Strategies
Guiding Principles for an ACEs-Sensitive Classroom
Many teachers work in schools that have yet to begin the journey toward becoming ACEs- and trauma-informed. You may be the educators who, for the sake of your students, have to take the first step in this journey, while encouraging your coworkers to join you along the way. So, for all of you trailblazing, heart-centered educators out there, I offer a few key principles and strategies to help you create ACEs-sensitive classrooms in which your students succeed and thrive.
This slide deck will take you through the impact of ACEs and outline evidence-based strategies and supports.
Teacher's Guide to Rerouting the Pipeline
The student-to-prison pipeline is a direct linkage from schools to prisons because of the behavior of the student and the possible consequences behind them. This article will educate teachers on how to be a responsive teacher when students are not behaving correctly to avoid them travelling down this pipeline that could potentially put them into prison. Read this article for the 5 shifts a teacher can take to be a responsive teacher in a situation that could lead to the prison.
Erickson's Stages of Development
This video gives an overview of each of Erik Erickson's 8 stages of development, and how they play out in our lifetime.
Building Capacities
This video explores the development and use of core capabilities — known as executive function and self-regulation skills — from early childhood into adolescence and adulthood.
Childhood Trauma & Health
In this TED Talk, Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain.
Informative Articles
7 Surprising Classroom Triggers for Kids Who Experienced Trauma (and How to Avoid Them)
"Traumatized students are in every single classroom, every day—no matter the grade or subject you teach. For these youth, navigating life, even in the safety of your classroom, can be challenging. Seemingly commonplace occurrences and routines can actually become classroom trauma triggers that cause a domino effect of negative reactions. And once triggered, a traumatized student can’t be engaged in your lesson, and their learning stops..."
Helping Traumatized Children Learn
The goal is to "ensure that children traumatized by exposure to family violence succeed in school." Schools play a huge role in the development of children and they help shape the community around them. Therefore, school teachers and administrators must be equipped with the proper tactics to make sure that they are able to support children who have been traumatized.
Becoming a Trauma Informed & Trauma Sensitive School
This blog creates a multi-step program for establishing a more Trauma Inform Care Model (TIC). The first step is to establish a baseline. The next step is to build staff support that could will be trained to handle ACEs. Continue reading this post if you are interested in converting your school into a TIC.
