K-12 School Improvement Leader

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POVERTY 

The focus of our professional developments is to reach reluctant and/or struggling staff member(s) and provide a basis for their interactions with all constituents who are proponents for a culture rich learning environment.

The focus of our presentations is to learn creative ways to remove emotional barriers for student achievement. Increase emotional Intelligence and awareness. Gain tools to help students process and cope with emotional trauma and develop creative ways to build relationships and trust with students.

Participants attending our workshops will be able to return to their schools/districts, review their school improvement plans with their leadership teams and begin to refine existing practices in teaching and reaching high risk youth. 

Educators must educate themselves about “cultural poverty.” Educators should help students & colleagues “unlearn” misperceptions about poverty. Educators should continue reaching out to low-income parents even when they appear unresponsive “(and without assuming, if they are unresponsive, that we know why).” “Stand up and respond” when your colleagues stereotype poor students and/or parents. “Fight” to keep low-income students from being assigned unjustly to special education or low academic tracks. Make your curriculum “relevant” to poor students. Most important, “consider how our own cultural biases affect our interactions” with and expectations of our students.  

TRAUMA 

Trauma-informed education isn't about fixing kids: Our kids are not broken, but our systems are. Operating in a trauma-informed way does not fix children; it is aimed at fixing broken and unjust systems and structures that alienate and discard students who are marginalized.

As educators explore the complexities of being trauma-informed, we need to remember that trauma-informed work is a journey and not a destination. It doesn’t mean that teachers need to do the work of professional therapists. Our part in helping students with trauma is focusing on relationships, just as we do with all of our students. The strong, stable, and nurturing relationships that we build with our students and families can serve as a conduit for healing and increasing resilience.

Becoming trauma-informed in our daily practice is truly a process of learning and adjustment, but it is a worthwhile process. As educators we should Recognize the signs of trauma, Provide consistency and structure, Utilize social-emotional learning, Use restorative practices over zero-tolerance policies, and Implement a trauma-informed pedagogy