives and aim to teach through a lens that acknowledges and addresses their experiences. In the article, Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now, Mays Imad shares trauma-informed teaching practices which can be incorporated in a virtual or in-person classroom. 

  1. Work to ensure your students’ emotional, cognitive, physical and interpersonal safety. 
    Be open and vulnerable with students and model storytelling to help establish meaningful connections. Offer space for students to share how they are doing, and ask what you can do to make your class feel safe to them.
  2. Foster trustworthiness and transparency through connection and communication among students.
    Be clear, transparent, and reliable with students in order to foster a trusting connection. For example, clearly express how assignments relate to the course objectives, and explain the specific steps students can take in order to succeed in completing their work.
  3. Intentionally facilitate peer support and mutual self-help in your courses.
    Encourage students to check up on each other. They could share their stories and strategies for coping with personal or academic stresses.
  4. Promote collaboration and mutuality by sharing power and decision making with your students. 
    Provide students with the opportunity to take agency and accountability for their learning. Encourage them to voice what interests them and what they would like to learn.
  5. Empower voice and choice by identifying and helping build on student strengths.
    Validate students’ concerns and stressors in life, and encourage them to find ways to manage that stress and anxiety.
  6. Pay attention to cultural, historical, and gender issues.
    Consider the challenges students face through an intersectional lens. Do not assume all students are the same and have the same needs. Keep in mind the ways racialized communities have historically been negatively impacted. Learn how to respond to microaggressions that can occur virtually or in-person. Continue to check your own biases and reflect on how your identities may impact your teaching. Commit to inclusive teaching methods which can include equitable assignments and assessments.
  7. Impart to your students the importance of having a sense of purpose.
    Invite students to recognize their senses of purposes and reaffirm their existences as valuable humans inside and outside of the classroom.

 

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