8

“Yesterday I was clever, so I changed the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” —Rumi

Phase I: Connecting

Implementing Phase I is easy: Focus on creating a classroom that is relationally safe and trustworthy. That’s it! Observe what you are doing and how it is being perceived by a variety of students, make adjustments, and keep at it every day and in every class. Yes, there is a bit more: Relax about the fact—or grieve the dream—that you cannot implement a fully trauma-informed classroom immediately, that your students’ responsiveness to this new culture does not manifest in better behavior overnight, and that student meltdowns are still going to occur. Breathe into the idea that you and your students—and your colleagues—are embarking on a journey, and you will see small and big changes along the way, as well as heartache and frustration. This slow pace of change is yet another reminder that TISP is not about a set of strategies, but a culture change in how we see and respond to students and hopefully each other, and trusting that if we attune and mentor accordingly, we will see healing and growth.

Summarizing what we are doing in Phase I might be easy. But doing it might feel like another matter. In the remainder of this chapter we break this process down, giving you concrete ideas and strategies for implementing TISP Tri-Phasic Model educator competencies. We begin with identifying the nature of attunement behaviors between educators and students. We then move into elements of a detailed Action Plan, along with samples and exercises for you to follow along. When you feel lost in the details, return to this section for a quick reminder that it is quite simple once we realize TISP is all about standing in relationship with our students based in an understanding of what we all need when overwhelmed by unmitigated stress and trauma.

Practicing Attunement Behaviors

Education is an amazing profession with big-hearted, strong-principled conductors of the most complex of symphonies called a classroom! If you have been working in the classroom for any length of time, you have learned to master your reactions, stay focused, stay positive, while becoming adept at heading off catastrophes, setting boundaries, and giving redirects with swift clarity. A teacher recently remarked that parents are increasingly asking her for advice on how to manage their children at home. She and her coworkers were wondering why this is now a common request. We get why parents seek you out as they likely say to themselves, “Look what these teachers can manage with a few dozen kids at a time; surely they can help me manage just my own?!”

We highlight your skills for a few reasons. Perhaps most important is our recognition that whenever something we already do well, in this case showing care to our students, is put under the microscope, it can inhibit our natural abilities to engage in that activity. We may fear not doing it “right” or doing more harm than good, especially given our deeper awareness of just how fundamental attunement is to the developing mind. In the mental health training world we call this inhibition “paralysis by analysis”; many of us are good listeners until suddenly “listening” has become a professional skill for which we are being evaluated.

We also want to emphasize that attachment, as exemplified through attunement and mentoring skills, is more than just being pleasant or kind. We think educators are most skilled at mentoring, and are naturally kind given your passion for the well-being of your students. But TISP is asking you to understand or accept that attunement is just as important as mentoring (teaching). In fact, it is the precursor to a student being receptive to your mentoring, whether you are coaching them in self-regulation skills or an academic subject.

Many of the Action Plan items we discuss here and the classroom strategy resources we offer will load you up with numerous attunement strategies, most notably activities that help students build community with each other. Here, we want to take a look at what attunement looks like one-to-one, between you and a student.

Attunement is all about you showing a welcoming stance with a student. You see them; you see all they have shared of themself thus far, and you see who they have the potential to become; you value them and are there to offer support and care. You believe in them, with all of their strengths and struggles. And with that, your eyes and ears are open to what they are bringing to you in this moment. You are tuning into their frequency as best as you are able, and you will keep attuning until they tell you through words or body language that you got it right. Attunement is all about you showing a welcoming stance with a student. You see them; you see all they have shared of themself thus far, and you see who they have the potential to become; you value them and are there to offer support and care. You believe in them, with all of their strengths and struggles. And with that, your eyes and ears are open to what they are bringing to you in this moment. You are tuning into their frequency as best as you are able, and you will keep attuning until they tell you through words or body language that you got it right. This shows in your facial features, body stance, and eye contact. It is demonstrated through your words and actions.

