Trauma is an emotional response to something horrible that has happened. Some studies estimate that up to 70% of people have experienced trauma… That means an awful lot of our students are dealing with some seriously heavy stuff at home. Those issues are impacting progress in the classroom, for the students who are dealing with trauma, as well as their peers in the classroom. Students with a trauma history need support in the classroom in order to be successful. 

How many times have you had a lesson interrupted because of disruptive behaviors? How many times have you dealt with attitude that seemed to come out of nowhere? How many times have you wondered why a capable student flat out refuses to cooperate or even try?

Some of these situations are caused by trauma in a student’s life. Many times students aren’t able to regulate their behaviors or emotions because of things going on outside of school. This is why it is important for teachers to know how to help support students with a trauma history.

What are some ways teachers can support our students with a trauma history?

There are many ways to support students with a trauma history. Listing them all here would break the internet and this blog, so we don’t do that today. Instead, I’ve broken up the ways we can help students into four categories and will talk about each one. For more information about trauma itself, check out my blogpost: Resiliency and Trauma. 

But, I also need concrete ideas to help me figure out ways to help my students. So, I have made a free EBook in which I have listed over 100 ways to support students with a trauma history just click the picture or HERE to download the EBook. 

Category 1: Social

Socially, students with a trauma history may be hyper-engaged in the social aspect of school. They also may be very uninterested in social interactions.

Students who are hyper-interested need support in finding ways to be more comfortable being by themselves or on their own. These students may be overly interested in all the drama going on in school. Helping these students learn to be interested in a topic outside of the social drama helps them gain balance. 

Students who are uninterested in social interactions need to be encouraged to find something in common with at least one other student. Then encourage friendships with this student. These students struggle forming strong relationships with their peers because they struggle finding similarities between themselves and peers. Helping them find similarities with their peers encourages them to become a part of the classroom community.

Category 2: Academics

Academics are the main focus for teachers in the classroom. This makes sense given the focus of education. But, for students with a trauma history, academics are just not that important.

Students who don’t have a safe place to live, or know they will eat over the weekend, or maybe they don’t know if the adults in their lives will be able to care for them….they just aren’t going to be able to put a lot of focus on academics. For these students, finding ways to help them with their basic needs is a must. This has to happen before we put any focus on academics. Comfort closets are a great way to help these students. I encourage you to talk about options in your school to help these students. 

To support students who are ready to start focusing on academics, the first step is to figure out what skills or knowledge is missing for these students. While students are in the middle of or right after trauma, students’ brains aren’t able to process information. This creates some serious gaps in learning. The first step in helping these students is to identify the most basic skill gaps. Then start to reteach those skills and help students progress through the learning stages so they are more able to understand the grade level material. This is a long process, so working on ways to help the students understand the grade level material is a must. These students really benefit from reteaching, as well as working in pairs or small groups. Working with their peers allows the students to benefit from what their friends know. 

Category 3: Behavior

Behaviorally, students who have a trauma history can really struggle with regulating their emotions and behaviors, especially when something is frustrating.

Many teachers try to avoid any frustrating events, but that just puts off the inevitable. Instead, teach them skills to regulate their emotions, as well as strategies to deal with frustrating or irritating events. By teaching them these skills, we help them be better able to manage all the things that life throws at them. This is a really big category for many students. Don’t be afraid to take time to teach these skills to your entire classroom. There are a lot of students who struggle to deal with frustrating situations, so teaching these skills whole group or even in a smaller group with a variety of students can make a big difference in your classroom.

Category 4: Self-Image

Many students with a trauma history have a warped sense of their self image. Some see themselves as overly powerful. This means that they feel like they can (or should have) change things that are really out of their control. One example of this is the student who blames themselves for not stopping their parent from going out to get high.

The other extreme is students who feel they have no control of their lives. Teaching these students what they do and do not have control over is a piece of helping students see themselves as the unique, important child that they are. Being able to honestly see your strengths and weaknesses as well as zones of control or influence is an important part of growing up and learning where you fit in the world. Helping students with these skills helps them be able to maintain healthy relationships, regulate their emotions and behaviors, and eventually builds up to students being able to use self determination skills effectively. 

