Trauma-Informed Deeper Dive: Practices for Building & Sustaining Safe & Equitable Learning Communities, Venet, Spring 2021

Note: Course payment of $975 by check or purchase order, payable to Castleton University, is due at the time of registration. A purchase order number can be entered into the online registration form and the purchase order can be uploaded to the registration form. If paying by check, please mail the check to Financial & Registration Services, Castleton University, 62 Alumni Drive, Castleton, VT 05735. To help us ensure that your payment is applied to the correct course, PLEASE WRITE “CFS” IN THE CHECK MEMO LINE. Thank you.

Course Description

In this course, we’ll go beyond the basics of trauma-informed teaching and take a deeper dive into building and sustaining trauma-informed environments. We’ll critically look at how trauma-informed practice intersects with: identity, equity, policy, school culture, and more. We’ll also pay special attention to how our current educational situation, mid-pandemic, is affecting us all, and how trauma-informed principles might help us navigate through it.

We will use a combination of discussion, critical analysis activities, and action-research within our school settings. Teachers will leave the course with a deepened understanding of trauma-informed practices and action steps for enhancing their own practice. There will be a strong focus on self-care, wellness, and prevention of vicarious trauma and burnout; this focus will be threaded through the entire course design in addition to content-specific pieces.

*Note: if you have previously taken Alex’s course “Beyond the Buzzword,” this class has similar content. Reach out to Alex directly with questions about whether this course is right for you.

Course Goals & Objectives

Course Goals:

• To deepen and complicate our understanding of the trauma-informed education movement.
• To advance our individual and communal teaching practice in support of trauma-affected students.
• To enhance the equity focus of our trauma-informed efforts.
• To expand our practice of wellness and self-care as a core part of sustaining ourselves as teachers.

 Course Objectives:

Participants will:

• Reflect on their own teaching practice through a trauma-informed lens
• Understand issues and trends in the broader educational conversation on trauma
• Identify personal and school-wide strategies for wellness and self-care
• Describe the intersection between trauma and identity in the context of schools
• Be able to evaluate systemic barriers to trauma-informed practice, especially in the area of behavior management/disciplinary practices
• Create a plan for action/advocacy in their communities

Required Texts

All Students Must Thrive by Tyrone C. Howard

For additional course information

Alex Shevrin Venet

(802) 489-6739

For additional registration information

Bethany Sprague
(802) 468-1325

Register online now!