I apologize if this has been asked before, but as I shared the ACES information with teachers at my school the overwhelming response is, "Yes, that makes sense. Now what can I do in my classroom?"
Understanding the reasons for behavior is one thing, but how does a regular classroom teacher in a middle school keep sound classroom management without resorting to punitive discipline measures?
As specific as possible please.
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Hi, Brendan: I'm sure many people will provide some ideas for you. I also encourage you to check out the ACEs in Education group, and look in the resources section. There are many resources, including books, online tutorials and articles about schools that have integrated trauma-informed and resilience-building practices.
Hi Brendan!
You may have seen our post "What Lies Beneath Behavior?" directed at teachers and we have just drafted the part two: "What Do I Do? Supports for Children With Trauma" It will appear in our June eNewsletter and we will post it here too. If you'd like a sneak peek, message me and I would be happy to get your feedback.
Lou
Brendan,
The Attachment & Trauma Network can help you. We help teachers not only understand different behavior response strategies, but we also teach them how to create a trauma-informed lesson so that their everyday teaching improves the behaviors of children with trauma and all children. As a former principal, I appreciate the overwhelming responsibilities. If you really want to trauma-inform your school, shrink your achievement gap, improve attendance, and decrease behavior reports, you are going to need help.
Send me a private message. I'm happy to speak with you on the phone about some steps you can take to get started.
Melissa Sadin
Brendan,
I work with Good Harbor Institute, and we've created a skills based training translating trauma information into skills to be used immediately by non-clinicians. Our training model requires everyone in the organization (school, child care organization, business) participate in the training. We believe sustainable change will only occur when everyone at an organization has these skills for the children they work, for themselves, and for their team.
Please let me know if I can be of any support.
~ Cathy
Try the Calmer Classrooms doc:
http://education.qld.gov.au/sc...classrooms-guide.pdf
and this teacher guide for classrooms and school leaders by Judith Howard:
Some other resources:
National Child Traumatic Stress Network Child Trauma toolkit for Educators: http://nctsn.org/resources/aud...onnel/trauma-toolkit
Mindful Schools: http://www.mindfulschools.org/home-b/
Over the years I have come to see the role of Theatre in this kind of classroom situation. The major US director/producer, Peter Sellars, made the memorable observation that the role of theatre back to the time of ancient Greeks has been to enable people to speak about the otherwise unspeakable: "Hey! I'm not talking about me. We're talking about what's up there on the screen."
So, what if one said to a class, "Have you kids ever written a play? No? Well, we're going to write a play today! Let's write a play about a kid who's growing up in a house where someone is getting hurt. What should that kid's name be? And where is the house: in town or out in the country? And who else lives there? What are their names? And what are they like? And why are they that way? How did that happen? Etc.
There will undoubtedly be some parents who are upset. And the response will be: "Your kid is not talking about his family. This is make-believe. The kids are learning about how plays are written!"
.
Brendan,
Great, great question!
The section at the end of the link below about components of trauma-informed schools (I agree with Cathy above re training everyone in the whole school) may help ? or are you looking for more specific classroom management programs?
Some key components would be: a) whole-staff training in identifying 'triggers' to be able to sometimes head off escalation. This could include teaching students about "Safety Plans". When it's too late, the student is already triggered, b) having pre-planned(with student) de-escalation procedure(s). When they don't work, c) having support in the organization for a (pre-planned) site (outofclassroom) to allow student, as quickly as possible, to take a walk/descalate.
I will put together a more detailed blogpost at LucidWitness.com :-)
Meanwhile,
"Confessions of an ignorant and frustrated teacher"
Developmental trauma changes the architecture of the physical brain, ability to learn and social behavior. It impacts 2 out of 3 children at some level, but I didnât even know what it wasâĶ
https://lucidwitness.com/2016/...nt-in-the-classroom/
Thanks everyone for your replies. This is going great. We are one of those schools that most needs the help, but cannot afford professional training for the staff. I'll be learning what I can and sharing back with the other teachers. My principal is supportive and will give me time during PD occasionally to help teach. So please keep the resources coming and perhaps a moderators will find some useful and add to the resources already in the ACEs in Education group
