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1.  The candidate creates a positive classroom environment by making learners feel valued and creating a climate of mutual respect.

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1.  The candidate creates a positive classroom environment by making learners feel valued and creating a climate of mutual respect.

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The candidate uses understanding of individual differences, diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.

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The candidate uses understanding of individual differences, diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.

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2.  The candidate uses knowledge about individual differences and diverse cultures to develop inclusive learning environments and make appropriate and timely accommodations that support all students in meeting high standards including students with learning differences and/or language barriers.

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2.  The candidate uses knowledge about individual differences and diverse cultures to develop inclusive learning environments and make appropriate and timely accommodations that support all students in meeting high standards including students with learning differences and/or language barriers.

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Co-create classroom agreements then norm how to "take a break" and reflect, then repair the mistake.

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For the past decade at Barton Open School, when 7th and 8th grade students
need extra time to regain their self-control, we've used a "TAB Out and Back"
system. TAB Out is the Developmental Designs practice that gives students
a chance to get back on track by moving to a separate classroom to reflect and
refocus. TAB Out and Back includes a Quick Conference between the student and
the teacher who sent him before the student re-enters the original classroom.
During the Quick Conference, what the student has written on a reflection is
used to make sure he is ready and willing to get back on track. We've used
various written reflection forms to support this approach. This year, we wanted
to see whether our reflection sheet was helping students to identify the needs
they seek to fulfill when they break the rules.

Effective written
reflection
When a student arrives in the TAB Out room, she is asked to
fill out a reflection sheet as soon as she can think clearly about what
behaviors brought her there. The reflection sheet includes the
following:

What did you do that broke our agreements?

Which class
rule(s) did you break?
____be respectful
____do your best
____sharing
is caring
____no loud emotional outbursts

What need do you have that
you were trying to meet when you did that?
____I wanted to have some
fun.
____I was trying to be noticed.
____I wanted to be in
control
____I wanted to get even with someone
____I needed help
____I
wanted to be liked
____Other? __________________

What will you do to
meet your needs in an appropriate way?

Do you need help from anyone else?
_____ Yes ____ No

If yes, what support do you need, and from
whom?

What action(s) will you take to repair the mistake you
made?

At the bottom of the reflection sheet, there are signature spaces
for the student, the TAB Out room teacher, and the class hour teacher, who sent
the student. A date is also required.

When the reflection is written, the
student raises his hand to indicate readiness to return to class. The TAB Out
teacher quickly reads over the reflection, checks to make sure the student is
ready to return and repair the damage, signs the sheet, and sends the student
back to class. When the student returns to class, he stands inside the door,
written reflection in hand, waiting until the teacher can spend a moment with
him.

Ensuring a positive reentry
In the quick social
conference at the door, the sending teacher and student review the student's
reflection, checking for understanding of what happened and effort toward
positive change. Then the student is welcomed back to class.

Action
research
In the first half of the year, I used the TAB Out room 42 times.
My analysis of needs being met by the rule-breaking behavior on the 42 written
reflections indicates that, 23 identified a need for fun; 12 identified a need
to talk to someone; 6 identified a need to relax; and one indicated a need for
more information about something that was of pressing importance (the student
wanted to know who had taken his pencil!).

Need to adjust the written
reflection?
From among the list of needs that are found on the reflection
form, a large percentage of my students checked I wanted to have some fun. But
the second most used need was a need to talk to someone-a relational need-and
there was nothing on the sheet predicting this. Because the reflection data
regarding the need for social interaction was so clear, I would add two more
categories to our form:
____I needed to talk to someone
____I needed to
relax

Using the data
I see more clearly now that fun, talking,
and relaxing are very important to middle school students, and sometimes these
needs can get in the way of learning. They can also damage individual
relationships and a learning community's fabric. Students need to understand
when discussion is appropriate and when active listening is required. For
example, when a student steps over the line by side-talking during another
student's presentation, the talker needs a teacher who will quickly redirect.
The more we intentionally build into our lessons opportunities for fun, social
interaction, and learning in a relaxed environment, the better climate we'll
have.

