When teachers respond to challenging behavior with trauma-informed practices, we shift from control and punishment to connection and support. We will start by diving into trauma-informed foundations - impact of trauma on brain development and behavior, building emotional safety, trust, and relationships with students, what trauma-informed classrooms look like. Overview of the brain and behavior - how trauma keeps students in a reactive state and the behavior is communication, not necessarily a choice in the moment a trigger happens. Understanding power struggles and triggers - common triggers for students, how teachers may unintentionally escalate the problem behavior, shifting the perspective from compliance to cooperation, teaching students the skills to de-escalate, and trauma-informed alternatives to engaging in a power struggle. Practical strategies for being proactive as well as during and after escalation, followed by a period of building a toolbox together.
This will be a lecture and interactive type workshop including visual aids, scenarios/role playing, discussion, action plan template, strategy tool-kit creating, and handouts for teachers to take with them. There will be a middle school focus, however, the information and strategies shared could be applied across all grade levels.