Students with a trauma history just want to be kids.

No matter what the trauma may have been, students with a trauma history could benefit from support. There are many ways to support these students.

Think carefully about your student and choose 2 or 3 interventions to try. If you need ideas, download the EBook, and be sure to let me know what you try and how it works!

Download the EBook Here for over 100 intervention ideas.

Have you listened to my podcast? Check out this weeks episode to hear more about how you can support students with a trauma history in the classroom.

The post Supporting Students with a Trauma History appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     While I understand that we must spend the majority of our days focused on academics, we also need to find ways to sneak in relationship building activities….especially when we are remote learning. No, I’m not talking about those team building games that admin always make us play the first day of teacher workdays as ice breakers… I absolutely hate those by the way, have yet to find one that doesn’t make me want to resign. No, I’m talking about embedding relationship building into every day.

     If we are in person, that can be pretty easy. Greeting every student by their name every morning, making time to ask about student favorites like favorite color, favorite band, favorite food, whatever you can fit into the lesson that day. Make note of students favorite things. You can use these types of things to make connections with students, like using a student’s love for oranges and incorporating that into a bonus math problem. When students realize that you are listening to them when they tell you things about themselves, it helps them to feel seen and beings the relationship building process. 

There are lots of ways to build relationships.

     Another option in building relationships with your students is to respond to journal prompts or personal writings with a note showing that you read their essay. Or when you talk to the student, mention how their writing reminded you of something else that was good. Making connections helps students to feel connected to you. These connections build a community within the classroom, which is inclusive of everyone. 

     For example, I had a student who loved to write about Star Wars. I don’t think I have ever watched a full Star Wars movie all the way through. The only characters I can think of right now are Chewy and Yoda. When I mentioned to this student that my husband loves Star Wars and knows all about the characters he was writing about, that student’s eyes lit up and he started explaining all about the Star Wars universe. He gave me more information than I ever wanted to know. All of a sudden, that student had a connection to me, and possibly more important, something that he could teach me.

     This leads me to my next suggestion about building relationships with students…. Give them something that they can teach you. This requires some vulnerability on our part…. Teachers are used to having to know all the things for their students. Especially for those really hard to reach students, allowing them to be the expert helps them build their confidence that the knowledge that they have is worthwhile. Teachers know how awesome it is to teach something to someone else. By allowing our students to teach us something, we give them that gift of imparting appreciated knowledge on others. That feeling is hard to come by before your 30s if we are completely honest, so that is a big gift for students. 

My favorite way to build relationships….

     One of my favorite ways to build relationships with my students is through using my Feelings Journal at least a few times a week. Sometimes I use it to help students identify their emotions. Other times I use it as a morning journal prompt to help me get in touch with what is going on in the lives of my students. That help me keep my lessons and teaching relevant.

     When we switched to remote in March, that was a lot harder to do, so I made my Feelings Journal digital, which has made a big different in my ability to build  relationships with students. If you are looking for an easy way to form relationships with students in person or remotely, go and check out my Feelings Journal by clicking the picture. For more examples of how I used it to save my sanity, check out How 5 Minutes a Day Saved My Sanity. 

What are your favorite ways to build relationships with students?

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     There are many programs for different learning differences out there. Every single one says that they have the answer to learning difficulties. They know what to do to get students back on track in record time.

Teachers hear these claims from interventionists, principals, trainers, even commercials. It all sounds too good to be true.

Honestly, most of the time it is…. This whole system is incredibly frustrating for teachers who just want their students to learn. 

The reality is, the most important factor in whether students make progress is their relationship with their interventionist.

    There have been many studies on this topic, and they all basically have come to the same conclusion….

The program being used, the materials, the teacher training or years of service, socio-economic level, none of these things actually impact whether a student makes progress or not….

     Yes, some may impact where a student starts off their learning, or the rate of progress but the one thing that actually appears to make the most difference is the strength of the relationship between the student and interventionist.

