Giving Compass' Take:

• Educators offer insight as to three proactive strategies that help to address students who have been through trauma using social-emotional learning techniques. 

• How can teachers create more ally programs for students that have experienced trauma? 

• Read more about why social-emotional learning can help students facing adverse experiences. 

A foundation in social and emotional strength is proven to benefit students, both in the classroom and later in life.

When I was an educator, I saw firsthand how trauma can affect students, whether it was a student who experienced bullying, one who was coping with her parents’ divorce, or another who had witnessed a family member’s murder before immigrating to America with his mother, in search of safety.

As social-emotional learning is adopted by an increasing number of schools and districts around the country, we have a unique and important opportunity to embrace and integrate SEL instruction as an essential foundation relevant to everyday lessons and life — not simply as an emergency response to trauma.

  1. Clarifying the relationship between SEL and trauma-informed practices.  Rather than over-emphasizing traumatic events and defining students by them, let’s give young people the power to define their own experiences — starting with the assurance that resilience, a protective trait that helps kids recovery from adversity, can be taught.
  2. Understanding the power of labels for students. Think about how we talk about students’ inner lives: What do we communicate to ourselves and others about a student if we say he or she is “damaged” or “has a rough background”? Or if we say, “He’s a bad kid” or “She struggles”?
  3. Getting proactive.  Of course, these are the small-scale challenges that can help inspire resilience and teach some low-level strategies for coping with things like frustration and impatience.

Emergency responses such as trauma-informed instruction have their place, but those efforts should work in concert with focused, intentional SEL implementations. As all parents and educators know, children are born inquisitive, optimistic and naturally resilient.

Read the full article about social-emotional learning by Christina Pirzada at The Hechinger Report