A trauma-aware teaching thread.

Let's start here, with particular attention to principle 5: choice, empowerment, and voice.

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https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/infographics/6_principles_trauma_info.htm

I'm also going to weave this in. Remember, we are educators, not counselors. Boundaries are a really important part of this work, for ourselves and our learners.

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Being a trauma-aware educator means recognizing that trauma is in our classrooms. It's in our students and in us. It was there before COVID, it's here now, and it will be here in the future.

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We don't need to investigate to determine if it's there. It's there. We are not the trauma detectives, as @AlexSVenet reminds us. We don't need to interrogate our students to know that they're experiencing trauma. They are. So are we.

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Those of you who know UDL know that we don't need to ask if someone needs captions in order to provide captions, right? Or alt text, or other accessibility measures. And we don't need to ask if our students are traumatized to create trauma-aware classrooms.

I see a lot of folks inquiring about students trauma, and tbh, that concerns me.

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Choice, empowerment, voice.

There's a difference between creating spaces for students to express what they're dealing with, if they so choose, and making them feel as if they have to reveal their trauma to you and to each other.

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If you ask a student, "Tell me what challenges you are facing this term," let's walk through how that might land for a student experiencing significant trauma...

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1. They don't want to talk about it with you, a complete stranger, someone they don't know or trust, but they feel like they have to, because you are the authority figure, so they swallow their own needs and tell you.

Not good.

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2. They don't want to tell you about their trauma, but you've asked, so they lie and tell you they are fine, which doesn't feel great, because for most of us, lying doesn't feel great.

Not good.

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3. Some of them may be able to say, "I don't care to share this information," and I celebrate those students, but many won't feel like they can say that to you, an authority figure with the power in this relationship.

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So we just want to be really mindful here of how we ask. A great question is this:

"Is there anything else you'd like me to know?"

That's it. That puts the power in their hands.

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And to weave in this question that @Bali_Maha posed earlier, these principles apply to COVID-related assignments too. Choice. Empowerment. Voice.

Anyway, just be mindful here. We aren't counselors. I really want to emphasize this: we are not trained to treat trauma. Empathy is within our scope of practice. Counseling is not.

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And sometimes, (see that scope of practice slide again), we can become overly focused on our students' trauma as a way to avoid our own.

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Want to know my #1 recommendation for educators who want to create trauma-aware classrooms?

Take care of yourself. Notice and name your own trauma. Ask for help. Take care of yourself.

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