Strategies for Trauma Informed and Healing Centered Teaching
Be flexible and take into account that trauma is not distributed equally. Those struggling prior to the pandemic with various challenges may have an even more difficult time now.
Prioritize relationships, wellbeing, compassion, and care over assignments and compliance.
Empower students by including them in decisions about the course, give them a sense of ownership, and help them understand how they can make a difference in these times.
Read more about these strategies in “A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus” from Teaching Tolerance and Four Core Priorities for Trauma-Informed Distance Learning from KQED.
Something else to consider alongside healing is the idea of liberation or the idea of liberatory design and liberatory teaching in our classroom. This idea and process comes from the d.school at Stanford University. A part of this design process includes empathy. Empathizing in the design process helps you to “focus on understanding the experiences, emotions, and motivations of others” Equity Centered Design Framework; Liberatory Design Toolkit.
Before moving on, reflect on the following questions:
- How does my identity and role in this course affect how and what students share with me?
- How do I maintain awareness of my biases and challenge them in order to see this community of learners more authentically?
- What do students in this course identify as their needs?
- How do systemic oppression and/or privilege affect this community of learners, and how does that relate to this course?