Full Description
Educators must both respond to the impact of trauma, and prevent trauma at school.
Trauma-informed initiatives tend to focus on the challenging behaviors of students and ascribe them to circumstances that students are facing outside of school. This approach ignores the reality that inequity itself causes trauma, and that schools often heighten inequities when implementing trauma-informed practices that are not based in educational equity.
In this fresh look at trauma-informed practice, Alex Shevrin Venet urges educators to shift equity to the center as they consider policies and professional development. Using a framework of six principles for equity-centered trauma-informed education, Venet offers practical action steps that teachers and school leaders can take from any starting point, using the resources and influence at their disposal to make shifts in practice, pedagogy, and policy. Overthrowing inequitable systems is a process, not an overnight change. But transformation is possible when educators work together, and teachers can do more than they realize from within their own classrooms.
Contents
Part I Bringing Equity to the Center
1. Defining Trauma-Informed Education
2. Defining Equity
Part II Shift 1: Adopt a Universal Approach
3. Trauma Is More Than a Number
4. Trauma Is a Lens, Not a Label
5. Four Proactive Priorities for Decision Making
Part III Shift 2: Rethink Your Role as an Educator
6. Build Relationships Rooted in Equity
7. Cultivate Unconditional Positive Regard
8. Make Connections, Respect Boundaries
Part IV Shift 3: Move From Mindset to Systems Change
9. Support Teacher Wellness
10. Foster Professional Growth
11. Work Toward Policy Change
Part V Shift 4: Change the World From Inside Your Classroom
12. Examine the Curriculum, Disrupt Harmful Narratives
13. Get to Work: Activism and Action as Healing
