- I chose to write this book
because this is the book I needed when I was teaching.
And, what I mean by that is, there was so many things
that were happening that I couldn't understand,
with myself with children.
And, those things were the types of trauma responses
that they were having, and that I was having.
I think this book can benefit readers by supporting them
to recognize the ways that we can miss the trauma
that students are experiencing.
This book could also help people who have this perception
of trauma being something that children bring with them
to school, that children experience outside of school.
So, a key concept that I developed through my years
of lived experience, teaching, and research
are the ways that trauma manifests in students,
and how we can sometimes miss that trauma.
So, one of the concepts that I really bring up
are how, is how educators sometimes can punish students
for the trauma that they're experiencing,
because of the way it appears.
And, some examples of that are,
for we know the fight and flight, right?
Fight and flight responses
are something that a lot of people are familiar with
as it relates to trauma.
What that means is that when the prefrontal cortex
of someone's brain is activated.
and they go into survival mode,
then in that survival mode they can choose to fight,
and that comes off as some form of aggression,
and anger, and confrontation.
Or, they can choose flight, which comes across as a runner,
right? Or someone who disappears without a trace.
And, oftentimes what happens is, we don't even realize
what it is that really added that pressure to the wound
to cause that response in students, and ourselves.
So, there's a lot of research
about trauma response at schools, trauma informed practice,
trauma sensitive schools.
And so, what's distinct about trauma responsive pedagogy
is that this is how we teach for healing and transformation.
And, it's not just healing and transformation of students,
it's healing and transformation of ourselves
alongside our students.
So, that's what distinguishes "Trauma Responsive Pedagogy,"
from all of the other ones.
We're engaging in a parallel process,
and it's with the idea that every single educator
who enters this profession,
does so to heal their own inner child.
In section one of the book, we're able to see the ways
that we can cause trauma, essentially,
and how schools can be a place that causes trauma.
I vulnerably share how I learned about this work
in a very trial and error process,
and how by being equipped with the necessary research
and education, I'm able to really think about
and change my practice.
In section two, Dr. Courtney Baker,
provides the initial research
around trauma informed practice,
and how that translates to schools,
and gives a great deal of research for the work.
And, in section three, here's where I lay out the process
for becoming a trauma responsive pedagogue.
There are also lessons for how to engage
in trauma responsive work in the classroom.
There's guidance for how to hold space for students
and invite them to orient to the classroom,
not just intellectually by sharing their thoughts
and what's on their mind, but also emotionally
by sharing what's on their heart, and engaging relationally
by thinking about what they want to do differently
now that they are aware of the traumas
that they're experiencing,
and how they want to live differently
so that they're not just victims of their past,
but they can be the origins of their future.