Students who have a good relationship with their interventionist make significantly more progress than those who don’t. In the studies it did not matter what program was used or the socio-economic level of the student. It didn’t matter how far below grade level….the one thing that was best at predicting how much progress a student made was the strength of the relationship between the student and the teacher. The relationship of the student to the teacher determined their progress. 

A story of a teacher who is great at relationship building.

     I have a good friend who teaches high school, and she is fantastic at building good, strong relationships with her students. Even the tough cookies who drive other teachers crazy seem to come around to at least respecting her by the end of the first quarter.

     She prides herself on her ability to form relationships with all of her students. I have seen first-hand how this has made some pretty tough cookies stay in school and care about their grades. She, I believe, has kept several students from dropping out, just by showing her students that she cares.

     Does this mean she wins over every student? Heck no! There are some students who we just don’t jive with or whatever….we won’t be mean to them but the fact is in life, there are some people who we just aren’t going to be able to build a good relationship with….and that is ok. We can still show our students that we care about them. Not every student is going to be our favorite, but every student that comes in our classrooms should know that we care about them.  

Check out the blog post: SEL in All Classrooms for how to incorporate some SEL into your classroom, and start building relationships today!

This teacher saw fantastic growth in her students every year because she understood that relationships determine the progress that students make.

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     If your district is anything like mine, you’ve been fielding a lot more crisis in school. That means dealing with a big increase in behaviors. This is impacting classroom learning…whether you are in person or virtual teaching. Students are struggling with all of the uncertainty that the world threw at us in 2020. Teachers are having to find new and innovative way to deal with their emotional struggles. 

     Students with special needs struggle alongside their typically developing peers. For many general education teachers, this is the first time they have encountered some of the extreme behaviors students exhibit when they are unable to regulate themselves. Many special education teachers are familiar with these behaviors, but are overwhelmed with the volume of students struggling now. 

Is Incorporating SEL in classrooms important?

     SEL is a process that everyone goes through during which we learn to identify and manage our emotions, learn to make and keep healthy relationships, learn to make and keep goals for ourselves, and develop an understanding for who we are and how that impacts how we behave. But what does that really mean? 

     When I think of Social Emotional Learning, I think about all of my students along a continuum of emotional and social skills. Those students who need the most support in this area usually start with just identifying and slowly learning to regulate their emotions. As these skills grow, the students learn how to relate to their peers, as well as adults in their lives, and learn to create healthy relationships with others. Part of this is learning how to communicate effectively, and learning about themselves and how they fit into the world.

How much more important a lesson could we teach students than how to form healthy relationships and figure out where they fit in the world?

     I can hear teachers now saying things like “How do I have time to teach THAT in my already packed day?” or “Ok, yeah it’s important. But that is definitely something that we didn’t teach in schools years ago. Isn’t that something the parents should be teaching?”

And in answer to those teachers…. You are completely right! There is not a true focus to teach these skills in school…. You aren’t going to find these skills delineated in any state standards…and no, this wasn’t explicitly taught years ago..

But, we teach a lot of things now that weren’t taught previously…like the history of racism. Just because it wasn’t taught in the past, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taught now. 

Years ago, when students came to school who didn’t fit the behavior mold, who acted out, who didn’t know how to fit into the culture or communicate were either kicked out of school or ostracized.

     The fact is, we have to teach these skills if we are going to help all of our students become successful in school and out. SEL in classrooms is essential, no matter the age or subject/ I’m not saying that it is easy, or that teachers have an abundant amount of time to work on SEL skills, but the alternative isn’t acceptable anymore. 

      I know how frustrating it is to have a student rip apart my classroom; destroy things that I bought with my own money for my students to get to use; hit, kick, and punch me. I know what it is like to go to my car, drive home in silence, and sit in my driveway and ugly cry. 

     There is too much trauma in students lives. There are too many messed up things that these students have seen or been exposed to. They bring all that to school with them and take it out on us….because we are their safe place. We are where they go and act out….usually as a cry for help. Whether it is because of trauma they have experienced, or anxiety they feel about life in general, when they act out, it affects us. It affects our classrooms. The students around them are affected. 

