EDUC 543

Trauma Informed Teaching Presentation Assignment Instructions

According to the National Survey for Children’s Health (2013), approximately 35 million children in the United States have experienced one or more types of childhood trauma. This assignment will provide you with an opportunity to examine childhood trauma and the impact of traumatic stress on behavior and academic performance.

For this assignment you will create a presentation that outlines the purpose of trauma informed teaching and establishes a plan to provide a supportive environment for students who may have been impacted by trauma. The presentation should be designed for an audience of teachers, teacher assistants, and paraprofessionals who will be working with you in your classroom. The presentation should include:

1. School Description (school may be real or fabricated):

a. Provide a brief description of the school and surrounding community.

b. Include the grade level that will be addressed in this presentation.

c. Describe the demographics of the class.

2. Components of Traumatic Stress (include examples for each component):

a. What is traumatic stress?

b. Causes of traumatic stress

c. Determining the extent of trauma (ACE Scores)

3. Creating a Trauma-Informed Classroom:

a. Philosophy of trauma-informed teaching

i. Articulate your philosophy regarding the support that teachers and staff members should provide to students who may have been impacted by trauma.

b. Physical components of the classroom (appearance, organization of furniture)

c. Classroom procedures to support students who may have been impacted by trauma.

d. Emergency care/crisis response

i. What will you do if a child who has been impacted by trauma experiences a mental health crisis in your classroom?

ii. How will you assure your students of their safety and well-being while in your school or classroom?

4. Cultural Responsiveness:

a. Explain how cultural differences may impact the way that families respond to trauma in terms of:

i. Responding to trauma

ii. Seeking help to process the impact of traumatic events

5. Discipline Policies and Practices

a. How can traumatic stress impact behavior?

b. Explain how you will address disciplinary issues in your classroom.

c. Provide detail on how you will adjust your classroom management plan for students who may have been impacted by trauma.

6. Partnership with Parents

a. Explain how you will work with parents to provide support for children and other members of the family who may have been impacted by trauma.

b. Develop a plan for communicating with parents of children who have been impacted by trauma.

7. Self-care/Secondary Traumatic Stress

a. Summarize the definition of secondary traumatic stress.

b. How will you use self-care to avoid stress and burnout as a result of secondary traumatic stress?

c. Discuss the importance of self-care in an effort to combat the effects of secondary traumatic stress.

The presentation must follow current APA formatting standards and include a minimum of 20 slides and at least 5 references/in-text citations