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The last couple of years, my physical health has taken a series of hits. I'm hoping that I am now where I can make improvements that will also improve some of the other areas.

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1. Page 220: "We must take care of ourselves first."

2. Page 222: "Secondary trauma is real and can take a significant toll on our health, our work performance, and our families."

3. Page 224: "We must know our own strengths and limitations and develop personal emotional fitness. ... we need well-developed self-care plans that we put into action on an everyday preventive basis, but we also need plans that we actualize during times of higher stress, ... Knowing what works for us as individuals and whom we can go to for support are both key."

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I would like to get the "script" for restorative justice conference more internalized to be able to use it for those situations where it would be useful. I would also like to teach students how to apologize and receive apologies properly - this is a life skill they need.

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1. On page 198, it states that "building relationships with students and empathizing with feelings underneath maladaptive actions does not mean we should excuse those actions."

2. When facilitating a restorative discipline conference, the words "nevertheless" and "regardless" can be very helpful to validate the student's feelings, but keep things moving forward.

3. On page 214, it is clarified that "educators should not teach youth that any and all acts of aggression are breaks that can be repaired." This follows after stating that we need to teach students the difference between typical relationship breaks and abusive behavior. I agree. We definitely should be teaching and expecting students to return to abusive relationships of any kind.

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I need to do better at the spontaneous breaks - although at the moment all that is going through my mind is having a random alarm like an iCarly random dance break.

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Multiple times through the first 9 chapters, the book has explicitly said not to use sarcasm with students. I feel like that is a matter of knowing your students. Many of our kiddos are very well versed in sarcasm and sarcastic humor. For many this would be appropriate playfulness if you have a good relationship.

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1. On page 175, "we can own what happened to us and make sense of how it has affected us, which can then help us better understand our lives and enable us to work on creating healthier patterns in current relationships."

2. "Above all, it is important not to schedule all fun times because we do not want severely traumatized youth to sabotage their participation out of anxiety. Educators should drop everything and do fun things spontaneously," page 178.

3. On page 194, we are advised, "Do be careful and purposeful in the use of the word mad or angry when empathizing with students. . . Anger, however, is a secondary emotion, meaning there is always another, more vulnerable emotion with it."

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I really like the whole concept of keeping a student's world small. I can think of a few in the past that this would have been good for. Also, the proactive plans - I have had a couple of students over the years that had to have alternate plans whenever there was a sub, but we never had any understanding what the problem was. I feel like I have a hint of enlightenment on those situations now.

Based on two members of my grade level team already posting that they plan to implement the YES Guidelines in their classrooms and our other member was also reading the book, I think we should consider this being consistent across our grade level. Fourth grade is departmentalized, so the students who really need that intervention could have the consistency throughout the day.

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On page 164, as part of the Bottom-Up Strategy section it states, "Physical activity for all students is associated with improved health, well-being, and cognitive functioning." I have to wonder if some of the increase in behavior issues we have had comes from eliminating a recess. We used to have 2 a day, now we only have one. Are we improving academics by taking away time for movement?

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1. On page 140 as part of the section about keeping the student's world small - "we only give severely traumatized students the things, tasks, choices, freedoms, responsibilities, and challenges that they are ready to handle successfully."

2. "We cannot make a student do an assignment, but we can control what we do in response to a child or teen's choice" page 145 under Choosing Limits and Words Carefully in the YES Guidelines.

3. On page 152, "We need to listen to what students are not saying, as much as - if not more so - than to what they are saying." This is so true. Students will often not say anything directly about their problems.

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I will definitely work on this during this upcoming year. I do take work home with me, but that's because I have to leave right after school for family things. I am planning to incorporate more "me" time, which should be helpful.

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1) Pg. 221, "Studies have shown that nearly half of all teachers report high daily stress, which compromises health, sleep, quality of life, and teaching performance (Greenberg, Brown, & Abenavoli,, 2016).

2) "As suggested by Perry (2014, it is natural for a worker in a helping profession to experience short term issue after connection with a traumatized person. These might include seep difficulties, changes in eating habit, or a general lack of enthusiasm." (Pg.223).

3) "If we are drowning in our own dysregulation, our own stress, and burnout and compassion fatigue have set in, we lose our capacity to help students who may be struggling to stay afloat in their own River of Feelings". (Pg.224).

