Trauma-Informed Course Development

In this section we aim to provide recommendations and flexible resources assisting educators (while also informing counselors and administrators) about processes/practices for building a trauma-aware course and/or curriculum.

This module provides specific concepts and tools that can help you create a safer and more effective learning environment for your students and for yourself. Building a trauma-informed learning environment consists of designing class activities that allow students to express their own experiences, and framing course content in a relatable context consistent with theirs and others authentic lived experiences, and by creating buy-in/personal investment by collaborating with students to establish ground rules, procedures, and overall classroom culture.

Establishing "ground rules" in order to facilitate a culture/environment of mutual respect involves:

Creating and adopting ground rules/agreements early in the term;
Co-creating agreements with students, allowing/encouraging students to direct and design elements of the curriculum; and
Promoting the classroom as a safe place for open and productive discussion through regular recommitment to the agreed-upon ground rules.

The brief video below illustrates how trauma can impact learning. Although the speaker in the video is discussing a K-12 learning environment, this information pertains to all levels of trauma-impacted students. As we have learned, trauma affects different aspects of our lives and it can significantly impact the way our students experience the classroom environment, and the course content.

Recommended and Promising Practices

Many faculty members who have been teaching in the prison education program have discussed and put together some helpful suggestions that have seemed to bring about positive outcomes in the classroom and in the students' lives and communities. You will also develop your own that are not on this list as you navigate your journey teaching in the classroom.

Prioritize focusing on the positive trajectories and outcomes in students’ lives when designing course content to prompt student reflections, personal examples, experience-based observations, etc. Re-directing and focusing on student trajectories that are positive, specifically through education, is imperative.
When students are identifying and selecting topics for which they are passionate about examining and sharing, encourage students to envision both the abstract and concrete aspects of any area of interest (through reasoning processes such as subordination, mind mapping, etc). Encouraging students to reflect on their own experiences and relate and apply the class materials to their own lives helps students participate in their own learning and connect to the material as it applies beyond their immediate/personal lives.
Welcome feedback from students about how the class is going, what they would like to see in the future, and what they've enjoyed so far. Being able to change up your class when something is not working out is essential to student success. Deliberately structure into your curriculum opportunities for your students to provide authentic and extensive insight into various aspects of the class, while also employing active listening practices to encourage, validate, and respond to student input through more informal class dialogues.
Make a commitment to student learning by responding to and balancing their classroom and curricular needs. For example, if you have 40 readings planned for the semester, and the students need a bit more time to get through a particular reading or assignment, don't be afraid to re-negotiate your original plan, however reasonably possible. Student learning remains the impetus of our work as instructors. Memorizing or cramming is not transformative, and also will not often be stored in one's long-term memory. Taking a bit more time is often beneficial to solidify the content. Further, allow lessons to progress by informally assessing collective student understanding of each part/stage of the lesson before moving on to the next, rather than simply delivering complete/contained lecture presentations. For instance, when reviewing a list of key concepts, you might consider following a structured, student-led pattern of discussion and review:
1. Introduce a concept;
2. Solicit multiple students’ understandings and applications of the concept;
3. Collectively discuss and clarify understandings and applications of the concept;
4. Solicit students’ descriptive, real or reasonably hypothetical, examples functionally representing the concept; and
5. Discuss and clarify examples.
Consider blending formative and summative assessments, wherein students can practice through a range of lower and higher stakes assignments. This will afford them greater capacity within the course to explore topics through curiosity, and passion. It will help them also better trust their own intellect. When all assignments are heavily weighted, not only is it stressful for the student, there is so much weight on “getting it right” that students often limit taking calculated risks out of curiosity. In other words, exchange stressful/excessive high-stakes assignments for a range of multimodal assessments allowing for the same (or higher) quality evaluations of disciplinary outcomes, while facilitating students’ ability to form and communicate critical and concrete, rather than merely cited and reiterated, understandings of, and abilities to apply subject matter.

