4 minute read
What kids carry
BY MATT WATSON ILLUSTRATION BY PETER BOLLINGER
THE MAJORITY OF SCHOOLCHILDREN HAVE EXPERIENCED TRAUMA. SCHOOL OF EDUCATION GRADUATES RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF TODAY’S STUDENTS THROUGH TRAUMAINFORMED PRACTICES. >
None of Stephanie Shufelt’s Air Force training prepared her for her toughest assignment in South Korea: working as a substitute teacher for the Department of Defense school system at Osan Air Base.
After leaving active duty and her job as an F-16 tacticalaircraft maintainer, Shufelt took up teaching the children of military parents at Osan Elementary School, where she discovered a love for teaching — and the difficulty of working with children who have experienced trauma.
She remembers a friendly young student telling her that his mother was getting married for the third time, and when she responded positively, he said, “My dad put my mom through a table, and we left in the middle of the night. I haven’t seen my dad since.”
Shufelt said she felt shocked and didn’t know how to handle the situation.
“I remember wanting to cry for him, but he seemed unaffected — it was matter-of-fact for him,” she said. “I just remember that I was terrible in dealing with that.”
Since returning stateside and enrolling at Metropolitan State University of Denver to pursue a degree in Elementary Education, Shufelt has earned a certificate in Trauma-Informed Practices, which MSU Denver’s School of Education has offered with nonprofit partner Resilient Futures since 2018.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than two-thirds of children report at least one traumatic event by age 16.
“You don’t really know who is affected by (trauma),” Shufelt said. “It’s important as a teacher to know that it’s not the students’ fault and to try to help them from wherever they are and help them feel safe. And implementing these practices impacts all students, not just those with trauma.”
More than 330 people have attended MSU Denver’s TraumaInformed Practices workshops, including 270 students or alumni, said School of Education Dean Elizabeth Hinde, Ph.D. There are four workshops open to School of Education faculty, staff, alumni and students, as well as their mentor teachers in local schools, and those who complete all four workshops earn a certificate from the University.
“Many of our students who are currently teaching have the skills and knowledge that Trauma-Informed Practices provided them, and we have many more in the pipeline who will be equipped to recognize and address trauma among schoolchildren, which we know is more essential than ever as we come out of the pandemic,” Hinde said.
Dennyse Tejeda was finishing her yearlong teacher residency when the pandemic began, so the May 2020 alumna had to find a job and begin her first semester as a full-time teacher from home. Fortunately, her knowledge of trauma has helped her personally as much as it has helped her students.
“I went through some trauma when I was young, and I never really sought help. It’s something that followed me into adulthood, and I still struggled dealing with something that happened in the past. I eventually got help, and I was able to close that chapter in my life,” she said. “These workshops have changed my life and been a great reminder of how I can make sure I am taking care of myself.”
Teachers can also experience secondhand trauma from working with students, and the workshops encourage teachers to practice self-care. Tejeda, who teaches native Spanish-speakers in a thirdgrade English Language Acquisition class at Holm Elementary in Denver, said every teacher should complete Trauma-Informed Practices workshops.
“They’ve really opened my eyes, not only to what trauma is, but how you approach that as a teacher,” she said. “Anything that has to do with trauma, people start getting wound up really quickly. This helps us slow down and handle it bit by bit, to take a step back.” Expanding the reach of TraumaInformed Practices training is one of many initiatives in the School of Education’s Office of Education Solutions. The community-facing office works toward solutions to the persistent problems faced by teachers, families and schools. The OES also includes efforts such as a Family Literacy Program, which provides books and reading support to low-income families; the Roadrunner Diversity Scholars Program, focused on resolving the lack of diversity in the teaching profession; and technology integration into classrooms to help teachers implement best practices in remote learning.
Hinde said that the issues the School of Education is trying to alleviate are more urgent than ever.
“We are at an inflection point in the history of education in this country,” she said. “We can do nothing and hope for the world to progress — allow technology to evolve with or without buy-in from schools, allow educators to work for salaries that don’t match their efforts or education, allow for unequal access to quality teaching and schools for underrepresented children — or we can decide to do something.”
“We have many more (teachers) in the pipeline who will be equipped to recognize and address trauma among schoolchildren, which we know is more essential than ever as we come out of the pandemic.” — SCHOOL OF EDUCATION DEAN ELIZABETH HINDE, PH.D.
AMANDA SCHWENGEL