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I want to start the school year off with having the students help with creating the classroom rules, and focusing on how our behaviors can affect others when we are not following the rules. This is something that has been an issue the past couple of years, our students don't seem to realize that their actions do affect their peers.

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1) Pg. 199, "Importantly, restorative discipline practices decrease student delinquency, improve academic outcomes, and make school climate more positive" (Payne & Welch, 2017).

2) Pg. 206, "Natural consequences hold the potential to help tech youth about cause and effect, especially when we, as adults, remain calm and caring when discussing them."

3)Pg. 213, "Apologies of action are almost always more powerful than apologies of words, especially with traumatized youth. In addition, they are often easier ad more concrete for kids to understand."

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I want to incorporate spontaneous fun in my classroom, even if it is just a 3 minute brain break.

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1) Pg. 195, "The PACE model helps us focus on the attitude necessary for building secure relationships with all youth, which ultimately helps build resiliency. Playfulness (P), acceptance (A), curiosity (C), and empathy (E) are critical for all kids; they are especially helpful in our relationships with traumatized youth because they are very interpersonal components that promote connection as well as regulation and healing."

2)Pg. 181, "Bumping into limits helps kids feel safe and know where they are. Once students are regulated, we need to calmly present choices they are developmentally ready for, and let youth decide for themselves." Kids need boundaries and rules to feel safe and cared for!

3)Pg. 178, "Above all, it is important not to schedule all fun times because we do not want severely traumatized youth to sabotage their participation out of anxiety. Educators should drop everything and do fun things spontaneously, not because it is what children and adolescents have EARNED but because it is what they NEED." We often forget to do this, and focus on whether or not the students earned a reward, or feel we don;t have time because we have to much to get done...we need to make sure we incorporate fun!

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I will definitely be implementing the YES guideline. I am hopeful that it will help keep my students feeling safe and to build our relationships within the classroom.

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1) "Being fair means giving each student what is needed so everyone can have opportunities for success. The same is true when it comes to emotional and social needs." (Pg. 141).

2) The YES guidelines:

You need to be where an adult can see you.

Every time you need or want something, ask an adult.

Seek out an adult and ask what the rule is if you are unsure.

3)Pg. 161, The reminder that we need to anticipate the activities that may overstimulate/trigger students, causing them to struggle with regulating. Events such as:

Indoor recess

School Carnival

Holiday Parties

Pep rallies

Dances

Field trips, especially those to loud, busy places or ones that may be reminders of past traumas, such as hospitals or police and fire stations.

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I'm really interested in incorporating a Morning Meeting to help build my relationship with my students and to help them build relationships with their peers.

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1) Pg. 118, "Core safety instruction for all kids will prevent problems and help ready students for learning.

2) Pgs. 123-124, I really appreciated the six steps that will help to connect with my students and listen for understanding. The fact that it can also help with parents is a huge bonus.

3) Pg.129, "To put it another way, highly stressed students cannot learn because their upstairs brain is offline." "We must regulate our own stress response systems so that we can teach. Then, we need to help all students calm their stress response systems so they can learn" (National Child Traumatic Stress Network Schools Committee, 2008; Siegel & Bryson, 2012,2014; van der Kolk, 2014).

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I would like to incorporate teaching of executive function in the classroom. As stated in the book, it is not natural for all students and it is an important function for their school career and life outside of school.

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1) On pg. 96 the example given when working with Pepper is wonderful. "Can you tell me what you feel like doing right now?" Then Pepper's response of wanting to throw things on the floor, with the teacher's response of acknowledging that her feelings were valid and talking her through how to make the big feelings smaller. This is an excellent way to help students talk through their emotions, even if they can't express what is upsetting them, it is giving them a way to verbalize their feelings and work on calming themselves down.

2) Pg. 97: "To help simplify our work, the trauma sensitive school helps all students build resiliency by way of four essentials:

1. To help students feel safe

2. To hep students be connected

3. To help students get regulated

4. To help students learn.

3) I appreciated the reminder of the importance of executive functions, as well as the reminder on pg. 107 that no youth have fully developed executive function skills. We expect a lot from our students, and it's important to remember that they are still growing and developing.