Managing Academic Anxiety

Some students have experienced significant trauma in educational settings. This means that some students might have a visceral reaction just by virtue of being in a classroom or similar setting. Being prepared for this kind of reaction will help minimize the student’s discomfort and help create principles of mutual respect and trust. Some ways you can help mitigate students' school-related anxieties include:

Through Syllabus development, laying out clear explanations of assignments, schedules, how they will be assessed, common in-class practices and expectations will help alleviate some preemptive anxieties. Clear instructions sans vague and ambiguous language will be very helpful;
Using imagery — photos, graphics, etc. — that have explanatory power, content made to visually complement, and therefore more effectively clarify, your verbalized or written lessons;
Using an assignment checklist with detailed and clearly organized/formatted instructions;
Providing tips or key recommendations on each assignment, and providing examples of previous successful assignments when necessary, appropriate, or helpful to do so;
Providing frequent reminders for assignments, assessments, etc;
Structured or even unplanned "Check-in" discussions with students, prior to or at the end of class, can be an effective tool for better recognizing and responding to students;
Providing study guides;
Frequently engaging in discussions about studying and time management practices; and
Incorporating opportunities to allow students to re-write/re-produce assignments, or re-take assessments, in order to solidify learning (as opposed to imposing punitive measures for perceived "lack of learning"); this can be done in a way that integrates additional assignment attempts into the intentional fabric of the course design.

The choices are up to you, but this type of model is beneficial for all students. Many students are so anxious about assessments and grades that offering them chances for revision mitigates those anxieties. Many of our students take their education very seriously, and so being educated may of the utmost importance to them, and to you. Some of these suggestions can help actualize their full potential and feel supported.

Trauma and Lesson Design

You may already follow an instructional approach similar to the ROPES Model for lesson design — "Review, Overview, Presentation, Exercise, and Summary." This approach is effective because it pays close attention to the students' distinct takeaways and helps to guarantee greater depth of learning. It also focuses on students' previous knowledge, which helps ensure that they are making connections in the world around them, and creates confidence in their own intellectual abilities and being perceived as knowledgeable.

This framework helps craft a reliable and routine plan for each day, giving students some predictability, easing uncertainty and facilitating a more comfortable learning environment in which students generally feel a greater degree of agency and manageability over their own learning. However, your class content doesn't need to be repetitive just because the structure is predictable; you have the freedom and agency to develop your own material and assignments to suit the needs of your discipline/field and students.

**ROPES Model**
Steps	Description
Review	State the main learning goal Ask about learner's familiarity and experiences with topic
Overview	Provide overview of topic Highlight important points Discuss learning objectives Describe benefits of understanding topic
Presentation	Describe general concepts Discuss applications Discuss steps Demonstrate steps Provide examples
Exercise	Facilitate activities for learner to engage Have learner explain how and why Observe and ask questions Provide a wrap-up and debrief
Summary	Review topic discussed Highlight important points Ask questions to confirm understanding Answer questions from learners

Visual illustration of Retraumatization chart.

(Access Media Description: Retraumatization Chart)

Intentional Insights: Sharing Space

A Communication Studies faculty's perspective. While trauma can, and certainly does, manifest within virtually any classroom or educational environment, as instructors actively teaching in carceral spaces we have to be uniquely aware of the reality that prisons operationally reinforce many of the traumas people go in with, while often generating new ones. The classroom and curriculum offer opportunities for growth and development, both in addition and in contrast to many of the trauma-reinforcing and -generating experiences our students contend with throughout their ongoing and everyday lives, incarcerated.

The fact is many of our students feel neglected by the very institutions responsible for their safety and well-being — including not only the institution of CDCR, but the even dauntingly larger institution of American Education, and the economy as well. I’m fortunate to teach classes that provide direct opportunities for students to voice their views, and to craft and deliver powerful messages accordingly. Students have often shared that they feel empowered by these opportunities — I usually feel empowered by the depth and honesty of their work. While every class may not ask students to expressively interpret and critically introduce literary and other cultural artifacts, as we do in my Performing Literature and Oral Communication courses, every single classroom is a place of learning, and learning should be a joyous thing in order to work, in order for things to really "click." Mathematic and scientific formulas provide their own profound opportunities, as does every academic discipline. We cannot ignore the density of trauma that moves and manifests throughout the carceral space, which includes the classrooms we share with all our incarcerated students. Yet, we should approach the development and delivery (teaching) of our curriculum by focusing on — prioritizing — the joy found in learning and applying new knowledge.

You should not make students’ trauma a part of your curriculum, nor should traumatic experiences be ignored within the conduct and student-led content of the class.