After reading about culturally sustaining pedagogy and trauma-informed pedagogy, what are some ways that you could incorporate these two and open pedagogy into your course?
Post your reply in the comments below.
Bonus Listen: For more information on trauma-informed pedagogy, Tea for Teaching has a terrific interview (48 mins) with Karen Costa, an educator who’s been working in this area for several years.
I already incorporate some of these pedagogies into my courses. Sociology lends itself well to culturally sustaining pedagogy as we spend lots of time reading/thinking/discussing how one’s cultural and social background shapes their worldview and experiences and I incorporate activities and assignments, like a sociological autobiography or PhotoVoice project on social stratification in students’ communities, that help students frame their diverse backgrounds and experiences in sociological terms. And while I didn’t realize that there’s a name for it, it was trauma-informed pedagogy that I was practicing this spring to help my students get through this trauma.
However, despite the fact that I use these pedagogical approaches to some degree in my classes already, I would like to go further. Part of why I am doing this seminar is to rethink my readings for SOC 100 and diversify what it usually a very white, male canon. I think I can also slightly revise my assignments (like the sociological autobiography or PhotoVoice project) to make it more explicit that students should draw upon their own knowledge, background and experiences, and apply this expertise to sociological interpretation of their lives and communities.
These are three enormous topics, so I will just say a little about each one, with the understanding that I am still learning and evolving my ideas.
1. culturally sustaining pedagogies: Firstly, I think that including texts by non-white, non-mainstream authors is a helpful place to start. I believe texts that acknowledge different dialects such as the short stories in the Intro to Literature book by Sherman Alexie and Jamaica Kincaid are helpful in opening the dialogue about how to include one’s own cultural identity in one’s writing. Although these examples are in the canon of literature, I would like to find other examples that are newer, and I sometimes ask my students for examples of writers they like, which we share in class. They have suggested Prince E, a youtube spoken word poet, and Atticus, an instagram poet. We have discussed this work in class, and I think it helps to acknowledge that language and writing are evolving, and these forms that relate do contemporary culture that is not white and middle class is helpful. I try to include feeder assignments that give students opportunities to express their cultural identity, whether it is through family food customs, rituals, sociolinguistics, or ways of writing essays. I’ve recently had an exchange student from China explain that their method of writing research papers was different, and started with their reason for doing it, and their personal connections. This student wrote a very poetic piece for the research paper, and I shared it as an example of how different ways of using language can expand our possibilities in writing.
2. trauma-informed pedagogy: okay, I have to admit that the very word, “trauma,” has me palpitating, and this is not easy for me to write about. I try to make everything I do trauma-informed by staying positive, because life is hard, so why not do something to make it a tiny bit easier. I do my best to be sensitive to the needs of the class.
a) providing content warnings is important. In one of my earlier classes, a student shared an overly evocative description of assault in class, and I made sure this never happened again. I make sure that I check all content ahead of time, and–if it might necessitate a trigger warning–I usually choose a different piece to share.
b) I always start with a class with positive encouragement for what the class has done. A few students wanted to start the class with a short meditation. I thought this was a great idea, and tried it, but it didn’t work because late arrivals were disruptive. Of course this wouldn’t work for an online class.
c) Checking in with students is important. I don’t know how much I can really do to help, but I feel that a number of students appreciated that they could share with me in confidence their situations. It has become clear to me that–last semester in particular–most students may have or may currently be experiencing trauma, due to emotional, financial, or health reasons. I make it clear that their well being is most important.
d) I cannot claim to understand the individual suffering of people other than myself, but I try to keep an upbeat and encouraging atmosphere in which everyone can feel valuable.
So the main aspects of trauma based pedagogy that I use in the class are staying positive, keeping communication open, and making it clear that I am open to learning how I can be more helpful.
3. I would love to make a class zine in which everyone contributes something, whether it is a cartoon, a poem, or a piece of prose. If we’re online, it could be a group portfolio.