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I would like to look at the possibility of putting even a short morning meeting back into the 4th grade schedule.

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Again, a case was being made that recess should not be taken away students. We have gone from having 2 recesses every day to only one. Often, taking at least part of recess is the only consequence option we have.

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1. On page 116 we have an answer to a question many of us asked previously. "...there are many situations in which we may not be able to significantly change a traumatic environment that a student faces. . . What we can do is be the free space on the game board for our students - a place of safety and acceptance, with no strings attached."

2. On page 123, a case is made for the importance of Responsive Classroom's Morning Meetings is demonstrating to students that relationships come first. Many of our grades lost this with Covid. Maybe we need to bring this back.

3. Also on page 123, I liked the detail of the 6 steps to connect with students and listen for understanding, especially with the example script on the following pages.

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I would like to work on helping all students develop executive functioning skills, to work on problem-solving, breaking a task into smaller steps, and making a plan.

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1. I was pleased to read on page 99 it states, "It is important to note that safety does not begin and end with physical safety within families, schools, or communities. Other types of safety, such as emotional, social, and academic safety, must be ensured for all students, families, and staff." Too often we only think about the physical when we think about safety.

2. On page 101, the book points out that "a caring adult who is present daily, meeting students' basic needs in a consistent, predictable, and kind way, would be a critical part of creating a school climate marked by positive connections for students." This is under the heading of Noncertified Educators. I think this is an important point that it is not just the classroom teachers who are part of fostering these relationships for students.

3. On page 107, it is noted that "no youth have fully developed executive function." So, all of our students need help in this area. Students dealing with trauma should be expected to be delayed in this development.

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I have made sure in the past to not take any work home. I need to also make sure I make time for things that help me destress. My goal this year will be to introduce more "me" time to decrease my work related stress levels.

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1. It is very important to take care of ourselves as educators. Otherwise, how can we help our students?

2. Secondary traumatic stress is very real!

3. "Teaching has been ranked as one of the top careers linked with stress related health problems" (Johnson et al., 2005, p.221).

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I will make sure to sit down with my students and talk with them about how their behaviors can affect others. I think this is something that we really need to work on in my class.

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1. Restorative discipline can be helpful to some students-take the time to help them understand through conversations why what they did was wrong and how it can affect someone else in a negative way.

2. Practice behaviors when students continuously "misbehave" (ex. "we are going to practice walking in line correctly since you still can't seem to get the hang of it.)

3. Don't always focus on all of a students' negative behavior in a day. Make sure to encourage their positive moments. Daily reflection sheets can be a great tool for this.

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I mentioned as one of my takeaways: feel empathy for unpleasant emotions. This is one I need to really remember. Being the intervention specialist, I spend a majority of my day with the tier 3 students. I see and experience SO many unpleasant emotions from students. This chapter was helpful in giving me things to remember when encountering these.

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1. Playfulness can help students feel connected to you. Using this tactic in stressful situations (where appropriate) can help to alleviate these feelings and create a bond between the teacher and student. (They're still kids!)

2. Set limits-even if we know a student has been through some very traumatic situations, that is not an excuse to let them behave or do whatever they want. They need to understand we still have limits in a classroom setting, and as individuals in general.

3. Feel empathy for unpleasant emotions. It can be difficult, but we must try to remember that kids are not trying to be unpleasant-they are just dealing with some difficult situations.

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I really liked the YES and would like to try and implement it into my classroom/students. Maybe tie it in with classroom rules. I think it is very important to help with student trauma in times of need, but it is also just an important safety strategy overall.

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1. YES is important for students to know:

Y: you need to be where an adult can see you at all times.

E: every time you want or need something, ask an adult.

S: seek out an adult if you are unsure about something before acting.

2. Ask "why's" for a student's behaviors-don't just assume they are acting out. Analyze why they are behaving a certain way. Fixing/supporting the "why" will be much more effective in helping to regulate the behavior.

3. Routines, routines, routines! They are extremely important for all students-especially those who have experienced trauma. Make sure to prep your students as much as possible for days where the routine may be different.

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This chapter talked a lot about how we should ensure we are providing outside resources for parents and students who need it. I know it can be difficult sometimes to get parents involved in taking this help. I wonder if there are some ways to make these resources more appealing?

