What Is Trauma-Informed Teaching?
Written by:
Wilson College
• Nov 7, 2024
More than 2 out of 3 children experience at least one traumatic event by their sixteenth birthday, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Child traumatic stress can cause learning problems, including suspensions and lower grades. Trauma has also been found to be a significant risk factor for many behavioral disorders.
Trauma-informed teaching can help support these vulnerable students. Earning an education degree can help education professionals develop trauma-informed approaches to teaching that can have a positive impact on their students’ experiences. But what is trauma-informed teaching?
Trauma-Informed Teaching Defined
Students bring many types of learning styles to the classroom. They also carry their past experiences with them, which can include traumatic experiences. Trauma-informed teaching focuses on helping students who are dealing with traumatic stress regulate their emotions, develop problem-solving skills, and grow emotionally.
Signs that a student is experiencing child traumatic stress include the following.
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Becoming easily overwhelmed or exhausted
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Irritability and struggling to concentrate
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Difficulty regulating emotions, including showing outbursts
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Being unengaged or underperforming
By labeling these behaviors as disruptive, educators fail to appropriately support these students. They also risk creating a power struggle or escalating a child’s emotional dysregulation. Instead of implementing disciplinary measures, trauma-informed teachers create a safe space where the students can thrive.
How to Apply Trauma-Informed Teaching Approaches
Educators can make a positive difference in affected children’s lives by introducing trauma-informed teaching strategies into their classrooms. Both teachers and students benefit from a social and emotional learning environment that helps students develop self-management, social awareness, and relationship skills.
Cultivating positive relationships with students is key to applying trauma-informed teaching approaches. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development recommends the “two by ten” rule, where the teacher talks to the student for two minutes a day for 10 consecutive days—-and these conversations should not touch on behavior or academic performance. This strategy develops trust between the teacher and the student.
Recent research in Teaching Education recommends a strength-based approach to trauma-informed teaching rather than a deficit-based approach. Instead of viewing child traumatic stress as a deficiency that leaves students lacking skills, educators can focus on the resilience that child trauma survivors demonstrate.
More broadly, schools that implement trauma-informed approaches demonstrate a commitment to maintaining a psychologically safe learning environment for all students. To that end, school staff need to be trained in trauma-informed practices, regulation skills, and appropriate interventions.
Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies
From an educator’s perspective, a single child dealing with traumatic stress can disrupt the entire classroom. The school environment can even trigger child traumatic stress. Students may instigate power struggles with teachers to assert control. Or they may react defensively, internalizing adult criticism in an unhealthy way.
These trauma-sensitive strategies can help teachers create a safe classroom culture.
Relationship Building
Prioritizing relationships allows educators to foster a safe, supportive environment. Along with a supportive classroom culture, educators can extend this effort by building relationships with families and the community as well.
Teachers can work with school counselors and staff to create student success plans that highlight the most effective trust-building strategies for individual students. Similarly, teachers benefit from identifying triggers that can lead to a dysregulated response from a student. By responding to a student’s outbursts or struggles with understanding and empathy, educators can further strengthen their relationship with the student.
Restorative Practices
In trauma-informed teaching, punitive practices are replaced with restorative practices. Instead of punishing students for behavioral outbursts or removing them from the classroom, educators can implement inclusionary approaches that view a student’s “misbehavior” as an attempt to communicate their unmet needs.
For example, teachers can have one-on-one conversations with students to emphasize learning from their mistakes. Class circles allow the entire class to address conflicts and discuss resolutions. Rather than punishing students for their behavior, these trauma-informed approaches emphasize repairing harm and rebuilding relationships.
Predictable Positive Attention
Creating a predictable environment helps support traumatized students. Providing predictable positive attention can strengthen trust between teachers and students.
In classrooms that use punitive strategies, students quickly learn that disruptive behavior is the fastest way to get a teacher’s attention. But students managing traumatic stress need positive attention on a predictable schedule. Teachers can check in on students at a set time to provide them with the support and reassurance they need. Positive attention focused on students’ strengths and successes also encourages the students to see their teachers as safe adults.
Growth Mindset
Students processing trauma often experience negative thinking and poor self-esteem. They can easily misinterpret a teacher’s tone, facial expressions, or corrections as much harsher than the educator intended. Trauma-informed approaches include providing students with explicit praise for positive behaviors and encouraging a growth mindset.
Teachers can identify students’ areas of strength and regularly encourage them in those areas. Praising students for their resilience can also help them develop self-awareness.
Emotional Regulation Activities
Integrating emotional regulation activities into the school day benefits all students. Schools can create morning routines that encourage connections between adults and students. In the classroom, morning meetings can promote healthy relationships and give students opportunities to resolve conflicts and gain social awareness.
When students struggle, teachers can draw on their trauma-informed strategies to help the students repair their relationships and reinforce their self-regulation skills.
Earn an Education Degree at Wilson College Online
Educators make a difference in the lives of children. At Wilson College Online, you’ll learn research-based classroom strategies and trauma-informed approaches that support all students.
Our online education programs include certification-eligible bachelor’s programs and master’s programs. Students can choose from the following programs:
Students in our education programs develop skills in special education, classroom assessment, and inclusive education while launching or advancing their careers in education. These programs offer a flexible format that fits the schedule of working educators.
Contact Wilson College Online today to learn more about our education programs.
Recommended Readings
Benefits and Examples of Student Self-Assessments
How to Create an Inclusive Classroom
How to Make a Career Change to Teaching
Sources:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, “Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies”
Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice, “Report: Trauma-Informed Schools”
Crisis Prevention Institute, “What Is Trauma-Informed Teaching and a Trauma-Responsive School?”
Edutopia, “Teachers Need Trauma-Informed Care, Too”
National Education Association, “Trauma-Informed Practices”
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Understanding Child Trauma
