Trauma-Based Pedagogies

Sometimes instruction means working with students whose capacity for learning is under assault. Trauma-based pedagogies attempt to respond to the psychological and biological challenges students can face. This page is filled with ideas and resources that can be enacted in every class.

• 10 Strategies to Support Students and Help Them Learn During the Pandemic
  One of several pieces by Mays Imad on this page. If you're not sure why she's getting so much attention here, check out her "Beyond Imagination" presentation. 
  
• Beyond Imagination: Trauma-Based Pedagogies and the Fierce to Reclaim the Heart of Education
  Mays Imad's inspiring talk from W&L's Summer Academy. 
  
• Four Core Priorities for Trauma-Informed Distance Learning
  This piece by Kara Newhouse articulates four principles for responding to the emotional and affective dimensions of our current crisis that are clear and easy to enact: Predictability, Flexibility, Connection, and Empowerment. 
  
• How to Help Students Keep Learning Through a Disruption
  Though this came out in March as the pivot occurred, it contains links to several resources that continue to be valuable.
• Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now
  A short essay by Mays Imad with seven recommendations for helping students thrive in the classroom in the midst of a pandemic. 
  
• Maintaining a Sense of Social Connection in a Time of Social Distancing
  This short article talks about how to stay sane by maintaining social connections. 
  
• Pedagogies of Care
  An open resources site full of ideas for effective instruction during the current crisis. 
  
• Teaching Through a Pandemic
  Cognitive load, mental health, and learning under stress.