When you communicate with your student, the student is taking in all of this sensory data—your verbals and nonverbals—and matching it against a current need state. They are seeking to attune to you as well: Is my teacher “getting me”? What is my teacher telling me about their receptivity to me? Or am I expected to put my needs on the shelf as I respond to their need? The unspoken and spoken rule of most classrooms is that it is the student’s job to attune to the needs (expectations) of the teacher: Pay attention and learn. Teachers are expected to only attune to the student’s academic interests. Those are rules we use everywhere: We know what a setting is expecting of us, so we all play our roles and our verbal and nonverbal messages ideally should emanate from this common script, in this case, the schemas for “classroom-teacher-student”.

In a trauma-informed classroom, we are changing the scripts associated with this complex set of schemas. Now we are saying that first up is attuning to the need states of students so they can become anchored (that sense of internal emotional and physical sense of safety), and then they can “decenter their other need states” enough to access and focus on their need to learn.

This is the monkey wrench we are throwing into your typical routine. The first part of this text unpacks why we need to restructure these schemas. Here we explore what it looks like to place an emphasis on attunement practices, rituals, and routines at specific times of the day as well as embedded in our lesson plan delivery. Throughout your TISP development process, it is highly recommended that you observe TI classrooms in action and listen to classroom teacher stories, whether in person, on YouTube, or in training videos. Meanwhile, thematically, here are a few key attunement interpersonal skills or traits you may observe in those trauma-informed classrooms.

Connecting (attuning) is all about catching the immediate need state of a student, and as they feel held by your attunement, they are more apt to allow you to guide them accordingly, whether it is back on task or back on task through a process of practicing a self-regulation skill first. Attunement is capturing (Connecting), holding (Coaching), and guiding back to task (Commencing).

Connecting: Tracking Student Messages

Student Nonverbal Cues. If you have had the opportunity to be around infants and toddlers, and certainly your own students, you know the telltale signs of slight agitation that indicate a potential meltdown. Attachment theorist John Bowlby (1976) called these signals separation anxiety, meaning that the child’s sense of calm was dissipating as a need state was now on their radar. That need might be for comfort or adventure; it covers a range. The infant or toddler needs an attachment figure to read these cues and to warmly and openly communicate “I see you and hear you, let’s figure this out.” Sometimes that acknowledgement is all that is needed, often referred to by attachment theorists as a quick “refueling”; the child just needs to know you are there so they can manage the anxiety, returning to an inner sense of safety, and then confidently proceeding back to sleep or adventure-seeking. Other times they need more, such as being held or help fixing a problem. The more a preschool child receives this type of attunement, the more they can tolerate mini-deserts when the adults around them cannot attune as often. Connecting (attuning) is all about catching the immediate need state of a student, and as they feel held by your attunement, they are more apt to allow you to guide them accordingly, whether it is back on task or back on task through a process of practicing a self-regulation skill first. Attunement is capturing (Connecting), holding (Coaching), and guiding back to task (Commencing).

Historic classroom-teacher-student schemas expect school students to enter class with a growing ability to need less of this type of attuning, refueling in little moments during the school day, and then refueling in extended ways after returning home. We know that many of our students are not coming to school with the ability to manage these mini-deserts very well, and hence we need to build in more routines of attunement to help them self-regulate and focus on learning.

Obvious nonverbal cues are behaviors a student displays indicating that they cannot focus on the class activity, whether they are distracting others or withdrawing. You would see a lack of focus in their eyes, an emotional expression captured in facial muscles that communicate being bored, angry, overwhelmed, tired, annoyed, disinterested, or preoccupied. Psychomotor agitation through foot tapping or squirming is common.

The underlying need state yanking their attention can be anything from being stuck on the academic task to a limited ability to access working memory, distraction due to noise and visual overstimulation in the classroom, or a frustrating interaction they had earlier in the day. Their limbic systems and implicit memory circuits may be pulsating with underlying anxiety due to unmitigated stress or trauma currently present in their life, further eroding attention span.

