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Heather Clark-Warner, Unit 2 & 3 Takeaway

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Heather Clark-Warner, Unit 2 & 3 Takeaway

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Heather's work is a comprehensive guide for Pre-K and Kindergarten educators. It includes thorough information about trauma-informed education, the rules of the brain, creating trauma-informed spaces, and restorative practices. It includes hyperlinks to additional resources. It also includes headings and spacing that makes it highly readable and easy to access.

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Carey completed two beautiful booklets; the first is about trauma-informed classrooms with information about brain science, and the second one is about restorative practices. They are both highly readable, with visually appealing design and graphics, and are chock full of great information but are also not visually overwhelming. They both include QR codes for further information. The intended audience is educators at the elementary level.

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Amy's Brain Bulletin is an "Educator's Guide to Trauma and Learning." It explains trauma, the rules of the brain, the window of tolerance, how to create a reset space, and provides resources for further reading. It is well-designed and easy to read. The layout makes it highly accessible to all types of learners, and the writing is direct and concise.

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This slideshow provides an overview of mindfulness and why educators should use it regularly in our personal lives and in our teaching practice. The intended audience is all the staff in the building who work with students. Before completing this project and dedicating myself to a mindfulness practice, I thought of mindfulness as a little "out there" and not cerebral enough to take seriously. What I have learned is that to fully access our "thinking brains," we must find ways to regulate and increase focus. This is especially important for people, like me, who tend to overthink and overfeel. Mindfulness has allowed me distance from my thoughts and my emotions, which has allowed me to be more present, more in control, less volatile, more collegial, and more anchored for my colleagues and, most importantly, my students.

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My Unit 2 takeaway project was a Trauma-Informed Checklist designed with support staff in mind. Support staff are often placed with our highest needs kids who are struggling with trauma. However, it is also our support staff who are least likely to understand trauma, the rules of the brain, and regulation strategies because they have not been provided with necessary training. At my school, there is no consistent onboarding for newly hired support staff, and many never receive comprehensive trauma training. This resource is intended to provide an overview of trauma and all things related to it, so that a person can start in our building and receive this checklist and, after a few hours of interacting with the links, have a deeper understanding of trauma and how it impacts behaviors and learning.

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My project for Unit 3 was a slideshow intended for our school board. In order to effect system-wide change, the school board needs to be educated on best practice and they need to buy-in to change initiatives. It became very clear to me during this historic budget season that our school board members, while well-intentioned, do not actually know what happens day in and day out in our school building. And while our administration may have a toe in the water of Restorative Practices, in order for our school to truly be Restorative, there needs to be more pressure from various community stakeholders on our administration to fully implement these practices. Our community frequently voices concerns about the behaviors that happen at our school, behaviors that rise to the top of the school's concern and drive decisions made for all students. I truly believe that RP is the answer that our community seeks and that it has the opportunity to truly change our school and community.

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My journal provides an honest introspection into personal struggles and challenges, particularly in managing emotions and reactions to stressors. I have attempted to reckon with my own emotional reactions and pursued mindfulness in addressing them. I am aware of being hypersensitive to mess or disorganization and have endeavored to cultivate mindfulness and self-regulation in order to address these personal challenges. Ultimately, I aim to use mindfulness as a commitment to personal growth and well-being. I also intend to pursue mindfulness, so that I can grow into the educator and human that I most want to become.

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Before taking this class, I thought I understood trauma. I had taken several classes about trauma that had informed my teaching, and students have regularly sought me out as a "safe adult." However, the resources from Dr. Bruce Perry, especially, allowed me to see what I hadn't been seeing before, and I underwent a paradigm shift. This learning with fresh eyes, coupled with my mindfulness practice, allowed me to step into curiosity, the pause, compassion, and empathy far more easily and quickly than before. I found that I was able to be patient with even the toughest kids who were attacking me personally without apparent reason. I was able to view these attacks with distance, instead of taking anything personally. I also recognized where potential landmines of power struggles laid and was able to avoid them. My intention is to now advocate for trauma-informed training for support staff and colleagues so that I am doing my part to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

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Before engaging in the RP content, I had taken a few trainings and run some circles, but the power of RP was magnified when braided together with mindfulness and trauma-informed approaches. I am now a disciple of RP and believe in its power to change communities. The most important thing it accomplishes is allowing harm to be acknowledged, but also to isolate the action from the actor. It restores a beautiful belief in humanity; we are all inherently good, but we all do things at times that hurt others and ourselves. Such decisions can fracture a community, and it should be our goal to always work to repair those fractures, while also honoring the humanity and desire for belonging, forgiveness, and acceptance that each of us has. I intend to advocate for restorative approaches at my school in order to promote a supportive and nurturing environment for students and staff. . . one that feels dignifying and ennobling to be a part of.