Meeting the moment: Trauma responsive teaching for student success

ABSTRACT

Classroom environments, virtual and face-to-face, are changing; we are moving to focus more explicitly on students’ health and well-being and to ensure we actively promote anti-racist educational environments for students. This paper examines how we can enshrine those lessons into academic programs by institutionalizing a trauma-responsive approach to education; building upon key findings from student and adult development theories, then bridging the scholarship of teaching and learning literature as a guide for developing teaching practices that support individual student growth. We outline structured practices that faculty can utilize to improve learning and success for students who are experiencing personal, secondary, or institutional trauma while establishing boundaries in teaching. Five goals for trauma-responsive teaching include 1. Ensure safety; 2. Establish trustworthiness; 3. Maximize choice; 4. Maximize collaboration; and 5. Prioritize empowerment. We conclude by offering tangible practices to incorporate from syllabus changes to classroom discussion guidance and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Equitable teaching approach
• trauma-informed teaching
• trauma-responsive pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The authors of this paper are aware of the extensive literature related to the influence of faculty intersectional identities like gender identity, race, accent, etc. on student ratings of instruction (Kreitzer & Sweet-Cushman, 2021; Redding, 2019; Subtirelu, 2015); the rapport building aspect of instruction identified here may be correlated with these identity relationships, however, there is not evidence to date that examines this intersection.

2. The authors recognize that the politics of self-disclosure and admission of unfamiliarity/inexperience is complex. Disclosure of some identities is unavoidable, and people with minoritized identities may face more barriers for disclosing their experiences or admitting when they do not know something. The scope of this paper primarily exists within the classroom and student-instructor dynamics. However, if self-disclosure and saying “I don’t know” are not permissible for faculty in meetings or conversations with peers, this speaks to a larger institutional barrier that may prohibit this behavior change in the classroom. For these situations, a deeper exploration is required to tackle the systemic changes and incorporate trauma-responsive practices at the institutional level.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annie Miller

Annie Miller is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Associate Dean of Student Success and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs and leads Collaborative Management Consulting LLC. She is an active board member at the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, and the co-PI for the Colorado Project to Comprehensively Combat Human Trafficking. Her scholarship focuses on the effectiveness of networks and collaborations seeking to combat human trafficking, trauma informed public management, and capacity development at the community and network levels to end wicked problems.

Hope Yohn

Hope Yohn graduated from Regis University with a BS and MS in Criminology. She has extensive management experience and is a Training, Learning, and Organizational Development professional, informing her passion for organizational behavior and effective management. She hopes to research the organizational culture of criminal justice institutions, including organizational barriers to employee wellness, crime prevention, rehabilitation, and effective policy implementation. Hope volunteers as a victim advocate for a local police department and facilitates trauma-informed workshops on nonviolent conflict resolutions in prisons and community groups with the Alternatives to Violence Project.

Maren B. Trochmann

Maren B. Trochmann is an Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston where she teaches in the MPA Program and the Political Science Department. Her research agenda focuses on social equity, public personnel administration, and the nexus between public administration theory and practice. In the broadest terms, her research focuses on equitable, just, and humane public service - both for those working within the public sector and for the citizens who interact with or benefit from public services.