Student Verbal Responses. When a child is leaving that optimum state of arousal—a little of which is needed to focus—and headed toward overload, you will hear it in their voice as well, whether in tone, volume, and pitch, or in statements revealing a perplexing attitude or perception. A student not able to return to focus when redirected says “No,” or “Make me,” or flies into a rage. A dismissive eye-roll combined with “Whatever” is a very effective message telling you that anxiety has placed the student in a fight-or-flight mode. Our goal, in that immediate moment, is to decenter however we feel when we are mocked, belittled, or disrespected (by first compassionately acknowledging how this activates us at times), and see a student presenting with a wonderful opportunity to experience attunement on the way to self-regulation. They cannot self-regulate in that moment, so their belligerent behavior is their only weapon of protection. Look past it and reach out to them as we explore below.

Connecting: Attuned Educator Response (I See You)

Verbal and nonverbal cues require a response, but not always of the same type or intensity. Let’s imagine a three-level approach: Level 1 (think “green light means all is still OK) is just watching with a caring eye to see if the student can summon their own self-regulation skills and then return to task on their own. You do this every day, and most often students are able to squirm a little and find their way back. As you begin scaffolding self-awareness and response strategies in the classroom, on this level (slight agitation or distraction) you would be looking to see if they are using any of these skills, such as putting their head down for a moment to focus on breathing and other mindfulness or thought-focusing exercises. Your attunement response might be a smile, a warm head nod, a gentle cue that says you see them and are cheering them on and all is safe and OK. This allows them to relax and breathe into using their coping resources. Meanwhile, internally, you are beaming with joy watching this young person tracking and responding to their internal need states.

A Level 2 response (a yellow light signaling “proceed with cautious attention”) is when a clear touch point will be helpful in anchoring the student so they can summon the internal reserves to return to homeostasis, that sense of calm needed to return to task. It’s the equivalent of warmly and encouragingly saying “I see you” loud enough to be seen across a crowded room. Classroom teachers do this all the time! Each time you redirect a student, you are providing an anchoring touch point. When you try to rope a student’s attention back to an activity, you are saying, “I see you floating away. I’ve got you. Come on back.” Here is where your voice tone, pitch, and level need to convey calm, confidence, and clarity within a spirit of care. Each of us has our own interpersonal style, and examples might include:

• Honoring the student’s request to use a calming space whether it is in the classroom or another designated place in the school.
• Honoring the student’s need to withdraw from the task, especially as they learn to decrease their activation without disturbing other students.
• Walking close by, addressing the student by name and asking the student, “How are you doing?” Imagine you have already taught the class that when you ask that question, you are inviting them to do an internal body scan of what they are physically or emotionally feeling, or what they might be thinking or needing that is yanking their attention—and that it is a good moment for some of the self-care or self-regulation (whatever descriptor words you give these exercises) skills you practice in the classroom together. And imagine that when a student is asked that question, they are not in trouble! You are truly inquisitive; you don’t really know if the student does want help or wants a little more time using their own ideas and options.
  • Beforehand and in actual practice, you help students learn the script for this new classroom practice. A “Thanks, I’ve got it” or “I’m hanging in there” (ask the students to come up with sample statements) means “Thank you, I needed some help getting back to focus; I’ve got it from here.” Whereas, “I’m trying…not so sure,” or “I think I could use some help,” or “Can I use this _____ (resource)?” or similar statements indicate that they need help.
  • Younger students might need an easy, concrete multiple-choice script, such as “green light” for “I’ve got it,” “yellow light” for “I need just a little help,” or “red light” for “I need big-time help!” Anchoring this process with classroom visuals is also helpful.
  • Older students, once they have seen the process in action and trust that you are truly there to provide an anchor, need less of a script guiding a response, as they get what your intentions are and they understand this is part of the class culture.
• With our own children, we might place an arm on a shoulder or give a little hug. The equivalent of that in a classroom might be joining them in their activity, pulling up a chair, and engaging the student in a conversation about their work. As they trust your intention—you are partnering with them—if they only need a little bit of an anchor, this might help them bring their attention back. If more is needed, they now have your ear for more direct coaching into identifying and responding to a need state.
  • Another substitute for the anchoring that comes through safe touch is a virtual hug through a relaxation and focusing exercise. If you see other students also off task, take it as an opportunity to invite everyone to take a quick break for this exercise. Planned ahead of time so you can pull it out when appropriate, it would likely begin by asking students to close their eyes, take a few deep belly breaths (diaphragmatic breathing), and scan their bodies, thoughts, and feelings, as all of them are working so hard and it’s a good moment to pay attention to what that feels like. What does it feel like using so much brain power? Where is it hard? Where is it fun? You are increasing their awareness of their domains of neural integration (see Figure 2.5) while also giving them a chance to calm anxiety responses creeping through the room.
• Now is a good time to refer back to Figure 2.5. For each of the nine domains of neural integration, the original chart includes examples of movie, book, or TV characters that illustrate an aspect of the brain function being described. In the far right column we give some ideas on how you can strengthen neural integration for that element of brain functioning. As you develop your Action Plan, begin to sketch out activities you might develop to strengthen these neural networks. As you teach your students about the different ways the brain functions, ask them to come up with book or movie characters relevant to them and/or what they are reading in class.