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Relationships can be key to anything! It is definitely important to foster a meaningful and safe relationship. I have always tried to do this in the past, but I will make sure to remember the importance this can have. Trust with our students is important to them in feeling safe.

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1. A student feeling safe in their learning environment is critical for learning.

2. Relationships with students should come first in trying to establish assistance to regulate trauma related emotions.

3. Providing hydration and snacks can be a way to foster the feeling of safety and readiness to learn in the classroom!

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Working with students that have various disabilities, it was helpful and useful to see the River of Feelings and how I can use modeling or resources to help them regulate in the classroom. Like Ashley mentioned, some things that we all do to help us get started and maintain focus are not always natural for our students.

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1. It is important for ALL staff to be aware of trauma and how it can impact a student in the classroom, as well as some techniques to assist the student in a time of "crisis" (meltdown, trigger response, etc.)

2. The 3 essentials that must be met for students to learn:

-Students feel safe

-Students feel connected

-Students are able to become regulated.

3. The "River of Feelings" image on p. 110 can be used with all students. It is a great model to help in understanding what the behaviors/feelings students demonstrate need in terms of states of arousal and stress responses.

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I have created boundaries- when I leave the school, that is my family time. I try to stay out of my email outside of work. I also have worked to develop hobbies outside of education. (Painting, spending time outside, family time)

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Our job is stressful and affects our stress response system. We can often have secondary stress responses while dealing with someone else’s trauma.

222 has a list of all of the secondary stress indicators (wow)

If we notice any of the signs we need to seek support for ourselves so that we can support students to our best ability- “you can’t pour from an empty cup”

Develop self-care routines to keep you the best version of you.

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The difficulty I have as an educator is that I will help a student become regulated within my classroom, but then as soon as class switches occur it’s like what we did didn’t stick- they engage in similar behaviors in the hall/other classrooms (often due to conflict with adults as well as peers)

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I talk with my students after an incident so we can plan out better responses for future incidents. What happened? What could we have done differently? And then we discuss asking for a break/trip to the counselor as alternatives.

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Restorative discipline- students understand the effects of harm caused them work to take responsibility, express genuine remorse and then work to make amends

We did check in sheets at a prior school where the student would sit in another classroom and write out answers for “what happened? Who was harmed? How can this situation be avoided moving forward? Then the student submitted their written response to the teacher as their re-admission ticket to class.

203- remember traumatized youth often feel overwhelmed by fear or shame and this can cause breaks in connection that need repaired

Consequences should directly link to the action committed. They don’t need to be immediate with older students to be effective - sometimes the wait for consequences causes more reflection time

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This chapter was great for dealing with conflict with older students! I loved all the little mock conversations for ideas.

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The thing that I plan on remembering is on page 181 where it talks about how students will test boundaries and limits. A regulated student needs to be able to look at choices and choose for themselves. We can’t constantly remind or hover because eventually they will be on their own and not sure how to navigate without guidance.

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Verbal/nonverbal communication needs to show unconditional acceptance- we might not like their actions, but we accept who they are as people and care for them no matter what

Check in- does the student avoiding task feel safe? Do they need connection? Talk about what is tough for them and how you can help them move forward.

180- we only have control over ourselves. If a power struggle happens there will be disconnection and the student might push away. Page 180 gave suggestions for if this occurs with a student.

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Pages 152-153 will stick with me in this next school year- learning the why of behavior to help students better understand themselves and their responses to others. It reminds me of “things I would like my teacher to know” notes where students can explain what they truly feel and need without judgement.

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Educators should not be irritated, angry, sarcastic, blaming, or shaming

Students each need different things to be successful just as success looks different for each individual.

The YES guidelines can help build positive relationships

Y- be where an adult can see you (increased supervision, boundary setting)

E- every time you need or want something ask an adult (become independent but able to connect and depend on others)

S- seek an adult if you are unsure (learn expectations)

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Building relationships and getting to know who you are working with and supporting is a powerful tool. “Listen for understanding” p123-124

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Page 118- core safety instruction for all kids will prevent problems goes along directly with what we have learned about modeling MTSS behaviors throughout the year to ensure that students know what is expected.

