What Does It Mean To Be A Trauma-Informed School?
One of the characteristics that distinguishes Venture High School from our traditional counterparts is that we have undertaken a paradigm shift to understand and address the effects of childhood trauma on student learning and behavior. It is well documented that childhood trauma can have an overwhelming effect on children and severely impact their ability to concentrate, learn, and successfully manage emotions; however, this issue is largely ignored in traditional classrooms.
Some of the life events experienced by children that could lead to traumatic stress include exposure to violence; physical, sexual or psychological abuse and neglect; substance abuse; the death of a loved one, serious illness, the incarceration of a parent; and others. Although many children experience these potentially traumatizing conditions, not all suffer from traumatic stress. Protective factors are positive influences that improve a child's resilience or ability to bounce back from a difficult event. Some of these protective factors lie beyond the scope of the school, but others can be taught and developed in a school setting. For example, problem-solving skills; conflict resolution skills; a positive peer group; positive adult role models, coaches, and mentors; and school success all increase a young person's resilience.
As a trauma-informed school, our goal is to create a learning environment in which every student has a connection with at least one supportive adult and where s/he receives direct, intentional instruction to develop strong executive function and self-regulation skills. Additionally, we are learning about and implementing instructional strategies to close the learning gaps to promote school success.
Some specific steps we have taken to help students overcome the effects of traumatic stress include:
- Positive Discipline training with Teresa Hurliman (six sessions): we learned about the effects of trauma on student behavior and ways to teach social skills to improve behavioral and academic success
- PEBC classes: Most of us have attended a PEBC training to implement research-based instructional strategies in the classroom
- PBL training: Through Gizmo, we received training and support to offer meaningful project-based learning opportunities to increase student engagement and agency.
- TBRI training: Trust Based Relational Intervention is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention designed to meet the needs of vulnerable students.
- Two self-care training sessions, one with Bonnie and one with Keith: Secondary trauma results from taking care of people affected by traumatic stress. Adults who are able to care for themselves are better able to care for students.
- School-Connect advisory curriculum: SEL curriculum to help students learn the skills necessary to maintain relationships and function effectively in the community
- Additional classroom help: We have two Title paras, Gayle and Marita, who work individually with students to close learning gaps.
- Additional counseling support: Amy was hired to take on some of the college and career work so Rachelle could devote more time to working with students individually and in groups. Additionally, Amy has played a significant role in helping students learn about and prepare for post graduate career training.
- Social Worker: Raelynn splits her time between Venture and Lakes to address a variety of behavioral and emotional needs of students.
Learning Walks
On February 4, CDA secondary administrators will be conducting a learning walk at Venture High School. We were scheduled to do this last March, but...we know how all that worked out. The purpose of this experience is two-fold. First, it gives us the opportunity to gather feedback that we can use for our own growth; and it provides an opportunity for the observers to learn from our instructional journey. They are not here to judge or evaluate our work. This really can't be stressed enough. My experience has been that our colleagues see and appreciate the work we do here and want to support us.
At the beginning of the year, we looked at the Coeur d'Alene School District Instructional Framework and, as a group, identified several areas in which we are already implementing strategies; and we each chose a specific area to focus our own instructional practices this year. Evidence of this focus can be seen in classroom visits. Working with the Design Team, we identified "Discourse" as a common theme in every classroom. For this reason, I will ask the administrators on the Learning Walk to give us feedback in the area of "Discourse." The PEBC Teaching Framework Rubric is linked here. The Discourse section is on pages 10 and 11.
As we've discussed before, this rubric is different from the Danielson Framework rubric used for evaluations. On the PEBC framework, a level one or "first steps" is an excellent place to be (but probably not where we want to stay). Building some strategies to promote discourse is a research-based way to raise both engagement and learning. Here is something from the Cult of Pedagogy that you might find helpful. Do you follow the Cult of Pedagogy blog and podcasts by Jennifer Gonzalez? I really like her work. We will talk more about discourse and the rubric when we meet on Wednesday morning.
A variety of protocols and discussion strategies are used on a daily basis in classrooms around the building and I'm looking forward to sharing what we do with district colleagues. The instruction on February 4th should not be a dog and pony show; however, it is an opportunity to showcase the work we are doing with students.
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