Sorry for the typos, there is no option to edit here. 🙂 In item 1, I meant, *relate to contemporary culture, not “do.” In item 2b there is an extra “with.”
Appreciated these ideas and responses, Yolande!
1) CSP: In my public speaking course, the major projects in the classroom all involve some kind of public presentation. In preparation for these presentations, I encourage students to choose topics about which they already know a great deal, and about which they feel some kind of strong personal connection. I encourage them to use these presentations as opportunities to expand their audiences’ understanding of the world, or to champion a cause that is important to the presenter. When I offer suggestions of the kinds of topics about which one might present, I strive to compile lists of items in the news recently that reflect the diversity of my students. My students and I spend time talking about the wonderful diversity of individuals and experiences that this audience brings to these presentations, and the benefits of being sensitive to that fact. I encourage my students to seek out a wide range of credible sources when preparing their presentations in order to get a range of perspectives on an issue, especially when working on persuasive presentations. At times, I will invite student whose first language is not English to speak/present in their first language. When talking about presentations, my students and I talk about ways in which the same words being said by a different presenters could have different impacts on or meanings to an audience depending on who is saying them.
2) Trauma-informed Pedagogy: At the beginning of each semester, my students and I talk about that fact that we all could be currently facing challenges now or in the future. I encourage my students to contact me about any of these challenges as early as possible, if they think this challenge may impact their work in class, in order to allow us to find ways to navigate those challenges sooner, rather than later. I provide referral information for campus resources such as counseling, the writing center, etc. I have included projects where students collaborate on presentations, but would like to find ways to get students to do this more effectively. I work to make sure that I point out what students did well with their presentations, as well as ways they can make improvements going forward. I make it clear that there is no such thing as a “perfect” presentation, and that I am not looking for perfection. I’d like to find more effective ways for students to provide more peer advice to each other on projects while the presentations are still being developed.
3) Open Pedagogy: I’d like to find ways incorporate the creation of a shared annotated bibliography for some of the projects. I’d like to find ways of getting students to create and review questions based on concepts that we’ve covered on class.
As a mathematician, at least 80% of what I do in class is talk down student anxiety.
The formal school system in this country isn’t collectively traumatic experience for most people. This is especially true in the way math is disseminated in this country. I won’t even say taught.
School was traumatic for me as well, so I approach every student with empathy and encouragement. I need to help them dismantle the limiting beliefs they have about their supposed inability to do what I am asking them to do.
It is also helpful for them to see that math is not simply a creation of affluent Europeans since the renaissance. I try to work in some history of math to go beyond this narrative, but in a calculus class there isn’t a lot of time available to spend on history, so this is a challenge.
Whoops! Please excuse the typo. I meant to write “the formal school system… is a collectively traumatic experience”.
I blame autocorrect.
This is a tall order, but I’ll muse first on some of the ways that the principles of CSP could allow for a more pluralistic approach to a canon-centered Intro to Lit course. I like to begin my semesters with an icebreaking exercise, intended not only as a diagnostic and “getting to know one another” moment, but also framed as a chance for students to push back against the syllabus and steer the class to some degree. I offer a series of prompts: “Who are you? What are you doing here? What are you into?” (This third question was originally about their literary backgrounds, but since I’ve found that most students do little to no reading I’ve started using it as a chance to ask about other media, hobbies, traditions, which we can then somehow work into our class discussions.) “What are you looking forward to in a class like this? What are you dreading?”
I like the “opening” gesture suggested by the approaches we’ve encountered, and I wish that my weekly reading responses could better incorporate connections from beyond the course. I’ve found that students respond well when invited to contribute their experiences to our discussions, probably because it’s often so easy, and I’m wondering how these comparatively low-friction tasks might be used to grease the way into more demanding work. For instance, I teach Walter Benjamin’s short essay “Unpacking My Library,” which is about his book-collecting, and ask students to share stories about their own collecting practices (nearly all have something to say). I then ask whether Benjamin theorizes their experience accurately–whether his words ring true to them–and what, if anything, they’d change or update (this has led to some fruitful conversations about different cultural practices, digitization, and so on). When I teach experimental poetry I like to ask students to adopt a simple constraint (univocality, say–the use of a single vowel) and then work in groups to produce their own poetry. When we reconvene to share the results I stress that I’m most interested in hearing about their methods–*how* they worked–rather than how the results compare to whatever published ideal we’ve encountered on the syllabus.