Maintaining engagement
It is essential to meet these
needs in a positive way while empowering students so they learn self-control.
Every period of the day-not just advisory/homeroom-needs to have a built-in
opportunity for positive fun. One approach could be to stop everything in the
middle of the class, or at a natural transition near the middle, and play for
five minutes. That would meet the need for fun, energize the students, and allow
the teacher to bring them back afterward to a strong focus on learning. Using
engaged learning strategies infused with social interaction and reflection can
also help teachers craft lessons that meet students' over-arching need for
connection with peers in a meaningful, positive way.

Food for
thought
The fact that nobody checked off four of the categories- I was
trying to be noticed, I wanted to be in control, I wanted to get even with
someone, I needed help, I want people to like me-doesn't mean they have no
purpose on the form. I feel that there were times when one of these categories
accurately described what had transpired, but students either weren't able to
see that need or weren't ready to recognize it, perhaps for developmental
reasons. Nonetheless, the presence of these categories on the form allows a
safe, introspective opportunity for students to wrestle with a wide variety of
possible reasons for their misbehavior. It gives them valuable, specific
information-food for thought.

Christopher Hagedorn taught 7th and
8th graders at Barton Open School in Minneapolis MN, and is now is
an educational consultant.

Published January 2008/revised March 2010

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For the past decade at Barton Open School, when 7th and 8th grade students need extra time to regain their self-control, we've used a "TAB Out and Back" system. TAB Out is the Developmental Designs practice that gives students a chance to get back on track by moving to a separate classroom to reflect and refocus.

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opportunities for student voice and choice

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opportunities for student voice and choice

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use with a rubric (which learners can co-create) for student, peer and finally teacher evaluation and feedback

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When teachers who find evidence of unconscious bias take steps to correct it, they can create a more welcoming space for all students.

I was approached by a middle school student who said, "My teacher doesn't like me." I knew the teacher, and I couldn't conceive of him communicating something like that to a student. I said that I found it hard to imagine, and the student insisted, "He doesn't like me." I asked him how he knew. "He never looks at me." I said I thought that was surprising but would look into it.

When I sat in on a couple of classes, I saw that the student sat in the front on the far right side of the room, and the teacher looked almost exclusively to the left half of the room. I spoke to the teacher about it, and he had no idea about his tendency to look to his right. I suggested that he use a technique I learned about from UK researcher Michael Fielding and rotate asking a few students over the course of a few weeks to keep track of some of his patterns:

Where he tended to face.

Who does he tend to call on-male/female; race/ethnicity; disability status.

In what parts of the room did he tend to call on students.

With which students did he use or not use a student's name when he called on them.

The teacher spoke with the student once the issue was brought to his attention. He said the incident made him and his class more aware of how they all-teacher and students-could inadvertently insult, offend, or exclude someone without realizing it.

As we work to improve our students' social and emotional skills and help them understand how to form relationships using both words and nonverbal behaviors, it stands to reason that they will be more aware of how they are treated by their teachers, lunch aides, bus drivers, administrators, and other adults. So adults need to be more aware of what they are projecting with their actions.

Implicit Biases?

Tendencies to look left or right or call on boys more or usually call on people in the front or back of the room can be considered forms of implicit bias. Similarly, it's a form of bias to favor students of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds in the frequency of calling on them or using their names. These are not patterns we consciously plan, yet many of us have them.

As Jay Wamsted noted in a January 2021 Edutopia article, tracking is the most effective way to identify biases. Before introducing students to tracking some of the areas above, teachers would have a direct conversation with their class about these kinds of implicit biases and the benefits of tracking them honestly. This models the idea that we all have implicit biases, and it's OK to get help in identifying them as the first step in reducing them.

