Guidance counselor Marissa Acosta, who helped lead the session.
Carteret Elementary School has received a state grant which is being used to implement, among students and educators, “trauma-informed teaching.”
The idea behind this concept is that teachers should be able to recognize emotional trauma which may affect a child’s performance in the classroom, understand its symptoms and know what activities may trigger a reaction.
On Monday, guidance counselor Marissa Acosta and special education teacher Beth Armstrong, acquainted a group of teachers, after school, with a practice that will begin in September. But part of trauma-informed teaching, Acosta said, is not just what affects the child, but also what affects the teacher.
A teacher should recognize this and, if necessary, have the ability to apologize to a student. As an example, she said she had told kids to leave her office and that she didn’t want to see them. But when they returned, she apologized for her reaction because it was the right thing to do.
She handed out cards on which the word “FEAR” was typed and asked the teachers to write down what made them afraid when they were students. She then related a personal story of her own fears as a schoolgirl.
“It’s changing, what made you afraid and what makes children afraid today,” she said. “How are you going to change that word? These kids live in fear. They may not tell you right away until you break down these walls.”
She said it was normal to resist talking about one’s fears in the classroom and trauma-informed teaching is not going to change the way they teach.
“How do we implement empathy in the classroom while maintaining classroom management and expectation?” she said.
“It’s our goal to de-escalate a situation,” said Principal John Baltz, who sat in on the session. “Classrooms are not easy places to be. There has to be a mind shift.
We all get frustrated.”
A positive relationship between teacher and student, he said, can improve academic performance and emotion development.
After the session, Acosta said the school will get a mentor to guide them into trauma-informed teaching.
“This is a different way of thinking,” she said. “We’re in a different era. It’s no longer ‘just do what you’re told.’ Teaching is much more than that. Much stems
from emotions and trauma. You don’t want to ignore it. We’re trying to help our teachers maneuver through the hardship.”
As for appraising this initiative, Acosta said she will look at attendance records. If a child has been chronically absent, but starts attending school more often, that is a positive sign and possibly an indication trauma-informed teaching is working.
“It shows we’re building a community,” she said.
For a teacher to warn a student about the consequences of bad behavior is just not enough because it creates tension, she said.
“There should also be a conversation about the situation.” she said. “A teacher should try to understand what was bothering the student. Not just. ‘Why did you do that?’ But, ‘How can we help you?’ When you make someone feel like somebody, it can change their life forever.”
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