This attention to process is also what struck me most about trauma-informed pedagogy. I want to be upfront with students that courses are always works-in-progress: it humanizes the endeavor (and me!) a little more, and makes it clear that there’s always room for flexibility and reconsideration. I’m a supporter of the “checking in” ethos here: I build in preliminary deadlines (mutually agreed upon, when possible, via conversation), and emphasize regular office hours (although I struggle with whether or not to make these mandatory). After every major assignment (usually papers, in my case) I’ll devote the first chunk of class to what I call a “debriefing session,” where we can share experiences–positive or negative–about the process and crowd-source possible approaches to common hurdles. The idea here is that we’re setting ourselves up for a better experience next time.
Overall, I found it hard to apply the ideas in “What is Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Why Does It Matter” to my course to my course Critical Thinking for ESL students, CRT 100.6 The ideas in the article, while important, were not new to me, and seemed to be combatting something of an illusory straw man in suggesting that faculty are not already teaching with an awareness of our institutional cultural and educational hegemonies. Maybe the issue is that CRT 100 already is a course that espouses and teaches questioning of authority, revisionism, and a multiplicity of perspectives. I have only taught CRT 100 twice (once to nonnative speakers and once in the traditional form), and in the traditional form, we’ve included readings on and discussions of “Seven Seconds in the Bronx,” a reading on the Amadou Diallo shooting, a comparison of newspaper accounts of Malcolm X’s assassination, an article examining a recent court case in which a Massachusetts mother with a mental disability lost custody of her newborn daughter, fought the ruling, and won custody. It’s part of the course’s architecture to examine multiple perspectives.
I actually found the example of the young Native student, (7) who was motivated to stay in school solely because his school offered a new class on Native american literature, to be rather saddening. While I also try to choose literature that will grab students emotionally and otherwise, the increasing tendency of many among the younger generations to “turn off” of that which they cannot immediately relate to and grasp seems very harmful to me. Of course, the forces that have created this mindset start early and go deep, so it is arguable that the job of instructors is to work with these students in whatever ways it can.
As for trauma-based pedagogy, faculty need to be understanding, empathetic, flexible, and respectful of students’ privacy. There have been periods when the subway has been running particularly badly, and I tried to excuse student lateness that was owing to subway delays. This is like that, times a thousand!
Hi Katherine, it sounds like–as a teacher of Critical Thinking for ESL Students, you already have to incorporate many of these ideas into your course.
I agree that the case of the young Native American student who stayed on only because his school finally offered a class he could relate to is rather sad. I think that it can be comforting to work with material that acknowledges our background. However, I agree that part of learning is finding the universal in situations and material that is outside of what we are familiar with.
You are so trusting with that subway excuse! I always accept these excuses on the surface, but inside, I am thinking that I have never been late and I wonder how they would respond if I did the same. Perhaps some of them would be pleased! 🙂
1. Teaching film-making as I do, is -I think- ideal in terms of culturally sustaining pedagogy. My colleagues and I encourage our students to present documentary and fiction stories drawn from their own cultures. For instance in VAT 171 Remote Production One, the second project is a documentary portrait of a person or place. Students are asked to turn to their own families and friends and, among others, conduct interviews in languages other that English when needed (however, they do need to subtitle the material.)
