Trauma Responsive Educational Practices: Helping Students Cope and Learn

No educator can ignore the effects of traumatic stressors on students. This is especially true for those in schools serving racially and ethnically marginalised or low-income children.

Every day, millions of students around the world go to school weighed down by interpersonal traumas, community traumas, and the traumatic effects of historical and contemporary race-based oppression.

A wide range of adverse childhood events; including physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse; chronic bullying; community or domestic violence; and food and housing insecurity; can lead to a host of negative outcomes. However, when schools provide developmentally supportive responses to these challenges, post-traumatic growth becomes possible.

In Trauma Responsive Educational Practices, Micere Keels examines the neurobiology of trauma; presents mindfulness strategies that strengthen student self-regulation and extend professional longevity; and demonstrates how to build pedagogically caring relationships, psychologically safe discipline, and an emotionally safe classroom learning climate.

Keels also shows educators how to attend to equity and use trauma as a critical lens through which to plan instruction and respond to challenging situations with co-regulation.

It's important to understand that trauma is subjective and complex, treatment is not prescriptive, and recovery takes time. This book helps educators support students on that road—not merely to survive trauma but to focus on their strengths and flourish with effective coping skills.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction to Trauma and Trauma Responsive Educational Practices
2. Stress Prevention and Management for Educators
3. Mindfulness for Well-being and Professional Longevity
4. Mindfulness to Strengthen Student Self-Regulation
5. Understanding Students' Needs for Safety at School
6. Creating and Maintaining Physical Safety in the Classroom
7. Building Pedagogically Caring Relationships
8. Providing Psychologically Safe Discipline
9. Creating an Emotionally Safe Learning Climate
10. The Possibility of Post-Traumatic Growth

Appendixes

• Appendix A. Classroom Vision Statement
• Appendix B. Vision Statement Reflection Questions
• Appendix C. Your Stress Cues Checklist
• Appendix D. Mindfulness Exercise to Reduce Compassion Fatigue
• Appendix E. Weekly Mindfulness Plan
• Appendix F. Lunch or Recess Transitions
• Appendix G. Self-Regulation Printable
• Appendix H. Relationship Check-In
• Appendix I. Guidelines for Creating Positively Stated Precorrections
• Appendix J. Classroom Experiences Survey

References