Montgomery, Alabama 36117, United States
FULL DAY poverty & TRAUMA training
GED to PhD: The Story Behind the Data
Traumatized students are all too common in America’s schools. What's rare is an opportunity for educators to sit and absorb first-hand from a former at-risk student. Craig’s mom abused drugs, his father wasn’t present, he overcame a learning disability as a special education student. Craig repeated 3rd and 5th grade before dropping out in the 10th grade. Craig has a truly inspiring story, and his journey from GED to PhD is one that will have you motivated to go out and achieve greatness. In this engaging session participants will unlearn perceived fallacies about students who deal with trauma and come from poverty. The impact of childhood trauma and chronic stress is one of the most pressing issues facing educators and society at large. If you work with youth there’s a good chance you work with trauma. Trauma prevents students from being able to engage fully in the present moment. Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that educators should never give up on any student.
Collateral Damage: Educational Equity and Dropout Prevention
Trauma, Poverty, Detached Parents, and Apathetic Students, PLEASE HELP ME!
Poverty and trauma are all too common in America’s schools. What's rare is an opportunity for educators to sit and absorb first-hand from a former at-risk student who dropped out, endured a mother abusing drugs, absent father, and learning disability. In this engaging session participants will unlearn perceived fallacies about students from poverty. A school reflects society. Within a school's walls are especially vulnerable students, such as those with histories of neglect, trauma, or violence. Schools are well positioned to help these traumatized students. Although some might argue that teachers should focus solely on academics, the reality is that teachers can't teach effectively if their students are not able to focus on learning. Students cannot learn effectively when they are burdened by the effects of trauma and poverty. Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that educators should never give up on any student.
Is Your School Equitable for Trauma-Affected Students?
One thing more important than what you teach is who you teach knowing and understanding your students emotionally yields tremendous relational dividends. This session will explore the causes of trauma, its impact and how to effectively provide sound instruction for all students, particularly those in need of a response to trauma. Participants will also explore strategies to mitigate the traumatic impact of adverse childhood events for students of color. 50% of any interaction with a student is you. This means that unless we as educators are willing to look at ourselves and our reactions, no tools or skills are going to work in the classroom or in any other situation where we are having challenges with a child. Instead of judging kids or punishing kids hopefully you’ve figured out that kids are just trying to do the best they can to communicate whatever pain or distress lives inside of them. So now what do you do? The bad news is that there is no manualized program, no one-size fits all solution, no magic wand we can wave. Childhood trauma usually comes as the result of a breach in relationship and trust, and the best way to heal it is to rebuild those things, slowly, painstakingly and with a lot of patience. Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that educators should never give up on any student.
Lost Childhoods: Poverty, Trauma, & Crime
Poverty is Criminalized
America is facing a devastating surge in lethal violence in addition to staggering rates of poverty. Poverty and violence often intersect, feed one another, and share root causes. Neighborhoods with high levels of violence are also characterized by high levels of poverty, lack of adequate public services and educational opportunity, poorer health outcomes, asset and income inequality, and more. The underlying socioeconomic conditions in these neighborhoods perpetuate both violence and poverty. Furthermore, trauma can result from both violence and poverty. Unaddressed trauma worsens quality of life, makes it hard to rise out of poverty by posing barriers to success at school and work, and raises the likelihood of aggressive behavior. In this way, untreated trauma—coupled with easy gun availability and other factors—feeds the cycle of poverty and violence. Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that educators should never give up on any student.
Strategies to Dismantle the Pipeline
The school-to-prison pipeline is one of our nation’s most formidable challenges. It refers to the trend of directly referring students to law enforcement for committing certain offenses at school or creating conditions under which students are more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system, such as excluding them from school. It is imperative that educators (1) educate themselves about the “school discipline gap.” (2) Help students and colleagues unlearn misperceptions about students from poverty. (3) Continue reaching out to low-income families even when they appear unresponsive (and without assuming, if they are unresponsive, that we know why). (4) Respond when colleagues stereotype poor students and/or parents. (5) Fight to keep low-income students from being assigned unjustly to special education or low academic tracks. (6) Make curriculum relevant to poor students, drawing on and validating their experiences and intelligences. Most important, we must consider how our own class biases affect our interactions with and expectations of our students. Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that educators should never give up on any student.