2. When we moved online in March, I made sure to spend a considerable amount of every class having my students share their experiences. It seemed to be therapeutic for them. I also shared my own evolving response and changing moods during the Covid-19 lockdown as well as my difficulties adapting to the new online teaching format. Students were, in addition, encouraged to express their life under quarantine in scripts and films. However, I became aware that it was not always possible to “make lemonade out of lemons,” so documenting their quarantine was not a requirement. They were free to do other topics. I am planning to continue to listen to my students more attentively and in general continue this pandemic-generated approach, whether we remain online or return to face-to-face instruction this fall- and beyond.
3. I suppose I have been unknowingly implementing some degree of open pedagogy. For instance, I have typically encouraged students to share with the class and analyze clips from films they liked. That enriched my students’ (and my own) film knowledge and generates interesting class discussions. Inspired by my reading and my fellow cohort’s responses, I will push toward including even more open pedagogy in my teaching.
I open the semester with an assignment: choose a piece of your favorite music to present to the class in any style and/or genre. Prepare a 6 – 8 minute presentation which includes sharing the piece of music with us in real time as well as giving some background information including 1) the title, 2) the creator, 3) the genre and 4) the era. Some of those items the students may not yet fully grasp. I also invite them to let us know why they chose this piece of music and how it affects them. From this starting point, I give them an assignment for a second presentation later in the semester, typically on a classical composer. But not always. For instance, I had a Middle-eastern native bring in Egyptian Classical music the first time ’round. I was so taken with it, and wanted to learn more, so selfishly, I asked her to continue with this project. I have done similar things with some Latina students. If they have a particular composer from the list of “classical” composers that they want, I usually allow them to pursue that avenue. Although I believe that I am supposed to be teaching the classical music of Western Civilization, perhaps changes are in the wind. I could see pursuing this project with a more asset-based endgame. Although, I do have to admit a more than certain degree of ignorance.
I am hesitant to introduce modules of the music of the 21st century, but I do think music of the 20th century, particularly jazz and classic rock falls into the genre of “classical music” of western civilization. And a greater degree of emphasis could be achieved.
Regarding trauma-based pedagogy, I had a student start off with the first assignment (mentioned above) with music that represented a dysfunctional relationship. Well…..opera and other classical pieces of music are filled with those, so I assigned her that kind of follow-through. She didn’t make the connection. Somehow, I don’t quite get what right we have intruding on their trauma. On the other hand, in applied studies (that is private music instruction), the students trauma comes up over and over and it is important for the teacher to address how we work around such issues without minimizing the issues.
Culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) ~ The second semester that I taught ENG 101 (fall 2018), a student asked if we could start the class with the Socratic method; she explained it as something they did in high school, where the educator wrote an open-ended question (focusing on a social issue) on the board and opened it the class (He simply moderated). Without hesitation, I wrote a question on the board about women on the Supreme Court (I can’t remember why). The discussion went on for almost 20 minutes (of a 4-hour class). Everyone participated either with a comment or a question. Last year, fall 2019, I used a similar opening, and the students’ faces lit up. I presented a claim: “If you can’t read, you can’t do math.” I’d heard that from a math instructor at a training I had attended. Immediately, students voiced their disagreements: “I disagree; that’s not true.” I facilitated by asking for two arguments in favor and two against. Using this approach, we realized that we knew more about writing thesis statements/claims than originally thought. As a class, we’d engaged in “Think Aloud”. When we started writing an outline for how to approach the department’s final essay (worth 30 percent of their overall grade), we accomplished that task with ease. As a community, everyone contributed. I plan to use this approach as an introduction to our discussions on Claims-Evidence-Warrant, to encourage students to engage in the conversation and connect to the selected final readings (some of which are challenging for them).
Trauma-informed pedagogy ~ When I think of trauma-informed pedagogy, I think of something I heard from a colleague (but I’m changing it up a bit): Life happens before my class, during my class and even after my class. I say this because I’m still developing a sense of what the pedagogy means and how to better and fully enact it into my course. For now, I plan to make space to validate the concerns and hurts presented, acknowledge its existence (existing traumas in students’ lives) earlier on in my sessions as we delve into the work, and respond in action.
