Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies For Creating A Trauma-Sensitive Classroom, Jan/2016

In this galvanizing book for all educators, Kristin Souers and Pete Hall explore an urgent and growing issue--childhood trauma--and its profound effect on learning and teaching.

Grounded in research and the authors' experience working with trauma-affected students and their teachers, Fostering Resilient Learners will help you cultivate a trauma-sensitive learning environment for students across all content areas, grade levels, and educational settings. The authors--a mental health therapist and a veteran principal--provide proven, reliable strategies to help you

1.  Understand what trauma is and how it hinders the learning, motivation, and success of all students in the classroom.
2. Build strong relationships and create a safe space to enable students to learn at high levels.
3. Adopt a strengths-based approach that leads you to recalibrate how you view destructive student behaviors and to perceive what students need to break negative cycles.
4. Head off frustration and burnout with essential self-care techniques that will help you and your students flourish.

Each chapter also includes questions and exercises to encourage reflection and extension of the ideas in this book. As an educator, you face the impact of trauma in the classroom every day. Let this book be your guide to seeking solutions rather than dwelling on problems, to building relationships that allow students to grow, thrive, and--most assuredly--learn at high levels.

About The Authors:

Kristin Souers is a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington. Kristin has a Master of Arts degree in counseling psychology from Gonzaga University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Santa Clara University. She is an assistant director at Washington State University's Child and Family Research Unit (CAFRU) in the CLEAR Trauma Center. Kristin also serves as an adjunct faculty member for the Master of Counseling Psychology Program at Gonzaga University. Kristin is an expert in understanding the impact of trauma on individuals and families and has provided consultation and training on this topic to education and human services systems for more than 20 years.

Pete Hall currently serves as a speaker, an author, and a professional development agent for schools and districts around the globe. A former teacher and veteran school principal, Pete is the author of more than a dozen articles on school leadership and five books, including Building Teachers' Capacity for Success (ASCD, 2008), Teach, Reflect, Learn(ASCD, 2015), and The Principal Influence (ASCD, 2015). In addition to his leadership work, Pete passionately advocates for the establishment of trauma-sensitive learning environments, education that addresses the whole child, and the relentless quest for continuous improvement.