Tagged With "Social"
Blog Post
A Week in the Life of a School Social Worker [psychotherapynetworker.org]
Public School 48, where I’m on staff as a social worker, sits on a block between a juvenile detention center and a strip club. The school serves around 900 mostly Hispanic and African American children in prekindergarten through fifth grade, with a large percentage of those kids living in shelter apartments. Of course, PS 48 has an educational mission, not a clinical one, but I’m part of a service staff that includes speech, occupational, and physical therapists. I’ve been a school social...
Blog Post
ACEs & African Americans Community on ACEs Connection
ACEs Connection envisions a resilient world where ALL people thrive. We are an anti-racist organization committed to the pursuit of social justice. In our work to promote resilience and prevent and mitigate ACEs, we intentionally embrace and uplift people who have historically not had a seat at the table. ACEs Connection celebrates the voices and tells the stories of people who have been barred from decision-making and who have shouldered the burden of systemic and economic oppression as the...
Blog Post
An Epic Battle for Public Education: A Front Line View
As one single example of one key complexity (there are many others), children in our Public School classrooms have massive rates of trauma, described by a U.S. Department of Justice report as an “epidemic” and by past Surgeon Generals as “national crisis.”
The Center for Disease Control(CDC) says it is critical to understan
Blog Post
An Evidence-Based Indictment of Inaction
If schools are to be guided by data, the data says more than 2 of 3 children experience at least one ACE: children of all incomes, all colors, all social levels, all educational levels. It is all of us. Is your school trauma-informed?
Blog Post
An Evidence-Based Indictment of Inaction
If schools are to be guided by data, the data says that 2 of 3 children experience at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE): children of all incomes, all colors, all social levels, all educational levels. It is all of us. Is your school trauma-informed?
Blog Post
Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
© Elliot Gilfix/Flickr . What happened to Jasmine? . Photo © Jinx!/Flickr When you look inside a...
Blog Post
Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
Photo credit Max Klingensmith at flickr . Jose was one of the calmest, quietest, most peaceful boys in the classroom. The kind of boy everybody loves. ...
Blog Post
PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITEE: STANDARDIZED TESTING HEARING: TESTIMONY NOTES
"We won’t have a successful education paradigm, or even accurately interpret academic success, while ignoring trauma’s overwhelming presence." ...
Blog Post
Danny goes to school
Danny goes to school. The story of one child, hoping to be safe. http://lucidwitness.com/2014/0...anny-goes-to-school/
Blog Post
Defending Childhood
Common Sense Millions of injured children whose pleas are not being heard are waiting at the intersection of the “Defending Childhood” Report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Congress’s rewrite...
Blog Post
District finds that creating more trauma-informed schools requires a change of culture [thenotebook.org]
“The world of thinking about trauma, the importance of school climate and social-emotional learning is 20, 30, 40 years behind the world of instruction." Joanna Schwartz, a 2nd-grade teacher at Eliza B. Kirkbride Elementary School, was about to take a scheduled break and desperately needed a place to have peace and quiet. But the only place she could find was a broom closet. A few years earlier, in another school, Schwartz said teachers were baffled by a 3rd grader who continually fell...
Blog Post
Do Children have a Right to be Safe ?
A comparison survey of government and departmental(legal vs. healthcare, vs. education) treatment of child safety given prevalence of childhood trauma. http://lucidwitness.com/2014/0...-right-to-be-safe-2/
Blog Post
Do you know a ‘Danny’ or an ‘Ashley’, struggling socially, emotionally, or academically?
PSAs designed to help grow awareness of the impacts of developmental or 'childhood' trauma. All the narratives are about real kids (with pseudonyms) who are trauma-impacted. These are not "combined" or imaginary narratives, nor caricatures.
Blog Post
Education Transformations - Providing Soc/Emot Training to Schools & More
Education Transformations is a company that works with districts, schools, teachers, and other organizations to improve Social/Emotional Intelligence (EQ), and what we call Relational Competency. We are San Diego, CA based, but can travel.
Blog Post
Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Yes, money matters in Education. Money is absolutely necessary, but money is Not sufficient. A key variable has been missing from the discussions about a new Education Paradigm: Childhood Trauma. Childhood trauma is broad in scope...
Blog Post
Free Resource: A Children's Book to Help Understand Social Distancing
Here's a link to the book I wrote to help kids understand social distancing and express their own emotions. This is really important or things stay bottled up inside. It is now in video version; podcast and ebook are coming. Feel free to forward to others -- kids of all ages across the nation and the globe.Reprint the link. Do an article on it. Share with friends. Circulate it. Tweet it. Free resource. Bottom line: make it viral. The cover is attached!!! I hope it helps. Navigating emotions...