Open Pedagogy ~ I hope to rethink my readings and have more culturally, diverse writers for my ENG 201 literature course. I already use several, but I fear that as I continue teaching this course, I’ll run out of resources that the students can legally access. This past spring semester, I introduce the students to poems by Gina Valdes, Rhina P. Espaillat, and Terrance Hayes. The students embraced and referenced these poets even after we’d completed the assignments. Accessing more diverse, unknown playwrights, poets and writers, anthologies (that exclusively feature people of color, LGBTQIA+ writers and scholars) and encouraging students to read beyond the assigned pages (including documentaries and video recordings of them reading their works or being interviewed) will give students a rich learning experience.
Open pedagogy: I have incorporated all sorts of journals, creating timelines in art history that are personal. I was thinking of turning this into group experiences, so that each might bring different opinions and expertise into a collective project. For instance, a larger collective art timeline on social protest.
Regarding involving more participation in the course, in terms of open pedagogy: I really like the idea of inviting students to give feedback on assignments, their instructions, even the objectives. I do this often for the midterm, to get a sense of what they found difficult, both in the midterm and in the content to study, problems studying, and I tell them explicitly as we discuss this that I will be taking their feedback into consideration for the final exam (which I do, and I let them know how their feedback affected my choices). I have attempted to incorporate something similar for papers, but so far I have only done it in an oral manner, as a conversation. Something similar might be done for the scaffolded papers, at some stage, develop some feedback rubric practice, where the students both evaluate the assignment and have space for self-reflection on what they think they could improve themselves tackling such assignments/the following step…
Culturally sustaining pedagogy: To balance out hegemonic Western bibliography, I try to work with non-white, non-male authors and artist’s statements as much as I can, but this is something I am working on. In several assignments (formal and informal) and in class discussions, I prompt students to connect the artworks to their own experiences (for example, the creation of personal timelines in art history, in which the tell their own history of art). This has translated into some of the museum paper essays as well, connecting the narratives they see represented to contemporary ones or those they are familiar with. For example: they might be looking at the public bronze sculpture of a Roman patrician, and part of the work of analyzing how power or class is conveyed is supported by making a visual essay with images in which they reflect on ways they see power conveyed today or that they relate to. I still think this needs much more fine-tuning.
This ties in to trauma. It is a topic that permeates art, so I try to be as sensitive as I can when dealing with it explicitly, on issues of racism, discrimination, migration. Some unexpected things have happened when dealing with postwar art, as I connect abstract expressionism for instance with artists working in war-torn parts of Asia (Iraqi artists for instance). Though the images selected are completely abstract, they provide an entry into referring to trauma, devastation, loss, and doing informal writing on this, which then leads to discussion on the topics. I became aware that no matter how abstract the images, this triggered some students (even though it was in a cathartic manner). Reading on this made me realize that I do not necessarily prepare them beforehand for the sensitive topic and what it might bring. On the other hand, I have tried to incorporate into the somatic work done in class some form of meditation or healing practices as both coping and learning strategies.
Culturally sustaining pedagogy and open pedagogy: In the past, I have asked students to introduce the music they love and I subsequently turned it into teaching materials for the classes. I would like to take this further and have students prepare presentations of music they love, using listening skills and musical understanding they acquired in class.
Trauma-Informed: After the sudden shift to remote learning in the Spring, I have incorporated meditation in my courses as a way to calm the students’ minds before starting the class. Even through it was only for a few classes, the students reacted positively to the activity. I plan to include short meditation as part of the routine for my classes, as a way to promote wellness and self-care.
