This Speaks to My Heart

This Speaks to My Heart

     For Christmas I received two educational books about the trauma-informed schools approach to student learning.  The first was from the amazing Jim Sporleder.  It’s title: “The Trauma-Informed School-A Step-by-Step Guide for Administrators and School Personnel.”  I just might be a bit over the moon that Mr. Sporleder autographed it for me!!  The other is “Help for Billy” by Heather Forbes, LCSW.  Both books have so much to share and have given a name, understanding, and value to something I have always believed about education.

     First of all, most students who misbehave do so because to them, it is something their brains have been wired to do, coming from a trauma-filled home environment.  Ms Forbes shows that research now indicates that children’s developing brains are even being wired for responses to trauma, during it’s structural development.  Children can’t help it.  Their brain drives behavior.         

    

As Mr. Sporleder says, “You won’t have 100% success, but you can love all of your students 100% unconditionally.”

     It is important to create a family climate in your classroom.  Be fair, firm, and consistent.  Develop relationships with your students, not just the “easy” ones.  ALL.OF.THEM. 

     It is more and more important that we, as teachers, address childhood trauma in the classroom. Jane Ellen Stevens, the editor of ACESTooHigh, and founder and publisher of the ACEs Connection Network, which comprises ACEsTooHigh.com and its companion social network, ACEsConnection.com., states that there is now evidence linking childhood trauma and early onset of adults with chronic disease, mental illness, time in prison, and work issues. In a nutshell, we must not ask students to all fit into the school culture because it is no longer working.  We need to change the school culture to fit the students.  Instead of expelling students, we need to keep them in school, show them that they matter and that we care about them.  It is about creating a place where children feel safe and loved.

     Something that I’ve always believed, in my 33 years of teaching, is that children who are hungry, who are scared, who are angry, who are sad, come to school being unable to learn.  As teachers, we need to address those needs before we can ever start teaching them the academic and school social expectations pieces.  It is up to us, not some program, to change how we do things for the betterment of the students who walk through our classroom doors each and every day.