     The solution to all of this isn’t suspension or expulsion…. It isn’t ostracizing these kids…. The only solution that works is teaching them the skills that they need (and currently lack) to deal with the situations they are faced with. SEL in classrooms is the way to solve this problem for so many students. We can’t erase the trauma. We can’t change anything at home in reality…all we as educators can do is create a safe place for these students where they can learn the social and emotional skills they need to be able to face their demons. 

SEL is teaching our students how to face their demons and win.

     It is giving our students the skills they need to be successful, functional adults when they leave the school setting. SEL in classrooms may be optional according to school boards and standards. It isn’t optional if we truly want our students to be successful.

     I encourage you to talk to your school counselor or school mental health person about what resources are available in your school for SEL

     Click the picture to check out how I have incorporated SEL into my classroom for years. 

     I’ve been using my Feelings Journal for many years as a tool to help students practice pieces of SEL. I’ve also taught many lessons over the years about many different emotional or social skills. The lessons vary just as much as the needs our students exhibit. One thing is true across grade and skill levels…. Explicitly teaching a skill has a much greater impact than hinting at the skill. Expecting students to pick up appropriate behaviors by observation just doesn’t work for many students. Our most needy students have way too many things they are trying to figure out and keep under control to be effective observers. So, if you want students to exhibit a behavior, explicitly teach it, practice it, and reinforce it. That is the basis for all teaching…whether it is academics or SEL. 

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you are well aware of what Coronavirus is and how it is starting to impact families and kids.

In my house we have been social distancing for about a week now and I have to say my children are driving me insane. 

 But the state of the world got me thinking about the students who have dealt with trauma in the past and are right now experiencing further trauma.

Trauma is a reality for a lot of students

For myself and my family this time has been a time of stress but also unity. Time to spend time together to play with my two-year-old in my five-year-old and spend some time outside together. 

I realize though for a lot of my students this is not a time of togetherness and for many families this is a  a time of anger, pain, and hunger.  Because of that, I started reading a book that I received over the summer…. but teachers know who has time to read? Well turns out…. I do…. when we’re on social distancing…. quarantine… lockdown whatever this is.

Learning about resiliency and trauma

I started reading a book by Kristin Souers and Pete Hall called Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom. I received this book at training in July 2019.  But haven’t opened it until quarantine time because you know….. teachers don’t have time to read or do anything other than teach during the school year. But I thought that now might be a good time for me to strengthen my abilities to work with my students who have experienced trauma in the past and work with them on their resiliency. 

Well I thought that this book was going to be about specific strategies…. you know cuz it says strategies for creating the trauma-sensitive classroom. Honestly it’s more about making connections, tips and tricks, about connecting with students who have experienced trauma and giving them a safe place to build their resiliency. It’s about taking a step back and getting a deep understanding for what trauma is.

It turns out I really didn’t have a true understanding for what trauma and resiliency really are. I didn’t know really what it was and how it changes how people think, feel, act, and connect to others.

I’ve come to realize that a lot of my students, which I knew have been dealing with trauma… and I’ve had pretty good relationships with my students, but I realize that this coronavirus pandemic is impacting them in ways that that we will not be able to even begin to understand until it is well over. We may not know the impact until we are back in school and trying to make our way through the school year and probably next year. 

A little help to support students through trauma.

In light of this I’ve decided to take my Feelings Journal that I described in a previous blog post and expand on it in a digital format to help teachers who are dealing with students who have experienced trauma and help them try to make connections. Teachers can work with those students even though we are dealing with these unprecedented times. This will be coming soon, as I navigate how best to provide this product in a digital format that helps students dealing with trauma and building their resiliency. 

If you are interested in taking a look at how I support my student’s emotional needs in my classroom, check out: How 5 Minutes a Day Saved My Sanity

For more information about how I use the information I learned from this book to help my students, check out my podcast: Reaching Struggling Learners. I will be dropping new episodes every other week (until I get a handle on this podcasting thing) then hope to provide weekly insight into the classroom. 

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