While students can help track certain behaviors, other areas are less appropriate for students to monitor directly. These are areas in which biases can lead to significant differences in students' opportunities:

Who do you speak to informally?

Who gets to help you when you need assistance in the classroom?

Who do you suggest for opportunities (e.g., clubs, service, extracurriculars)?

Who do you encourage when they don't volunteer?

If teachers discover bias, it's best to confront it right away. As cognitive scientist Daniel Kahneman has shown throughout his career, we all have biases of varying kinds. It's often difficult-and ultimately pointless-to wonder how we acquired them. What matters is to identify them and then work to eliminate those we feel will be harmful to our students' success.

Participation Is the Key

When biases operate, as in the example I started with, students often give up, lose hope, disconnect, and learn less. This response to what they feel as dislike, ignoring, or outright rejection (even though this is the furthest thing from most teachers' minds) makes sense-when people don't feel their participation matters or is appreciated, it's natural to be less motivated to try, leading to less motivation to learn.

We see this, for example, with participation of girls in STEM classes. Years of bias-girls being called on less, not being given opportunities, expected to not be the best-create internalized oppression. They stop trying. So someone walking into a classroom and seeing all the male hands up and the female hands down would say, "Of course more boys are called on. They volunteer more." That's why it is so necessary to uncover and reduce biases and encourage enthusiastic classroom participation.

Class participation involves a number of social and emotional competencies, as well as character attributes such as courage, persistence, and confidence. There are ways to make it easier for more students to feel that their participation is welcome without requiring norm-breaking initiative:

Before a class discussion, have students meet in pairs to share ideas about the topic to be discussed, or have them meet in small groups to discuss the topic and rotate having students report out a summary of the group's thoughts. Provide the questions that will be covered in the discussion, and give students a few minutes to gather their thoughts and write them down. This way, their later participation will be more like reading their ideas than having to think on the spot.

When you put students in pairs or groups, create intentionally diverse mixes, and have a goal of students being with as many different classmates as possible.

Articulate core values for the classroom that apply to all. This creates a set of uniform expectations that all students are believed to be capable of living up to. Explicitly holding everyone to common standards sends an important equity message, and so does ensuring that classroom and school discipline systems are firm, fair, restorative, and consistent.

By paying attention to our own patterns of encouraging classroom participation-and letting students know we are doing so and why-we take essential steps toward increasing all students' sense of value and potential. As we improve the diversity of student participation, we create the additional benefit of reducing the operation of implicit biases in students about their classmates... because biases have a way of being contagious.

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Who Do You Call On? Rooting Out Implicit Bias

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When teachers who find evidence of unconscious bias take steps to correct it, they can create a more welcoming space for all students. I was approached by a middle school student who said, "My teacher doesn't like me." I knew the teacher, and I couldn't conceive of him communicating something like that to a student.

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Visual, collaboration, reach out to ESL/ other teachers

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Visual, collaboration, reach out to ESL/ other teachers

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
A note on terminology: The acronym ESL is used less often now in schools than it used to be, because we recognize that many students who are learning English already speak several other languages, so English would not be a "second" language. I use it several times in the post because schools sometimes refer to the teachers as ESL teachers, and the term is still widely used as a search term for this topic. My intent in using the acronym is to make this post easier to find online.

You have a new student, and he speaks no English. His family has just moved to your town from Japan, and though he receives English as a Second Language (ESL) support, he will also be sitting in your room every day to give him more exposure to his new language. How can you be a good teacher to someone who barely understands you?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 9 percent of students in U.S. public schools are English Language Learners (ELLs); that number is closer to 14 percent in cities. Although many of these students start off in high-intensity, whole-day English programs, most are integrated into mainstream classrooms within a year, well before their English language skills would be considered proficient.

How prepared are you to teach these students? If you're like most classroom teachers, you have little to no training in the most effective methods for working with English language learners (Walker, Shafer, & Iiams, 2004). So that means we have a problem here: Lots of ELL kids in regular classrooms, and no teacher training to ensure the success of that placement.