Curbing Teacher Burnout
Are you adapting to a host of exhausting new challenges as an educator? Retaining high quality teachers has been a growing concern across the United States for some time now. You can’t have burnout unless there was once a fire. So, what happens when a teacher reaches the burnout stage? What has happened when the passion for teaching begins to fade and teachers no longer have the energy and enthusiasm they once had? During the session, participants will reflect on why they chose the field of education and brainstorm what they want for themselves, something many may not do enough. Educators will leave this workshop with a fresh perspective.
Breaking Down Walls
BUILDING STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS
Students put up walls, not to keep educators out but to see which educator cares enough to break them down. Teaching at-risk students with a wall up is such a challenge. In this engaging session participants will learn ways to break down wall’s students exhibit daily. Come learn from a former at-risk student who dropped out, mother was on drugs, absent father, and former special education student. With increased focus on curriculum development, meeting standards, and collecting data, sometimes it’s easy to forget that the best way to teach students is by building positive student-teacher relationships. A teacher who takes the time to engage with students reaps the benefits of increased cooperation in the classroom. Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that educators should never give up on any student.
400 YEARS AND AMERICA STILL DOESN’T FEEL LIKE HOME.
Black History
400 years of being oppressed, victimized and deemed unhuman. From slavery, Jim Crow, Emmett Till, to Dr. King and yeah, it’s still happening today. 400 years and were still in the same position. If you truly want to understand us, then you have to learn about us, from us. You have to feel our pain. Please try to love us. Because if you don’t, we’ll never grow as one nation. Open your heart because we can’t take another 400 years. Our schools are microcosms of society. A brief look into slavery, racism and injustice to blacks throughout American history will help to disrupt implicit racial bias and other forms of discrimination to improve student achievement. More than 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the nation’s public-school system has yet to fulfill its promise of equal educational opportunity for all. The goal is simply to open eyes AND hearts and hopefully inspire us to learn about our past so that we can properly move forward and ensure a better future for our children.
Trauma-Informed Practices for Postsecondary Education
In my presentation, the most frequent request I receive is for strategies to address angry, resistant participants, or ways in which to engage adult learners who mentally check out or otherwise refuse to avail themselves of the opportunity to explore new ideas and try new skills. If we adopt a trauma-informed lens to view these learners, we can gain empathy for them, stop reacting to their reaction, and then become curious about ways we might support them in healing and building more adaptive and flexible responses to learning and life. Trauma-informed educators recognize students’ actions are a direct result of their life experiences. When their students act out or disengage, they don’t ask them, ‘What is wrong with you?’ but rather, ‘What happened to you?’
Trauma Impacts Adult Learners: Here’s Why
If you build it, they will come. Think again. Nationally, adult education and literacy providers are only serving approximately 10% of the population in need. So how can we do better? Each day, over 7,000 students drop out. Come hear what one of these dropouts has to say about his experience transitioning from K-12 to Adult Learning. Learn how to avoid common learning pitfalls like wasting the first 10 minutes of an adult learner’s first day. After this workshop, you will have useful tools to effortlessly engage your learners and increase retention. Make your training more fun, interesting and effective! Craig’s trademark slogan, GED to PHD is a concrete paradigm that adult educators should never give up on any adult student.
We live in a world surrounded by trauma. There’s no doubt about it. The trauma comes from a myriad of sources including childhood adverse experiences, and natural disasters. The fact is that trauma produces symptoms. While symptomology differs from person to person (even within the same family), it affects the capacity of individuals of all ages to learn and retain information. When a person experiences trauma, it affects their bodies and their brains. The immediate response to trauma is autonomic and when our nervous system is activated, we cease using the cognitive portions of our brain. We use our primitive brain to survive. And, as we all know, we need our cognition to be operational because that is where most learning is enabled. Also, our memory is challenged by trauma and that involves not just the brain cortex but the amygdala and the hippocampus. Long story short: trauma impacts the body and brain; it follows as night follows day that trauma affects our capacity to learn.
Success Strategies for First-GeN/ traditional STUDENTS
Making the decision to continue your education is the first step to furthering your academic and professional potential. To mark your path for college success, you might be wondering where to begin and how to make the most of your time in school. As the first in your family to attend college, you may have a lot of questions about campus life and where to turn for help. The course teaches students time management skills, learning styles and techniques to improve memory, reading, notes and test taking skills. Emphasis is placed on developing positive attitudes, setting personal learning goals and motivating students through life goals and career planning. The cultures of the University and campus resources are explored.