A Level 3 response (red light—”Stop the business as usual and help me!”) is where you see the student no longer able to control their response. Ideally, trauma-informed practices prevent many Level 3 responses. As you see agitation building, your TISP strategies work, especially as the student trusts the process and lets you guide them through a rough moment. But there will still be plenty of times when your student will be overrun by a cascade of neurochemicals driving thoughts, feelings, and behavioral responses. They need a life raft, and quick. Attunement says they need safety and containment before they hurt themselves or someone else.

Let’s unpack this scenario conceptually first. In Chapter 5 we reviewed Psychological First Aid, a way of responding to the intense needs of a student or adult in crisis due to a sudden traumatic event. The process mirrors the trauma-informed tri-phasic process of providing safety (Connecting), then accessing resources (Coaching), and then fostering long-term coping to resume life (Commencing). The brain of a student in the midst of a major dysregulation event does not know the difference between a danger aggravated by the social environment (whether a real danger or a misperception) and some type of internal trigger. It is the same neurochemistry in response to an act of violence or a natural catastrophe. The brain is highly calibrated to sensing danger and places us in fight, flight, or flee mode. Psychological First Aid is designed to help us return to a sense of calm amidst stress so we can maximize coping skills in order to survive and thrive.

The initial connecting skills of Psychological First Aid are a direct match with the way water rescue teams are trained. Have you ever watched promotional videos for the amazing men and women who rescue people caught in stormy seas? These professionals, dressed in all-weather ocean gear, descend into treacherous waters, and as they approach a victim, they greet that person with an upbeat, positive “Hello, my name is ____. How are you today?” (We can only imagine how we’d respond!). But it is quickly followed by “I’m going to help you get out of here, but you need to follow my direction. Can you do that?” Of course we want out of danger, so of course we are going to do whatever they say! In Psychological First Aid, it is the same thing: When we see someone overly dysregulated due to the fear and trauma of the precipitating event, and they are unable to receive and respond to comfort from caring others around them, we walk on over and begin by getting through loud and clear that we are here to help. It is the same three-step process: (a) approach and warmly greet; (b) mirror their current predicament, the “I see you are having a tough time and I’m here to help”; and (c) provide clear instructions on how they need to help you help them, the “I need you to work with me to help you get to a better place.” This is what Phase I Connecting means by providing safety and stabilization, and the Level 3 Code Red is the place it is most vividly practiced.

Imagine this student is aware of the classroom culture—that we all view blow-ups and meltdowns, as described by Daniel Siegel’s (Siegel & Bryson, 2012) brain image of “Flipping Our Lids,” as signs that we are having a tough time, our brains are registering a need or danger, and it’s an opportunity to grow and build confidence that we can survive these moments. Imagine that the student knows the adults in the room are not going to think less of them, and are just grateful to walk together through whatever that tough moment is about. When the scaffolding is in place, and has been repeatedly spoken about and practiced in stages over time, you have taught the student to internalize a script. And that script is tapping into a fundamental wish all of us have: to be seen and cared about, especially when we are in distress. Now, when you approach this dysregulated student, they know you are a safe, caring person throwing them a lifeline. Imagine they know that when you invite or tell them to come out of the classroom with you, or go to the calming space—whatever self-regulation processes are congruent with the current level of need—it is not because they are a nuisance, or are disliked. It is a sign that they, the student, matter; that the teacher and classmates care about them and want to see them not in distress anymore.