Economics is without a doubt the best example of a “colonized” social science. Dominated by white men from upper class backgrounds, the teaching of Economics in the vast majority of American universities is about teaching students the wonders of capitalism. There is no such a thing as discussions of pedagogical strategies, because this is a field where there are no disagreements about what to teach or how to teach it. Like any other religion, the Economics profession uses basically the same textbook. Of course, there are many authors of textbooks and each one speaks and writes with a slightly different voice but they all present the same content: the virtues and benefits of a free-market capitalist system. The church of Neoclassical Economics (the dominant school) is, however, increasingly being challenged by a small but loud radical heterodoxy that traces its roots mainly to Karl Marx’s vast contribution to the field. It is within this heterodoxy that the space for bringing “Culturally Sustaining”, “Trauma-informed”, and “Open” pedagogies can be created.
Here are some thoughts on how I could introduce some of these pedagogical approaches in my economics courses:
1. Culturally Sustaining pedagogical strategies: demystify the textbook presentation of certain markets as socially ideal by discussing its actual destructive effects on communities of color. Example: discuss and present empirical evidence on the negative effects of fracking and oil production on communities of color throughout the US to counter the textbook emphasis on the positive aspects of fossil fuels extraction and the oil market in general.
2. Trauma-informed pedagogical strategies: ask students to look for, read, and present in class summaries of news articles that discuss how communities of color are affected in a negative way by the normal working of the profit motive.
3. Open pedagogies: introduce students to radical schools of economic thought where issues of race, class, gender and the environment are discussed and analyzed. Make students aware that although people of color’s experience is largely missing in economics textbooks, their insights, thoughts and opinions are valued and needed in order to change (decolonize) the economics discipline.
Culturally sustaining pedagogy and open pedagogy: My major is Computer science and I entered the U.S in 2013. When I have admitted to Ph.D., I understood that my different cultures is not only affected my behavior but also my learning. Students that had lived and raised in the U.S were able to catch up with everything sooner than me. Because of two reasons: first, the had a good background in computer knowledge because they had educated in the U.S educational system and second they get used to U.SA pedagogy which really helps them to know how to study and learn in an American school. After this tough experience, I have decided to make this experience smooth for my students. In the BMCC we have students from different cultures with different cultural pedagogy. I give my students enough time to learn how is U.S pedagogy and what expected from them. after many sessions, I can recognize that what kind of learning system each of them get used to it and I try to explain the material or the U.S learning policy by their experiences and gradually make them ready to switch to the pedagogy that they expected for that.
Trauma-Informed: right know I am doing the research on tracking CUNY netizens’ concern to find what CUNY students and faculty worry about. I found that one thing that both groups are concern about, is the financial problem. I am trying to explain to my students about new CUNY policies about noncredit rules that do not affect their tuition fees and also if they need any devices for distance learning then the university will provide it for them. Totally I try to calm them down.
Hello,
There is so much food for thought in these articles. I am still slightly overwhelmed by the concept of implementing a trauma-based pedegogy.
I will address this first, drawing from my experiences teaching online during the pandemic. The most important lesson for me was that the students needed to be engaged regularly and routine was important. I expanded my role from instructor to sympathetic listener and referred students to our counseling services. I sent out emails to students that seemed to drift. Overall, I changed my pedagogal stance to that of a sympathetic friend. I made myself available online more often and encouraged students to check in, if only to just hang out.
For CSP, I will incorporate more health issues related to women and non-white people. When possible, I will incorporate more historical background that includes underrepresented groups of students.
Open pedagogy lends itself to empowering students to construct their own resources and tools for success. For my anatomy courses, I may encourage students to create a blog or webpage highlighting contributions of less-known scientist of color.
For the CSP, at the first day of class , I give a little background of myself. Then besides other questions I ask students to talk about themselves and where are they from and share any traditions of their country with the classmates. I guess by acknowledging that we are all different, and every single one of us has something to give to the class is a step forward of CSP.
As per trauma-based pedagogy, I try to be understanding and very emphatic. I take very serious their reasoning for missing lab, lecture or even exam. I try to have a one to one conversation with them and make sure to be there for my students.
