User:Gunderman

About me

This will be my third semester in the CDIT program at SUNY Albany. I received a B.A. in Biology with a NYS

adolescent teaching certificate from SUNY Geneseo in 2013. After graduating, I moved to South Korea and taught English to elementary and middle school students at a private academy for one and a half years. After this while still in South Korea, I taught first grade and middle school science at an international school. Throughout the 2017-2018 school year, I was a long term substitue for three maternity leaves in which I taught: Honors Living Environment, Regents Living Environment, and Grade 8 General Science. Currently, I am about to start a new position teaching Grade 8 General Science in Troy, NY.

For hobbies, I love to rock climb, hike and bike. I also enjoy reading books (mostly non-fiction) and drinking coffee. Lastly, whenever I can, I try to travel to other countries.

My Topic: Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom

Classrooms often have students who have experienced trauma in their life. According to Briggs-Gowan et. al (2010) by the age of 4, 26% of American children have experienced a traumatic event (p.730). The American Psychological Association explains that, “trauma is the emotional response to a terrible event.” Experiencing trauma can have negative effects on students in the classroom. To help students with trauma succeed in learning, teachers can create a trauma-sensitive classroom, which is the purpose of this mini-course.

A trauma sensitive classroom is a place that is predictable for students and where students can feel safe. Although schools can and do have a large responsibility for creating a trauma-sensitive atmosphere, teachers on their own can implement this idea in their classroom. To create a trauma sensitive classroom, teachers need to: have a basic understanding of trauma, how trauma effects students, and strategies to implement.

Topics to be covered:

What is trauma?
How does trauma affect students?
What strategies can a teacher use to help create a trauma-sensitive classroom?
What strategies can a teacher implement to help support a trauma-sensitive classroom?

Learning Outcome

By the end of the course, learners will be able to create a trauma-sensitive classroom by being able to:

Reflect on the importance of creating a trauma sensitive classroom
Explain how trauma effects students
Analyze self-resiliance
Summarize strategies that support a trauma-sensitive classroom
Plan procedures that support a trauma-sensitive classroom
Create a safe space for students in their classroom

Needs Assessment

Instructional Problem: Many schools are starting to implement trauma-sensitive classrooms or school-wide trauma-sensitive initiatives. Often, teachers are not (or briefly) taught about students with trauma and how to best help them. Creating a trauma sensitive classroom is beneficial in every classroom in any subject, school, and district. Most, if not all classes will have a student who has experience trauma, whether the teacher knows it or not.

Susan Craig and Jim Sporeleder (2017) cite a study by Porche, Fortuna, Lin & Alegria (2011), and writes, “The dropout rate among the 38% of adolescents reporting traumatic experiences prior to age 16 is close to 20%, a rate significantly higher than that of adolescents who do not report a history of trauma” (p.7). Trauma sensitive classrooms is about correcting behavior and creating resilience in students that have experienced trauma.

What is to be learned: Learners of this mini-course will first learn about the importance of having a trauma sensitive classroom. Learners will learn what trauma is. Once learners know what trauma is, they will learn how trauma effects the brain of students and their behavior in school. Lastly, learners will learn about strategies that they can implement in classrooms.

Analysis of the Learner and Context

Learner: This course is meant for any aide, teacher, or administrator from first to twelfth grade in a school. It is also for any person interested in or becoming an aide, teacher, or administrator.

Context: Learning will take place on the KNILT site. It will be necessary for the learner to have access to a computer, an internet connection, and Google Docs. Learners will watch YouTube videos, go to websites, and download files.

Performance-Based Objectives

Identify different forms of trauma.
Explain how trauma affects a student in the classroom.
Examine real-life scenarios in a classroom to reflect on how they would handle the situation/scenario.
Summarize and reflect on strategies that can be used for a trauma sensitive classroom.
Create a safe space classroom and a safe space within the classroom.

Task Analysis

Lesson One: What is trauma?

1. The learner will define trauma.
2. The learner will identify different types of trauma (ACE).
3. The learner will find their own ACE score.

Lesson Two: The Effects of Trauma

1. The learner will identify how trauma effects the brain.
2. The learner will explain how trauma effects a student in the classroom

Lesson Three: Strategies to Create a Trauma Sensitive Classroom
1. The learner will find and evalute resilience score
2. The learner will choose strategies that will help you create a trauma sensitive classroom
3. The learner will apply strategies that will help you create a trauma sensitive classroom
4. The learner will create a plan to make a safe space within your classroom

Curriculum Map

Lessons

Creating a Trauma Sensitive Classroom
Lesson One: What is trauma?
Lesson Two: The Effects of Trauma
Lesson Three: Strategies to Create a Trauma Sensitive Classroom

References and Resources

Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Ford, J. D., Fraleigh, L., McCarthy, K., & Carter, A. S. (2010). Prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic events in a healthy birth cohort of very young children in the northeastern United States. Journal Of Traumatic Stress, 23(6), 725–733.

Jennings, P. A. (2019). The trauma-sensitive classroom: Building resilience with compassionate teaching. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Trauma. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma/