Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership
is pleased to announce these
upcoming courses for educators!
Jump to Class Descriptions:
As we reach the end of this school year,
we keep hearing that students are suffering
and staff are burned-out and need more support.
Even before the pandemic and recent school shootings and hate crimes, studies showed that a significant portion of the population have experienced trauma, or harmful or life-threatening events which have impacted their everyday functioning or well-being. Research shows that individuals living in poverty or with a disability are even more at risk for having experienced trauma in their lifetimes. Add in a global pandemic and a social justice movement unlike any we have seen in decades, and things really became strained. Tensions were already at an all-time high when the US Capitol was breached in January 2021, which further highlighted the divisions in our population, the erosion of trust in our government, and the difference in how Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color are treated by law enforcement.
Many of us were experiencing the full-force of these traumatic events ourselves when we returned to in-person schooling, only to see the dramatic impact the previous year had on our students. In addition to dealing with all these stresses, many of our children survived the year with limited support, structure, or supervision during the daytime hours. Upon their return to school, we saw an increase in their dysregulation and stress levels.
Trauma-Informed Education
is designed to bridge the gap from
knowing about the effects of trauma
to being able to fully implement a
trauma-informed approach in your classroom!
Have you ever thought:
"I know about trauma, but I don't know how to help my students who have experienced it. I certainly don't want to make it worse."
Trauma-Informed Education goes well beyond an introductory understanding, and will equip you with tools you can use in your classroom right away.
Though presentations, selected readings and multi-media sources, written activities, and discussions, this course will examine trauma and its possible effects on students and teachers, and provide participants with ways to intervene against harmful effects. The course will explore the research on toxic stress, and explain how it can impact a child’s education. Grounded in an understanding of how structural racism and system-induced trauma impact education, it will explore the key principles of a trauma-informed approach, and how they can be applied in an educational setting to achieve equitable and just outcomes.
Participants will work with concepts that will help them lower stress levels of their students. This will have a direct impact on student health, well-being, and educational outcomes. Topics of this 45-hour course will include:
Learning how to identify possible triggers in their classes, and how to mitigate them;
Identifying times when they interacted with a student that they now suspect may have been displaying symptoms of trauma, and develop alternative ways of handling similar situations in the future;
Exploring how multicultural identities can impact teaching and learning;
Avoiding the re-traumatization of students and helping them regulate their emotions and build resilience;
Addressing the power differentials that are at play in a classroom, and how privilege impacts relationships;
Understanding the difference between: intent and impact; and equality and equity;
Identifying common institutional beliefs that contribute to inequities;
Learning how to de-escalate situations and help students better regulate their behavior;
Considering the merits of universal trauma screening in schools;
Modifying the physical space of their classrooms based on trauma-informed principles;
Examining school discipline policies through a trauma-informed lens and how to interrupt the “school-to-prison pipeline” through which students with disabilities and students of color experience disproportionate disciplinary measures; and
Critically evaluating/constructing lessons centered on sensitive topics including immigration and race from a culturally- and trauma-sensitive perspective.
Details for Trauma-Informed Education
Class Starts on June 25, 2022
Trauma-Informed Education is a 9-week, 45-hour course. New York City DOE teachers may earn 3 A+ credits for this course.
The course will be delivered remotely on-line, through Google Classroom.
The first four sessions of the course will be delivered asynchronously (you work at your own time and pace, with work due every two weeks), with instructor facilitation and forum discussion encouraged.
The final class will be an virtual, real-time discussion session.
Each of the first four sessions will include a pre-recorded presentation and a variety of the following:
Selected readings and multi-media sources for participants to review;
A quiz on the material presented; and/or
Questions, activities, or writing assignments that require participants to apply the materials covered to their classes, schools, or lessons.
All graded assignments and discussion sessions will be evaluated using a rubric. Detailed feedback will be provided no later than one week after the assignment is due. Participants may modify and resubmit written work within one week of receiving feedback. Participants who obtain an average of 80%, or a total of 124 points, will be eligible for A+ credits or be issued a certificate of successful completion.