When the scaffolding is in place, and has been repeatedly spoken about and practiced in stages over time, you have taught the student to internalize a script. And that script is tapping into a fundamental wish all of us have: to be seen and cared about, especially when we are in distress. Now, when you approach this dysregulated student, they know you are a safe, caring person throwing them a lifeline.

Educator Nonverbal Messages: In this moment, your nonverbals include direct eye contact, and yes, a firm resolve that says, “I see you are in distress. I’m here to help.” This is hard, as angry resolve is a more common image of how to set a strong boundary and is what we hope or expect will help a student back down. But, this is both true and not true. In many Level 3 situations, we need to exude strength and intentionality, but coupled with care, not disgust or “I can win this thing” anger. We all want others to help us stop being our own worst enemy. Occasionally you will hear a child say, “I wanted you to stop me.” Boundaries do feel loving, especially from a trusted other. But a boundary embedded in angry disapproving energy, in the absence of a long history of trust, makes that act of care fall flat.

Two examples to help illustrate this combination. A few years ago, I (Anna) heard a longtime high school football coach giving a national radio interview on trauma-informed school practice as applied to sports coaching. He described how in his own youth, a coach yelling at you meant he saw you and was invested in you improving; it felt caring. That was the script, and it worked for him, given that his coaches did care about him, as did his wider community. But he realized that his students were not interpreting his yelling and loud, anger-filled commands as care, but as shaming statements about their abilities and worth. Once he finally had the perceptual and conceptual skills to make sense of his players’ responses to him, he found a way to switch up his verbal and nonverbal coaching style.

Another example is how we struggle to intervene in public abusive events without incurring the murderous wrath of those we are confronting. Occasionally my students and I (Anna) will talk about how to intervene on behalf of children when we see an overwhelmed parent become physically or verbally shaming or aggressive in public. Beyond facing their anger if we yell back in response to the personal outrage we feel on behalf of the child, we also worry that publicly shaming the parent will further make the child vulnerable when public eyes are no longer present. We employ the same concepts here: empathically connect with the parent who is in distress, and offer a lifeline. We practice seeing beyond our own anger and leading with genuine care and support for the parent: “Do you need a hand? Can I help you with that? Can I get the door for you?” as we approach with a smile, a heartwarming nod to convery that we know managing kids is hard.

When a student is in a red zone, threatening harm to self or others, throwing verbal assault bombs like their life is in jeopardy and you are their mortal enemy, you can practice approaching that student and using their name as you say in your own words, “I see you are having a hard time; how can I help you? OK, just watch me for a second; take a breath and trust we can figure this out. Do you want to use _____ (a space you may have designated as a calming, private area), or step outside with me for a few minutes, or visit _____ (a designated person or office at their disposal when needed)?” You are giving them choices, as you already do, but with a spirit of helping them use their coping resources in partnership with you at that moment.

If a student is so dysregulated that they need physical help to prevent harm to themselves or others, you and/or the staff trained in those techniques are carrying out that intervention process with the same spirit. I (Anna) had the honor to work with a child abuse detective for a few years before he died in a tragic accident. At his funeral, I learned that Randy was a trauma-informed police officer long before the term “trauma-informed” was ever coined. One of his colleagues described how Randy would arrest people. He was big and strong, and as he was restraining “the bad guys,” as they called them, he’d calmly talk to them, affirming he had no desire to hurt them, but wanted to help them avoid harm to self or others, and he believed in their ability to help make this arrest process go as smoothly as possible, and to fix whatever mess they were in. His coworkers said he was one of the only officers to regularly get thank-you notes from people in prison or on parole who cited Randy’s care as life-saving during one of the most horrific moments of their lives.

