December 5, 2024
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching
When you are teaching a group of students, you may or may not have insight into their backgrounds and experiences. But something we all have in common is that in one shape or form, we all have been touched by trauma. Everyone’s experience with trauma is different, which is why it is crucial to strive towards creating a supportive, safe space for people to learn.
This month’s People of PLT highlights the work that Yasmeen Hossain, Oregon PLT State Co-Coordinator and Associate Director of the Oregon Natural Resources Education Program, is doing to help educators incorporate a trauma-informed approach into environmental education.
What is Trauma-Informed Teaching?
Yasmeen shares, “In my experience there is no one whose life has not been affected by trauma in some capacity, whether their own experiences, those of loved ones, adversity impacting the community they live in, countries, regions or even the entire world (which was the case with the COVID pandemic). Trauma is pervasive. It is also often likened to an invisible wound. If someone has a broken arm that is in a cast, it signals to us that they are wounded. With trauma it is often not as noticeable. This is why it is important to apply a trauma-informed approach in all situations and in all interactions, including in educational settings.
Students, educators, staff, volunteers, students’ families–everyone can benefit from a trauma-informed approach.
In brief, trauma-informed education is a system-wide approach that recognizes the prevalence of trauma, how it impacts learning and teaching and aims to respond to trauma, prevent re-traumatization, and foster resilience.”
How Can Educators Better Support Learners Who May Be Experiencing Trauma?
This is an extremely complex and important topic, and while we’re only scratching the surface in this article, Yasmeen has a few helpful recommendations to get started.
“Often a trauma response stems from feeling overwhelmed, threatened, and that we have no control over our well-being. A trauma-informed approach aims to prevent and counteract this perception.”
A Language Shift
She suggests using inviting language instead of directive language.
With directive language, you’re telling, as though learners must do something and have no say. Examples of directive language include: “You should do this activity, you have to divide into groups, you will write an essay”.
Whereas, Yasmeen says, “Inviting language tells our brains that we have a choice in the matter. For example, “I encourage you to write an essay. I invite you to watch this documentary”. It is a small shift in language for the educator that can make a big difference for students.”
Expand Your Knowledge
The more you learn about trauma-informed teaching, the better you can support your learners.
In the PLT workshops that Yasmeen hosts, she utilizes a trauma-informed lens to not only plan the agenda but in the language and materials she uses to how she interacts with participants and leads activities. In certain workshops, such as ones about climate change or wildfire, Yasmeen incorporates the topic of trauma, sharing tools and strategies with educators to effectively lead these types of thematic lessons with their students.
We suggest checking out this free downloadable resource that Yasmeen created, Trauma-Informed Toolkit: A Resource for Educators. In it, she references PLT’s activity “Living with Fire / Viviendo con Fuego” from the Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide / Explora tu Ambiente: Guía de Actividades K-8 and the Nature of Fire activity collection as a case study of how to embed a trauma-informed approach into an existing lesson. You’ll also find helpful information about various types of trauma and toxic stressors, symptoms of trauma, trauma responses (i.e., fight or flight), and helpful ways to bring the nervous system back to normal (i.e., breathwork, being in nature, journaling, etc.).
Finally, we encourage you to seek out professional development workshops that specifically discuss trauma-informed approaches to education. The more you know and learn, the more empowered and comfortable you will be to bring those practices to your lessons or programs.
Additional Resources
Below is a (not exhaustive!) list of several resources to help you understand the various types of trauma and trauma-informed approaches to teaching.
- The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
- Tips for Addressing Climate Anxiety in Youth
- Trauma-Informed Practices
- What is Trauma-Informed Teaching and a Trauma-Responsive School?