Are you looking for something further?
Do you have specific students in mind
who could use extra support?
Supporting Marginalized Students
is the course for you!
Did you know that societal inequities can
impact a person's long-term health outcomes?
Marginalization is the exclusion of a disadvantaged person or group to the fringe of society. It results in individuals being overlooked when laws, policies, and practices are established that protect the privileged class, and leads to adverse community environments--such as poverty, poor housing, and lack of mobility--that promote fertile ground for structural violence and harm, including racism and disproportionate child welfare removals. Children growing up in these environments are at risk for poor health and educational outcomes, the adoption of risky behaviors, and involvement with the child welfare and criminal justice systems.
In short, being a member of a marginalized community
can be experienced as traumatic.
Supporting Marginalized Students
is designed to help you interrupt
the potential negative impact of these experiences.
This course will help you develop a
better understanding of your students, and
provide strategies grounded in a
trauma-informed approach,
to help you support children in
your classrooms, schools, and community!
The 30-hour course will include a detailed look into the experiences of children from several marginalized communities, and offer techniques designed to help students feel safe, empowered, and able to focus on their educational opportunities. Specifically, the class will focus on supporting:
Students with disabilities or special health needs;
Those who are English language learners or new Americans;
Students experiencing homelessness;
Youth who are members of the LGBQT+ community;
Children in foster care or who were adopted; and
Survivors of dating violence or human trafficking.
Throughout the course, participants will be asked to apply the strategies introduced, including specific approaches, communication-enhancement techniques, special accommodations, and collaboration with community resources.
The course will also introduce the concept of intersectionality, and examine how it can compound the impact for individuals who belong to more than one marginalized group. Participants will apply this understanding to the historical trauma of racism and how the school-to-prison pipeline and adultification bias operate, and make inferences about other intersections for marginalized students. Participants will be continually asked to link the course materials to examples from their personal and professional experience throughout the course.
Details for Supporting Marginalized Students
This is a 5-week, 30-hour course. It will be delivered remotely on-line, through Google Classroom. The course will consist of four sessions.
Two sessions will be delivered asynchronously (you work at your own time and pace, with work due on two specific dates), with instructor facilitation and forum discussion encouraged. Each of these will include pre-recorded presentations, selected readings, multi-media sources, and activities or writing assignments that require participants to apply the materials covered to their classes or schools. Participants will have:
Three weeks to complete the assignments from the first asynchronous session (estimated completion time of 7 hours); and
Two weeks to complete the assignments from the second asynchronous session (estimated completion time of 4 hours).
Two sessions will be virtual, real-time discussion sessions. These will be two-hours each, and will be held either in the evening or on Saturday mornings.
All graded assignments and discussion sessions will be evaluated using a rubric, and each will be worth a maximum of 12 points. Detailed feedback will be provided no later than one week after the assignment is due. Participants may modify and resubmit written work within one week of receiving feedback. Participants who obtain an average of 80%, or a total of 48 points, will be eligible for A+ credits or be issued a certificate of successful completion.
Two Opportunities!
Click on your preferred session below to register:
Course Schedule:
Course Begins and All Materials Released: June 20, 2022
Session 1 Assignments Due: July 10, 2022
First Discussion Session: July 11, 2022, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Session 2 Assignments Due: July 24, 2022
Second Discussion Session: July 25, 2022, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
or
Course Schedule:
Course Begins and All Materials Released: July 16, 2022
Session 1 Assignments Due: August 5, 2022
First Discussion Session: August 6, 2022, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Session 2 Assignments Due: August 19, 2022
Second Discussion Session: August 20, 2022, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
A NOTE FOR NYC DOE TEACHERS
To receive full CTLE and salary differential credit for this course you must also register with ASPDP on their website. If you do not complete the ASPDP registration by the registration deadline, you will not be eligible for A+ or P credits towards your salary differential. If you have questions about using ASPDP courses towards the salary differential, please email ASPDP at ASPDP@schools.nyc.gov.
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