I use this image of Randy’s work with those he arrested because we all need role models for enacting boundaries and consequences while not losing sight of the humanity, vulnerability, hurt, and longing underneath and fueling some of the most dysregulated behavior of our students. They need us to set clear, firm boundaries. Once they return to a state of calm, they need us to walk them through repair and amends processes. And we need to know why and for what purpose we act in those moments. If it is because we are merely outraged on behalf of others or because our own stuff was triggered, we will lead with anger and a desire to punish the student. We will take great joy in not giving them stickers or sending them to in-school detention. If we lead with a desire to stop the pain—both the pain driving the dysregulated student and the pain that student is causing other students—we will display with a firm resolve and intentionality grounded in care and hope. And if our goal is to address the unmet need of the offending student, to give them the best chance of accessing their own hope, and empathy for self and other, our intervention energy, even when we need to clear a room, call for supports, or restrain a student from further acts of violence, will be laced with an honoring of their personhood. And if our goal is to address the unmet need of the offending student, to give them the best chance of accessing their own hope, and empathy for self and other, our intervention energy, even when we need to clear a room, call for supports, or restrain a student from further acts of violence, will be laced with an honoring of their personhood. “We’re here to help you calm down, to help you stop hurting yourself and others. I know you can work with us. We’re going to keep holding you here until you calm down and we get you some help.”

We often hear educators concerned that many of today’s discipline management systems do not include amends processes, unless you are using a reparative justice or similar school management approach. Justice-making is an odd paradox of sorts. Students who hurt others the most, whether through bullying or physical violence, are often telling us a story that someone harmed them and never made amends. Their perceptions of self and other are now distorted, and they are taking out their shame and self-loathing on others. Why should they, a student, apologize or feel remorse when a parent or trusted adult has never cared about what they did or are doing to a child? And how can we, as adults, expect a student in this circumstance to act like an adult when they have never been treated with the sustained attunement and mentoring that are the foundations of empathy and personal responsibility?

To close the loop on the teaching moment of a dysregulated event where peers were frightened, physically threatened or harmed does require the student to make amends according to the nature of the event. But we need to meet them first with empathy and support, and mentor them through what the amends process looks like and why it is good for everyone involved, including that student.

General Attunement Verbal Messages

Attunement messages are not just offered by educators when we see our students in the green, yellow, or red zones of dysregulation. Most attunement messages are displayed through a process we call active listening. When we are exploring the richness of this interpersonal skill (entire books have been written on the subject), we often break it down into two parts: communicating or mirroring that we heard the content of the person’s verbal message, and mirroring that we heard the deeper meaning of their message, expressed either nonverbally or through what meaning tends to emerge from the message as a whole. We engage in these interactions with a sense of openness, care, and curiosity as we strive to make sure we are hearing it correctly rather than distorted by our own presuppositions or struggle to track.

It is quite amazing what being heard feels like—not being agreed with, but being understood. In an exchange with a student when we are trying to use active listening skills, we will know when the student feels heard; their body language will shift, as might their verbal responses. A teacher relayed a story of a child who was highly distressed as he participated in an activity meant to be a fun reward for a week of hard work. The teachers’ presupposition was, “the students should be loving this activity,” and thus they did not immediately track the obvious meaning of the student’s cues—crying and facial expressions of fear. When the teacher moved in with a connected, attuned offer (to step outside of the activity so the teacher could understand what the student was trying to communicate), the teacher learned that the activity was too similar to a very scary and abusive recent event involving visuals similar to the class activity. Once the teacher “got it,” the student had a good moment of crying, feeling safe to no longer hold back the fullness of his hurt and pain activated in that moment. And in this case, the teacher’s deeper understanding signaled that something more was needed on behalf of this student (rather than merely listening, agreeing to disagree, etc.). The teacher was able to offer the student an alternative space to enjoy his well-earned break and rejoin the group after the current activity concluded.

