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I’m writing this from a hotel room in Philadelphia because my family can’t stay in my house right now due to a rather massive plumbing issue. It is, for our family, a really annoying disruption that has thrown all our routines — including those of Jakob and Theo’s homework — out of whack. And I am a creature of habit, used to working at night in the chair in my office. It’s one of the ways I make my life make sense – routine – and all of them feel very disrupted right now.
Now, all of that being said, we’re fine. We’ll be back in our house in a couple of days, and the damage done will be fixed a few days after that. We have the resources – financial, social, etc… – to make this only annoying. But even with all of the resources to deal with it, it has me feeling really off my game. I’m behind on my to-do list, I’ve had nowhere near my usual level of focus on SLA, and I’m frustrated.
We have kids in our classrooms who deal with far worse every day – and do we create the space for them to thrive at school, even when little about the rest of their lives are stable, safe or easy?
I worry that in many schools, there are not systems in place to recognize the challenges of trauma and stress outside of school place on our students. I worry that many schools don’t have the systems in place to a) learn when students are struggling with issues of hunger, homelessness, divorce, abuse to name a few, b) appropriately communicate issues to teachers, and c) create policy that creates school as safety net, rather than being another stress point in a child’s life.
This is another example of what it means to understand the difference between “I teach math,” and “I teach kids math.” Schools need to help students deal with trauma while also helping them to assess the most important work that needs to be done. Teaching kids how to manage stress and trauma is as much a part of being a fully realized citizen and person of the world as anything that appears on the Common Core list of standards.
Schools need to have systems and structures in place to help students through the challenges they face. For us at SLA, it begins with our Advisory system so that every student has an advocate and a safe space. It allows us to create the space for students and teachers to see each other as whole people who can celebrate success and deal with challenges together. Do we learn everything that we should about what kids are dealing with? Probably not. Do we always do as well as we should at figuring out how to mitigate the stress of the work of SLA when kids are in pain from the rest of their lives? Probably not. Do we always remind ourselves to see the student in front of us and remember their lives exist far beyond our walls? We certainly try.
All it took for me to feel out of sorts and off my game as principal was a plumbing emergency that displaced my family for a few days. It made me think about all the kids at SLA who are dealing with so much more. It behooves all of us who teach kids to ask ourselves — how do we ensure that our school has humane systems for helping students who are facing trauma?
Chris, this one really hit home for me. SLA has done a wonderful job, not only with my daughter, but with our family to make us feel at home and safe within the walls of that space. SLA has met us where we are and made us a part of a wonderful community of both teachers and students without passing judgement on the traumas and pain that make up the rest of our lives. I have often said to many that I don’t know where my daughter would be or where my family would be without you and the SLA community. You truly have created an island of safety from the storm and a place where it is ok to be, both as a parent and a student and for that, I am thankful every day. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for being there to love my daughter and our family in our broken state…it truly has made a difference!
I don’t know if you’ve seen this data on the subject (more or less) that I dug up: http://ricommongroundnews.com/blackstone-valley-prep-suburban-achievement-and-urban-depression
and http://www.tuttlesvc.org/2014/11/depression-at-blackstone-valley-prep.html
Hello Chris,
My name is Jesse. Thank you for sharing your observations and reflections through this post. Your recognition of the prevalence and impact of trauma in our schools is spot on, and I am grateful that discussions regarding this topic are occurring in our schools and online through blogs such as yours.
The issue of trauma is being discussed in many of my education classes, and I see its impact in the students I work with everyday as a teaching intern at an adult alternative education center. Many of the students there have not succeeded in a traditional school setting for myriad reasons, some of which are directly attributed to some sort of traumatic experience—momentary or on-going—they have gone through. We, the school faculty and I, work to invest in the academic competencies of the students, but usually there are other more pressing issues that need to be sensitively addressed before students can learn anything. As much as we want students to succeed academically, many of these students who have experienced trauma just need support and a safe place to reflect and rebuild. Aside from intentionally building respectful relationships with students and communication, one strategy we are utilizing is to to integrate social-emotional learning into our lesson plans. Yet, there is so much more that could be done.
Addressing trauma is a tricky issue, and it is further complicated by the fact that its source and manifestation is unique to each student. The one thing I am sure about is that trauma is more effectively addressed when caring, observant, and sensitive people work together. As you stated in your post, teachers are teaching and investing in students first, not just a subject matter.
Thank you again for your post and for furthering the awareness of the impacts of trauma on our students.
Best,
Jesse