thoughts about trauma

Busy week this week and subbing every day.
Was reading Psychology Today and saw this quote, which really struck a cord:

Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside us in absence of an empathetic witness.

This is from Peter Levine's book In an Unspoken Voice, which I have not read, but will be on my list for this summer.

The quote grabbed my attention because of an experience I had with a K-5 student last year.  The student had a hard time regulating his emotions and behavior in the classroom, and teachers around him had a difficult time connecting with him and implementing behavioral interventions in the classroom that would work for him.  After a couple of months of mostly unsuccessful individual work with him, he was moved into a different classroom, and I worked with the new teacher on establishing consistent routines and responses that seemed to work with him.  The student craved attention and recognition, but was also very suspicious of females and sometimes became physically violent with female authority figures.  Finally, one of his family members reached out to me because they were seeing similar behaviors at home, and shared with me that this student experienced a traumatic event over the summer.  He was not physically abused but he witnessed abuse.

The student did not receive any help at the time or consequently.  The family did not feel it was necessary.  And this quote made me realize how important it would have been for this little kid to have a kind person to listen to him and share with them his experience and feelings after the event.  Instead, he internalized it all, made sense of it in his own developmentally appropriate but unhealthy way, and it all finally started coming out while at school and at home months later.  The experience and thinking about it afterwards made me realize that my only job with that student should have been to establish a trusting relationship, without attempting to immediately alter his behavior and cognitions.  He was missing solid and genuine connections with adult figures in his life, and was pushing all other adults away as well, as the only way he knew how to cope without getting too close.
I'm looking forward to reading Peter Levine's work, and I think sometime after I get a permanent position in a school, I'll take a trauma counseling course as well, something I should have done while doing my graduate work.

Reading ASCA

Yes, so I've slipped, and have not blogged the last couple of days. My excuses? I have been a bit down about not getting a position I interviewed for last week, and also have been working on new resumes and cover letters, which sucks up a lot of brain power and energy from other endeavors. Today, after finishing a new version of a cover letter for a position I really want, I decided to pick up the newest copy of the ASCA School Counselor magazine. This issue presents five outstanding school counselors from across the country who have been honored this year at being named the best in their profession. Reading their stories has been very inspiring and motivated me to get back on my blog wagon and keep doing what I am doing. The post will still be short, but I wanted to share a quote from one of the articles in the magazine, "Meant for Mentors."
                 "A school counselor who decides to stay isolated
                  will be rehashing the same lessons, struggling with the same concerns
                  and possibly making the same mistakes.  But to the school counselor who 
                  decides to seek out a positive, nourishing relationship, so much good is possible."
                               Anthony Pearson (a school counseling mentor)

I think it's so very important in our profession to seek out others' ideas and inspiration to keep ourselves motivated, to create better and more challenging and effective lessons, and to continue to inspire, lead, and advocate for all our students.

Source:
Pfleger, N. (2013, April). Meant for mentors. School Counselor, 50(4), 27-30.

You were late..now what?

I have a feeling most of my posts will be starting with the line: "While subbing the other day, I picked up..." or maybe not, but this one definitely will start with that.
I picked up this "tardy" slip in a middle school classroom last week.  I liked it because it is one of those procedural things that could be taught to kids at the beginning of the school year and that would establish clear parameters and expectations of the teacher for the classroom and for the students' behavior.  In this classroom, these slips are kept in a manila envelop that is hanging near the door.  So as a student walks into the classroom late, he/she will know to immediately grab one of these slips and fill it out.  I am assuming the teacher would expect the student to the turn it in by the end of the day, if not by the end of the hour.  This simple expectation of being responsible for one's own reflection saves the teacher and the classroom precious time at the start of the hour, so instead of having to ask the student why they are tardy or berate them for the tardiness as they walk in, the teacher can simply expect the student to write out the reflection and then speak with the student about it at a more convenient and conducive time.  I also like that it is structured as a reflection, which allows the student to consider how their behavior impacts the learning of others and themselves.  I could see using this as a counselor or offering it as a classroom management tool for teachers who are seeking for new ways to respond to student tardiness.

Tardy slip

The note asks to fill in:

I was late because:

Being late is disrespectful to myself because:

Being late is disrespectful to my fellow scholars because:

Being late is disrespectful to my teacher because:








In other notes, heard an interesting interview with a professor of linguistics, Anita Pandey, who spoke today on WUWM's Lake Effect program.  She talked about how educators can capitalize on students' ability to speak different dialects of English when teaching instead of disregarding their already existing linguistic abilities in their drive to teach students standard English.  Her book, Building Blocks: Essential Linguistics for Early Childhood Educators, sounds like a good resource for learning about how students' language impacts their education and achievement in the classroom.