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.
When parents and others in the community ask me how Venture is different from other schools, the first thing that comes to mind is the level of expertise we bring to the task of educating kids with a variety of learning and emotional challenges. I tell them that not only are our teachers highly trained to deliver excellent instruction, but they are also highly trained to help students overcome trauma. As a team, we bring specialized knowledge and skills that change how students learn, relate to others, and how they will be able to function as adults.
One issue that all institutions face is maintaining this level of expertise as new staff members come into the community. Additionally, we all tend to revert to old habits over time if we don't continue to sharpen our skill set. For this reason, I have scheduled three sessions with Keith and Andi for this year. Our first one was about self-care. This was an important topic to revisit because of the tendency of care-givers to absorb the trauma of those with whom they work. Especially for new staff, the needs of students can be quite overwhelming.
The next two sessions, which will be Jan. 13 and Feb. 3, explore attachment. Childhood trauma can lead to students feeling unsafe and disconnected. Understanding attachment styles and relational strategies is key to understanding and responding to student behaviors. Additionally, through training on attachment styles, we will begin to understand our own relational strategies and discover ways to care for ourselves while supporting students in their healing process.
Just to reiterate, this year and in the years to come, we will continue to receive training to grow our expertise as trauma-informed instructors. Some of it will be new and some will be review, but all of it is important if we are to maintain a culture and climate that nurtures and supports students through difficult times.
How are we being intentional about expending our most precious resource of time?
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.
Bus/Parking lot duty: Beck and Posey
Monday 1/11:
Tuesday 1/12:
Wednesday 1/13: PD day 8:00 Staff meeting; 9:00 - 10:30 PD with Keith OrchardThursday 1/14:
Friday 1/15:
Bus/Parking lot duty: Stolken and Doering
Monday 1/18:
Tuesday 1/19:
Wednesday 1/20: Non-Work dayThursday 1/21:
Friday 1/22:
Welcome back from spring break! I hope everyone is feeling refreshed from a week of relaxation.
