By Dr. Erin Boyce, and Perri Corvino
Like others around the world, our community is facing unparalleled illness, loss, disruption, and uncertainty. In response to the rapid pivot to online instruction, a small group of social work colleagues developed recommendations for how to support students and ourselves from a trauma-informed perspective. As we continued our discussions of education during a pandemic, a new need emerged – the need to understand the possibilities, methods, and mechanisms of trauma-informed teaching and learning (TITL) during a crisis. This need is further underscored by the systemic racism, police brutality, and widespread social unrest currently sweeping our nation. Intersecting with these concerns is the implications of the ongoing and collective trauma enacted by oppressive systems being brought to the classroom. A constant theme that runs through students’ stories are experiences of trauma through oppressive experiences. Social workers are embracing the concept that oppression is trauma: that is, lived experiences such as poverty, sexism, racism, and homophobia, are traumatic at their core. Therefore, when practicing TITL, we emphasize the importance of knowing what stories students bring to classroom and how we can be intentional about our engagement.
I (Erin) recently had a conversation with a graduate student in our department who identifies as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). While she expressed appreciation for our efforts and recognized that we are all navigating this in our ways, she reported that she is exhausted with the constant halting of education to discuss current events. She said, “I live in my skin, I am Breonna Taylor, I’m feeling drained and exhausted and then having to bring that to the classroom too, it can be too much.” She’s calling us to pause and reflect on our efforts to ensure space for students to address their feelings and concerns and consider if we are ignoring the possible trauma that other students are enduring. We share this to showcase that this is a complicated time, needing thoughtful responses. We are not always going to get it right, but as long as we are striving to be better, we can only get better. This will come from collaborative conversations that build solidarity among ourselves in doing what is necessary to be true to our guiding principles and values. .
So, what can we do? First, consider how we can be more intentional about using the TITL principles in our classrooms. Here are some of the best practices we were able to obtain from our department’s faculty and staff this summer that we would like to share.
- Safety and stability: Build relationships, forming relationships has become even more difficult in the virtual environment. Be intentional about forging relationship with your students and forging student relationships. Be consistent, provide clear communication and expectations, and be flexible. Find a balance between content & pace; focus on what students need to know versus what you want them to know.
- Trustworthiness and transparency: Listen with Intention, resist judgement, and stay curious, then we can ask what is disrupting their learning, rather than assuming a moral failing on part of the student; consider letting them know when you’re falling behind in grading or responding to email
- Peer support: attend workshops like this one to connect with colleagues and learn about what’s working in their classrooms. Encourage students to get to know each other and to network within the department.
- Collaboration and mutuality: make decisions together; model that you are all in this together
- Empowerment, voice, and choice: Center student voices, give students a voice in their education and classroom structure (the mid-term evaluations are a great way to do this).
- Cultural, historical, and identity dynamics: Use diversified knowledge; let’s begin to decolonize our curriculum and be inclusive of diverse voices to help tell our stories.
- Resilience, growth, and change: acknowledging the strengths and perseverance of self, students, colleagues