Making sure that all families and youth can take advantage of school programs/activities is critical

We have to make sure that our practices are not reinforcing traumatizing societal and generational issues- confront injustice and discrimination

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Executive function has been a big focus in my career as I have worked with students with Autism, ADHD and trauma. Things that we all do to help us get started and maintain focus on tasks are not always natural for individuals so they many need additional help/modeling to get them started/create benchmarks to check their progress.

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On pg 96 I love the idea of “I know you have big feelings and don’t know why, what would you like to do?” The child’s feelings are validated and they are then able to work on learning strategies to help them deescalate. Th child is able to express their feelings without judgement.

Four essentials- feel safe, connection, regulation, then learning. Learning can’t happen without the others.

A student may currently be safe but may not feel safe due to their past trauma.

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I plan to keep this chapter earmarked for when we are having MTSS meetings this year to help with coming up with interventions for students. I also really liked the part about students needing to move more often and I’m considering showing short yoga or brain break videos during homeroom this year to provide that necessary movement.

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1. On page 139, it states, “…all strategies must be accompanied by safe, predictable, and caring adult responses.” I underlined “predictable” 3 times and added 3 exclamation points under it. I am always so frustrated with coworkers that don’t aim for basic predictability. And, of course, I can always improve myself.

2. The first full paragraph on page 145 about her response to educators asking if it’s important that students learn to follow directions simply because they are asked was SO GOOD! I actually took a picture and sent it to a few teacher friends. The idea that we do need to work on students’ views of authority figures was so wise. It also made me realize how our job will affect their future that much more.

3. On page 155, the author writes, “Specifically, trauma-sensitive educators may need to track several dimensions of behavior, including patterns of frequency, intensity, and duration. This was another really good idea to me. I had one problematic student from this past year come to mind; I wonder how I could have helped her if I would have kept track of this data. I definitely want to try this next year.

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This chapter reiterated the importance of relationships multiple times. I feel like the best I can do for these principles that are supposed to be building-wide, is just model them in my room consistently and advocate for training our staff to do the same, when I can.

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1. I identified so greatly with the line in page 115, “It was steps forward, steps back, and then steps forward again, as it often is for severely traumatized youth.” I find that to be the case with any children. But, in the moment, when you’re working so hard to help them grow, you forget that growth isn’t really linear. This is a quote I need to post around my desk!

2. “First, educators must be safe in physical, emotional, social and nonverbal ways,” page 117. This was a good reminder that students (and really anyone) is paying attention to all forms of communication we’re putting off. So, if we want to be considered genuinely safe and someone of comfort, it has to be shown in all ways.

3. I found a lot of the examples in this chapter to be more for elementary schools. But, I really like the idea of the high school’s homeroom being like a morning meeting. That could be really powerful for meeting the universals discussed in the chapter, while also improving communication throughout our building.

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Did anyone else read the section “Safety at Home and in the Community” and wonder how all of that is supposed to be accomplished while also trying to teach content? It makes me wonder if social services Job and Family Services and HUD should be housed next to schools to make this more feasible.

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Along with implementing the four essentials in my classroom, I would like to challenge the MTSS Team at the high school to create goals that accomplish the same thing on a building level. I’d also like to find a way to help students self-assess on their executive functioning to make them aware of their strengths and weaknesses in this critical skill.

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1. On page 98 it states, “Proper supervision paired with clear behavioral expectations and procedures must be ensured.” It was funny to read the basic definition of PBIS without it being named. Plus, since it’s state mandated, it was nice to have confirmation that it’s good practice, even though it does seem to be common sense.

2. I LOVED the line on page 100, “This requires teachers, counselors, and administrators be trained in trauma-sensitivity, but it must not start snd end there.” The idea that any adult that interacts with any students being trained in anything that isn’t academic content related is brilliant! I especially like this as a high school teacher; I only get to interact with students for 50 minutes in their 8 hour school day. That leaves a lot of time with other adults that may not know what they need and how to help them cope throughout the day.

3. The description of executive functioning from pages 105-109 was really helpful for me! The term executive functioning is used a lot in education and I’ve never been formally taught the definition. And, the author’s explanation of all it takes to finish a chapter was very clear and a great reminder that executive functioning is a big goal we’re asking students to achieve! When I consider how little self-discipline I have, I’m reminder that students need more grace than I normally give.