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Trauma-Responsive Education Is Changing School Culture

My involvement with Topper Academy began when the vice-mayor told me that a new principal was coming to the alternative high school and she asked if I would reach out to her regarding trauma-informed education. So, I invited Melanie Riden-Bacon (Mrs. RB ) to attend the four-hour, trauma-informed training. I noticed by the end of the training that she had tears in her eyes.

Reframing Undesired Behaviors as an Aspect of Learning, not Punishment

At the Chula Vista, National City, and Linda Vista resource centers of Learn4Life Innovation High School San Diego, only four students were suspended during the 2016-17 school year – less than 1 percent of the student population of more than 500 students. For the leadership team and staff at Innovation High School this rate was still too high. The team and staff embraced further training on restorative practices, positive behavior supports and interventions in order to better support student...

The Focus Room: A Calming, Welcoming Space to Restore Receptivity and Readiness to Learn

As part of the Trauma Informed approach to instruction, the staff at Learn4Life Innovation High School recently created a Focus Room at the National City resource center. The Focus Room provides a space to facilitate restorative processes for students who need a break to refocus or who are not meeting school expectations. In this space, staff assist students and guide them to redirect, recover, and/or return to an internal state conducive to learning. Students can request to use the room or...

Get Lit Program at Learn4Life Charter Schools Ignites Passion for Poetry while Mending Hearts and Souls

Learn4Life students in Fresno carry hardship and experience trauma, many of them without ever having the opportunity to process what they have been through, let alone heal. The Get Lit program focuses on taking those personal traumas and turning them into poetry, giving students a voice and the confidence to use it. The trauma that Learn4Life students have analyzed in the class include issues with disabilities, mental and physical illnesses, physical and mental abuse, drug and alcohol...

Innovation High School Launches “A Year of Wellness”

Innovation High School resource centers in National City and Chula Vista recently launched their “Year of Wellness” program. This program is designed to promote wellbeing of students, staff, and the surrounding community. The program invites staff, students and their families to monthly themed wellness workshops that encompass the multifaceted areas of wellness including yoga, nutrition, art and mindfulness, etc.

SOURCE Seminar Helps Learn4Life Students Thrive

Students of Unity, Respect, Consciousness and Empowerment (S.O.U.R.C.E.) is a seminar offered at Learrn4Life’s Innovation High School National City and Chula Vista resource centers that promotes empowerment, resiliency building, and leadership skills. Students engage in the seminar using project-based learning where they are tasked with creating a public service announcement. This exercise gives students a platform to voice their needs and explore issues that are relevant to them. It also...

Learn4Life students in San Diego Get a Lesson in Yoga

Since 2016, certified yoga teachers Josie Duraso (E-RYT 200) and Tara Booze (E-RYT 200) have been sharing the practice of yoga with students and staff at the Learn4Life Innovation High School resource centers in National City and Chula Vista. This year-round enrichment program provides a safe space for students to not only participate in the physical practice of yoga, but to explore meditation and mindfulness, self-regulation tools, and positive habit building. Students participating in this...

Learn4Life Staff Learns De-Escalation Techniques

At a recent Professional Development (PD), staff and teachers at Learn4Life resource centers throughout the San Fernando Valley and Northern Los Angeles County, learned about de-escalation techniques. The PD provided the staff with resources designed to equip them to organize their thinking and calmly respond to and effectively de-escalate situations to avoid a potential crisis. The techniques they learned included: Defining the behavior and how to approach a situation QTIP! (Quit Taking It...

Privileged Thinking in Education Course Offered for Staff at Learn4Life

Teachers and staff at several northern Los Angeles County Learn4Life Resource Centers recently completed a Professional Development (PD) titled “Privileged Thinking in Education”. At this PD, staff learned that privileged thinking is defined as an imbalance of power, experience, and access to resources that influence our opinions on the actions of others. They also watched an eye-opening video , which showed how much privilege some have, without even realizing it. The staff also analyzed how...

Poetry in Motion: Drama Lit Team Preps for Spring Slams By Elisa Knoell Learn4Life Student

Imagine the power of putting a handful of kids together in a class to tell their stories in their own words—and earn credits in the process. This school year, Learn4Life’s Innovation High School (IHS) San Diego – Lakeside is offering a spoken word poetry course titled “Dramatic Literature”. The course engages youth in classic works of literature and empowers teens to take charge of their own futures and unearth their potential. Annabelle Reyes, a Drama Lit student, told how beneficial the...

Restorative Justice: conversations and mediations that make schools safer [shsoutherner.ne]

In light of recent school shootings, many are talking about how to prevent gun violence in schools. In this context, it’s also important to consider the best approaches for schools to prevent common acts of violence or conflict. Instead of the old-school practices of discipline, suspension, or other punitive practices, a different model should be utilized: restorative justice. Fully implementing restorative justice in schools will help students involved in conflict learn from their mistakes,...

The Regulated Classroom: Camp for Educators

When educators learn about the devastating impact of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), childhood trauma, and toxic stress on a child’s developing body, brain, and behavior, they often remark, “Well...what do I do now?” The Regulated Classroom answers that question. In this three-day intensive camp experience, educators will deepen self-awareness and capacity for self-regulation through a new approach to trauma-informed teaching. The Regulated Classroom: Bottom-Up Trauma-Informed Teaching...

How life outside of a school affects student performance in school [brookings.edu]

This report presents findings from a unique partnership between the University of Michigan and the State that allowed us to match the universe of child maltreatment records in Michigan with educational data on all public school children in the state. We find that roughly 18 percent of third-grade students have been subject to at least one formal investigation for child maltreatment. In some schools, more than fifty percent of third graders have experienced an investigation for maltreatment.

How Teachers, Adults, and Legislators Can Respond to Student Homelessness (americaspromise.org)

What should teachers do if they suspect a student might be homeless? What about non-educators? Better yet, what can governors and legislators do to fight youth homelessness on a broad scale in their states and communities? These are a few questions that a panel of experts tackled at SXSWEDU , where a group of nonprofits announced the Education Leads Home campaign , a first-of-its-kind national campaign that will focus exclusively on addressing the educational needs of the 1.3 million...

'Teaching Hope': How California Schools Can Improve Ways To Address Student Trauma [capradio.org]

Dealing with students’ childhood trauma may improve classroom behavior and attendance rates — at least that’s the idea at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s wellness centers. They are located in or near schools, and are designed to serve kids impacted by issues such as deportation threats, domestic abuse, housing instability and other trauma. The district is working with local nonprofits to expand the program. Suzanne Markey is a social worker with the district. She said schools often...

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