Blog Post
From Trauma Informed To Trauma Transformed: Achieving Post-Traumatic GROWTH for the Youths In Our Most Disenfranchised Public Schools and Communities
Roberto Rivera was a troubled, addicted youth engaged in criminal behavior who discovered his path to transformation in the pit of his traumatic pain. He harnessed the fire of early childhood trauma to change himself from being a problem to being a solution, not just in his own life, but also in the lives of many, many other under-privileged and under-performing young people. The name of his solution is Fulfill The Dream (FTD). FTD is a unique, hip-hop(e) based, Social Emotional Learning...
Blog Post
Good Choices FEEL Good - An Early SEL Lesson from Grandma Boom / ORAEYC Blog
The little baby dinosaur was afraid to come out to play.....teaching empathy
Blog Post
Schools Spotlight Social, Emotional Learning Amid Complex Times [fosters.com]
By Hadley Barndollar, Fosters.com, October 20, 2019 In a second-grade classroom at New Franklin Elementary School, a warm flurry of compliments. Seated in a circle, girls praise each other’s dresses and sweatshirts. A boy gives his friend kudos for helping him clean up after an activity the previous week. They all murmur the teacher-advised response — “thank you” — through toothy smiles. It’s a lesson on compliments. Down the hallway, in a first-grade circle, students talk about inclusion...
Blog Post
Schools Spotlight Social, Emotional Learning Amid Complex Times [fosters.com]
By Hadley Barndollar, Fosters.com, October 20, 2019 In a second-grade classroom at New Franklin Elementary School, a warm flurry of compliments. Seated in a circle, girls praise each other’s dresses and sweatshirts. A boy gives his friend kudos for helping him clean up after an activity the previous week. They all murmur the teacher-advised response — “thank you” — through toothy smiles. It’s a lesson on compliments. Down the hallway, in a first-grade circle, students talk about inclusion...
Blog Post
Self- Regulation Begins with Dogs, Tense Knots and Calm Socks
Self-Regulation Begins with Dogs, Tense Knots and Calm Socks Originally posted to ORAEYC, February 19, 2019 | Janai Mestrovich, M.S. We were all barking like dogs that were upset on all fours in the preK classroom. Then I used the Breathing Sphere to guide 20 preK children to take slow, deep belly button breaths to release the mad dog tension. As we all slowly exhaled and released the tight knots of tension, we were able to become calm dogs. The sounds of tense mad dogs had filled the room...
Blog Post
SPLC's Teaching Tolerance Project: Social Justice Standards
I hope everyone is staying safe and sane during this heat wave! I wanted to share with you a tool that I came across from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance Project (if you have not had a chance to subscribe to their weekly newsletter , please do! It has a wealth of wonderful information that intersects with Resilience / Trauma Informed work) They also have a bunch of great free webinars ! Teaching Tolerance’s Social Justice Standards "Social Justice Standards: The Teaching...
Blog Post
Nowhere to Hide: The Elephant in the [Class]room
We are trying to scoop water out of a boat which has gaping trauma-holes in the bottom.
Blog Post
Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Developmental trauma changes the architecture of the physical brain, ability to learn and social behavior. It impacts two out of three children, but I didn’t even know what it was…
Blog Post
CLICK FOR RESOURCES: TRAUMA-INFORMED EDUCATION
These trauma-informed education resources are linked to narrative illustrations of the same topic at LucidWitness.com. The narratives are designed to be used as 'Public Service Announcements' in social media, to help grow broad, general-public awareness of developmental trauma.
Blog Post
Kids Artwork - The Key to Communications & Goal Setting
Crayons can do wonders. Not just to make colorful rainbows and unicorns but as a vital tool used for communication between students and between the student and their teachers and parents. Janai Mestrovich (BS/MS, Family & Child Development, Ashland, OR) incorporates kid art into her SuperKid Power curriculum. Here are several examples from the kids (pre-K and Kindergarten) reflecting goals the kids said they were thinking about or that concerned them. in the first example, a young boy...
Blog Post
LucidWitness: Increasing Public-Awareness of Developmental Trauma
LucidWitness blogposts are designed for social media to help grow awareness of developmental trauma among your network(s).
Blog Post
Third Grader Learns Bullying Others Makes Him Feel Worse Inside
Teaching self and mutual respect to eliminate bullying
Blog Post
Resilience registration is now open!