Action Plan

In Chapter 7, you began to design an initial Action Plan in preparation to implement TISP into the classroom. With greater TISP perceptual and conceptual clarity, you are now ready to fill in the implementation details of this plan. Grab those notes and reacquaint yourself with Phase I goals, dispositions, and tasks (see Chapter 6), as the ideas below represent the enactment of these items.

Your Classroom Motto or Mission Statement

What do you want your students to know about you and the classroom that communicates they are safe and welcome? Most often, teachers are bringing students into a big adventure, as learning unleashes thoughts and feelings that expand minds and visions of self, other, and the world. Yet, many of our students are unmotivated and not nearly as excited as we are. So, we decorate our walls with enticing images of that adventure, we give impassioned speeches, and we create engaging, entertaining introductory lessons. All of that is logical and good, but in due time, not as the first agenda item of the day or the class. This is very contrary to school systems that expect you to bombard each student with learning objectives and then expect each child to cite chapter and verse regarding what was accomplished in that past time slot.

Think of your classroom as an invitation over to your place for a picnic. Rarely do we sit our guests down and begin plating the meal as soon as they arrive. We greet each other, gently checking in and connecting before we sit down and dig in. How do you want to invite your students into that space and ease them into the adventures of that meal?

For most of our students, the expectations of the classroom are challenging, if not terrifying. Students may fear being unable to follow along and keep up with academic demands, or fear being disliked and perhaps picked on. If you lead with a narrative about the wonders of everything students are going to learn this year, we promise you that only those students who are excited to learn will experience the energizing, hopeful, adventurous benefits of a norepinephrine surge. For students who fear math, think they can never learn to spell, struggle to read, are shamed by imperfect grades, or are just overwhelmed, placing academics at the bottom of their list, that inspiring speech about what they are going to learn will push them into a flight, fight, or freeze response within the first few minutes of your picnic.

No doubt most classroom teachers feel fear that they will not be able to cover lesson plans and keep all students on task and up to speed within the allotted instructional time of a given day, week, or term. Time is of the essence. In Phase I, you get a chance to attune to your own anxiety about time pressures, as you relax into trusting that as you (and the greater school system) settle into the trauma-informed culture and cadence, learning will advance with fewer impediments; the time you spend on Connecting and Coaching is banking instructional time and efficacy.

So, more specifically now, what is the attunement-focused goal for your classroom? Describe the ambiance you want to create that will guide the choices you make about all aspects of managing your classroom and the delivery of your lesson plans. As we think over our own classroom mission statements, they express that we strive to create a community in which students:

• Feel welcome, as evidenced in our actions and attitudes displayed in our verbal and nonverbal communication, including our voice tone, pitch, and volume; our eyes and facial expressions; our body posture; and how we speak to and about our students. We strive for our responses to communicate that we are curious to get to know each student, to understand how they think, what they are feeling, what is important to them, what they understand and what they do not.
• See that we are concerned about them, not their performance. As one of our students said, “I want to teach students, not subjects.” We want our students to know we are invested in them doing well in life, both today and tomorrow. And while learning is a key part of their health, we trust that they will love learning once they know that they matter, that they are cared about, and that it is safe to stumble along in the process of learning.
• Know that struggle is OK and expected. We struggle to learn subjects; we struggle with learning how to be a good friend; we have fears and insecurities. We don’t always know how to be sad or angry or scared, and sometimes we make hard situations worse. We are all in the same boat, needing to learn not to fear our struggles. And we promise not to shame or punish anyone because of a struggle. We promise to walk beside each other, even when struggle is learning how to make something right or to fix a problem that we created. Know that struggle is OK and expected. We struggle to learn subjects; we struggle with learning how to be a good friend; we have fears and insecurities. We don’t always know how to be sad or angry or scared, and sometimes we make hard situations worse. We are all in the same boat, needing to learn not to fear our struggles. And we promise not to shame or punish anyone because of a struggle. We promise to walk beside each other, even when struggle is learning how to make something right or to fix a problem that we created.
• Know that we can’t wait to discover what each student does well. All of us have hidden talents and interests. All of us discover new things about life every day. And we look forward to hearing and watching each student soar in their own way and in their own time. Our students will be teaching us as much as we hope to teach them.
• Know that we need them to make our classroom a warm and inviting learning community. When one student is hurting, we all hurt. When a student is happy and excited, their joy is contagious. When someone is struggling, another peer might have the perfect way of helping out. We share time together every day, and when a student is unable to join us or engage with us, we feel that loss. We promise to remind each other every day of how much we see and appreciate each other.
• Know they are welcome to join us whether they like our class or not. This class, this time together, and having them be with us is the most important lesson we practice each day in each class.