I think one of the positive elements of the textbook I used in past semesters is that each chapter has a section called “Diversity Counts” and brought in potential caveats to everything the chapter had covered through a lens of different segments of the population that might interpret or interact with the legislation or concepts differently. I don’t think that section did quite enough, but I’m happy it was a part of the canon of the course.
Ultimately, I’d like to expand this and to ask students to contribute specific examples (and maybe have them help write questions for future quizzes and exams) from their own experiences to cast an even wider net. I think bringing in current events (COVID-19 was a HUGE topic this semester, especially as we got to sections on workplace safety) helps to create bridges of relevancy, and allows students to be vulnerable and ask questions they might not otherwise have a forum for. I also like to start my course by asking students how I can best set them up for success, and each class by asking for positive news, big or small.
In Science in may appear not that easy to apply some of these concepts as there is a lot of knowledge based content, what I try to do is draw from the student’s previous knowledge on a topic or even on misconceptions to be debunked. Everybody knows something, has some level of experience that can be given value within context. And then we build on that often discussion resources open to us for free, as the Science Times that I make required reading, or videos/articles that I share on BlackBoard and when short enough play in class.
Another way to include and value student experiences is to start with their cultural background, what traditional remedies their families use and that we can test for efficiency. This is mostly done as a lit assignment if for a whole class, but more valuable as student hands-on research.
The readings about CSP and Trauma Informed Teaching and Learning are very informative and reflects many factors in the current environment we’re in. In our transition to distance learning, the inequities vary with our students. These have already been documented, discussed with efforts by the university to provide resources to fill the needs of our students. Educators, as well, made tremendous adjustments to accommodate and emphatize with our students. But the inequities comprise more than just equipment, it includes the living space, affordability of services, and experience. Equipment, software, in-person support were elements that were difficult to obtain by many students. And in a class that requires them, we try to guide the students to look for alternatives, like open-source software, and open forums for technical information.
In sensitivity to trauma when teaching and learning, I had a few students which had experienced the trauma of the COVID-19, directly, to himself or a family member. One of the lessons I had was how to record your location and time and calculate if you are withing a proximity at a certain time to someone infected, a method we designed for contact tracing for a database lesson. I was cautious of the fact that the topic might be to sensitive for some students, so I shortened the time spent on the topic.
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: For me this involves meeting students where they are, and celebrating that. Incorporating all forms of culture both traditional and non-traditional effectively build critical observations, conflict resolution, and self-esteem/ confidence for students in all academic, professional and personal circles.
Starting from ‘my own point of view’ of a student, what proved successful were activities that guided me step by step to a universal idea/ widely accepted concept. This allowed me (the student) to find my place within the larger academic world and gave me the tool(s) to extrapolate future theories or theorems presented to me. The ability to go back and forth between the two realms only strengthened my understanding, and has helped propel me in several walks of life.
Trauma Informed Learning/ Teaching: In the ESL classroom this is ever present in general. I have not had a semester that a major world event did not touch one of my students’ lives. We have had natural disasters, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, mental illness, economic upheaval, political occupations/ protests and trafficking of all forms of contraband or human trade enter our realm of classroom discourse – planned or unplanned. Students have showed me live videos of their homes being shot at and bombed back home while we were in class. Some students also found themselves to be suddenly homeless mid-semester. The list as many of you already know is endless. The point is taking that into consideration, and the long hours many work/commute; it seems only natural for us to start thinking about incorporating those realities into our lessons. Allow ourselves to move through classroom activities with some flexibility that when such moments enter the news or our students’ lives, we make it a meaningful teachable moment.
I have dealt with all forms of tragedy by giving students the option to do something about it. In essence, building agency within students’ as a skill set that is celebrated in many fields especially in academia. Students need a safe space to share their thoughts and feelings. Classroom discussions are great for that, but so are assignments that provoke advocacy and agency. Not only is this therapeutic, but it is also motivational because there is a direct connection between the lesson/ subject and the students’ real lives. In my opinion, we could theoretically do this in all of our fields with some work and help from the college at large.