This conference is designed to bring educators, students, parents, pastors, community members, health departments, corrections and any other professions that deal with human capital, to the table of solutions and collaboration. This is Jim Sporleder's first national conference. Jim is the author of Implementing a Trauma-Informed School and the Principal of Lincoln High School in the award winning documentary Paper Tigers. resilience.essdack.org Here's the link to register:...
Comment
Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
This is awesome information, Daun!! I especially like the part where you explain why teachers cannot become trauma-informed on their own. I'm reposting for ATN. Melissa
Comment
Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Congratulations on an impressively well-organized and comprehensive presentation of a large mass of useful information! This might make a good DVD for widespread distribution.
Comment
Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Outstanding article Daun, and great timing with school around the corner.
Comment
Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Dr. Felitti, Thank you so much for your kind words and your suggestion. I am very honored and the DVD idea is quite intriguing! Daun Kauffman
Comment
Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Thanks so much Jim! I appreciate all your support. Take care of those beautiful grandchildren :-)
Comment
Re: LucidWitness: Increasing Public-Awareness of Developmental Trauma
This index is phenomenal Daun! Thank you for your continued commitment to and passion for creating trauma-informed schools and being part of the solution in spite of, or perhaps because of, the very hard work you do every day!
Comment
Re: LucidWitness: Increasing Public-Awareness of Developmental Trauma
Wow! Thanks so much Leslie!
Comment
Re: Do Children have a Right to be Safe ?
Dear Dawn, Thank you for this thoughtful, comprehensive and amazing compilation of information about safety. You have done a masterful job of uncovering how our various systems define safety and make excellent suggestions. You are to be commended! I do agree with your point that it is critical to keep the child at the center of our understanding of safety - however, I also think it's important to acknowledge that environmental safety (such as creating safe buildings and developing safe...
Comment
Re: Third Grader Learns Bullying Others Makes Him Feel Worse Inside
Thank you, Matt, for sharing Janai Mestrovich's powerful post of her third grade student, Greg. Please know your post was highlighted on stopbullying.gov 's recent email to their list serves from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC, 20201.
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
In response I'd like to share this article about a program I work with: http://www.theatlantic.com/nat...-nonviolence/277893/ Not spoken in this article - is this dramatic change - a 90% reduction in violence and police calls - came from training only the adults in the building. We changed how the adults interact with the kids and got these results! We've since returned to train the students also. Roger Kluck
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Sorry, having trouble with the link Mr. Kluck. Daun
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
OK, got the link to work. Thank you for sharing. Results seem impressive ! Would you fill in some blanks on total student population before/after ? number of "engagement coaches" ? class size before/after ? have you gotten same results at other schools ? Did you get the same results in 2013/2014 school year ? Are you still there for 2014/2015 year ? Did you share results/get response from SDP ? Daun
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Thank you Daun for this insider's summary regarding the elephant in the room named TRAUMA. I have made the comment that really the public school is the largest social service agency we've got but nobody but me views it that way (I guess that sounds like a bleeding heart liberal). The remedies seem overwhelming, but your emphasis on an environment of safety instilled by training the adults make sense. As a mental health professional who has had some experience working in public schools, I...
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Thank you Wendy ! I couldn't agree more regarding both teacher training and schools(and teachers in classroom) providing social services. My post on "Do children have the right to be safe ?" contains a section on the U. S. Educational System shortfalls (vs. legal and healthcare systems). In spite of seemingly being the most broad, most frequented, most convenient (neighborhood), and probably most crucial system to receive children in efficient 'brain states. Acknowlegement of, and response...
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Wendy, also see my comment at the end of RWJF blog on Culture of Health http://lucidwitness.com/2014/0...a-culture-of-health/
Comment
Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Greetings All - I am jumping in as I have what may be a somewhat unique perspective on the topic of funding (or fueling) the work we are generally engaged in from within various roles. As a central office admin for 10 years I knew that content literacy (ie, reading, math, science, etc) was important. From a resiliency and asset management perspective, I also knew that learners impacted by trauma/neglect/ACE's were at a distinct disadvantage with peers who did not contend with such adversity.
Comment
Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
Great article, Daun. You have wonderful insight. I wish you well in sharing it out with the education world. I've recently posted information on a free video Trauma Training for Educators - that highlights many of these same points regarding children and trauma. If you're interested in seeing it - www.ciscentraltexas.org/resources/traumatraining/ Best of luck to you, Kris
Comment
Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
This is an excellent piece!!! Educators need to ask "What's happened to this child?" rather than "What's wrong with this child?" when confronted with inappropriate or acting out behaviors. Children come to school each day and give the best they have, even if that best includes ripping up paper and kicking and screaming. Teachers and administrators need to provide effective and appropriate opportunities for children with trauma to release their pent up frustration. They need to keep these...