This is the feeling we want our students to receive each time they enter our classroom: that they are more important than that lesson plan, that test score, or our teaching evaluation. These items do matter; we are not suggesting that you ignore these pressures or realities. But we know that for the vast majority of students, they will not learn, they will not want to learn, and perhaps most startling, they cannot learn, until they know you truly see and value them, and they can calm inner anxieties enough to access their executive functioning. Phase I Connecting is based on the premise that if we create a culture of care, student developmental growth processes will kick into high gear, making learning both possible and a tool to further healing and growth.

Classroom Observation and Assessment

In order to understand the relationship between the physical setting of our classroom and the potential influence it can have on our students, we created an assignment for participants in our trainings. We encourage teachers to sit in their classrooms at the end of the day and experience the space through the eyes of their students. We ask them to analyze the noises they hear, the lighting, the decorations in the room, the arrangement of desks, etc. Then, we ask them to collate their observations in the chart below. We challenge you to do the same! Experience your classroom through the eyes of your students. Use the chart below to complete this exercise. It is followed by an example a participant shared with us.

Assessment

Once you make changes in your classroom, you will want to assess the impact of those changes on student academic and behavior outcomes. In Chapter 12, we address the importance of gathering data to track the efficacy of your efforts as displayed in student engagement and learning. We also need to track how school personnel are engaging and responding to TISP. Take a few moments to glance through the data gathering section of Chapter 12 as you reflect on what data you may wish to track in your preparation and implementation processes. Just as you would in your lesson plan, determine the most appropriate assessments. What do you want to track? What do you want to observe? What data will you collect? Once you identify these items, add them to your Action Plan.

Action Plan Examples

The following examples are taken from Action Plans created by teachers. We share these to encourage you as you work through your own Action Plan.

A Look Forward

In this chapter, you created an action plan for TISP implementation. We acknowledge that the exercise was more than likely challenging and perhaps a bit daunting. Remember, you can implement in small pieces just as Caryn did in her example above. Now that we considered how to implement TISP in your classroom, we move to present application of TISP to behavioral disruptions in your classroom. In Chapter 9, we consider the philosophies undergirding your current beliefs on the goal and role of discipline, and how Connecting and Coaching are foundational to supporting student social-emotional development.

Resources for Further Reading

• Executive Function in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Improving Performance and Enhancing Skills for All Students, by Christopher Kaufman.
• Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention, by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare.
• Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom, by Kristin Souers and Pete Hall.
• The Trauma-Sensitive Classroom: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching, by Patricia Jennings.
• Trauma-Sensitive Schools: Learning Communities Transforming Children’s Lives, K-5, by Susan Craig.
• Trauma-Sensitive Schools for the Adolescent Years: Promoting Resiliency and Healing, Grades 6-12, by Susan Craig.
• Reaching and Teaching Children Exposed to Trauma, by Barbara Sorrels.
• Attachment & Trauma Network, Inc. This group is devoted to creating school-wide trauma-sensitive reform.
• Healing the Hurt: Trauma-Informed Approaches to the Health of Boys and Young Men of Color. This group focuses specifically on young men of color and ways to support them.
• Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Network for Girls of Color This is a resource for schools and groups working specifically with girls of color.
• TSA: Treatment and Services Adaptation Center (Resiliency, Hope, and Wellness in Schools) Their mission is to promote trauma-informed school systems that provide prevention and early intervention strategies to create supportive and nurturing school environments.