Below, three ESL teachers tell us what they know about the things regular classroom teachers can do to improve instruction for ELL students. These 12 strategies are simple, they are not very time consuming, and best of all, they will help everyone in your class learn better:

1. Make it Visual

"Avoid giving instructions in the air," says Melissa Eddington, an Ohio-based ESL teacher. "ELL kids have a harder time processing spoken language." So instructions - even basic directions for classroom procedures - should be written on the board whenever possible. Challenging concepts should be diagrammed or supported with pictures. And modeling the steps of a process or showing students what a finished product should look like can go a long way toward helping students understand. "Sometimes showing our students what to do is all they need in order to do it," Eddington says. Not only will this kind of nonlinguistic representation improve comprehension for ELL students, it will help all of your students grasp concepts better.

2. Build in more group work.

"Kids aren't just empty glasses that we pour stuff into and then at the end of the day they dump it back onto a test," says Kim, an ESL teacher who was the subject of my very first podcast interview. "If you really want the kids to learn, they've got to be engaged." That means less teacher-led, whole-class instruction, and more small groups, where students can practice language with their peers in a more personal, lower-risk setting. And if ELL students attend your class with a resource teacher, make use of that person: In most cases the resource teacher doesn't have to work exclusively with the ESL students; they can work with smaller groups that happen to contain these students, helping to improve the teacher-student ratio and give kids more time to practice.

3. Communicate with the ESL teacher.

Mary Yurkosky, a former ESL teacher in Massachusetts, credits much of her students' success to the strong relationship she had with the regular classroom teachers. "The classroom teachers were always talking to me about what they were doing in their classes," she says. "They made it so easy for me to support them: If a teacher was going to be doing a unit on plants, I could make sure we used some of that same vocabulary in the ESL class."

Ideally, this could be systematized, where ESL teachers could regularly get copies of lesson plans or collaborate with regular classroom teachers to build solid back-and-forth support, but "it doesn't have to be that much work," Yurkosky insists. "Just talk to each other. Talk about what's going on in your classrooms, invite each other to special presentations, share what your students are learning, and the words will naturally find their way into the ESL class."

4. Honor the "silent period."

Many new language learners go through a silent period, during which they will speak very little, if at all. "Don't force them to talk if they don't want to," says Eddington, "A lot of students who come from cultures outside of America want to be perfect when they speak, so they will not share until they feel they are at a point where they're perfect." Just knowing that this is a normal stage in second language acquisition should help relieve any pressure you feel to move them toward talking too quickly.

5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language.

Although it has been a hotly debated topic in the language-learning community, allowing students some use of their first language (L1) in second-language (L2) classrooms is gaining acceptance. When a student is still very new to a language, it's okay to pair him with other students who speak his native language. "Some students are afraid to open their mouths at all for fear of sounding stupid or just not knowing the words to use," Yurkosky says. "Letting them explain things or ask questions in their first language gets them to relax and feel like a part of the class."

And this doesn't only apply to spoken language. If you give students a written assignment, but the ELL student doesn't yet have the proficiency to handle writing his response in English, "Don't make them just sit there and do nothing," Eddington says. "Allow them to write in their first language if they're able. This allows them to still participate in journal writing or a math extended response, even if you can't read what they write." There has even been some evidence that allowing second-language learners to pre-write and brainstorm in L1 results in higher-quality writing in L2 in later stages of the writing process (Yigzaw, 2012).

6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary.

"For most of these kids, their background knowledge is lacking, especially with things that are unique to American or westernized culture," says Eddington. It's important to directly teach certain vocabulary words: "Show them videos of what it looks like to toss pizza dough, show pictures of a juke box or a clothing rack - things that are not common in their own language."

One way to differentiate for ELL students is to consider the whole list of terms you're going to teach for a unit, and if you think an ELL student may be overwhelmed by such a long list, omit those that are not essential to understanding the larger topic at hand.

7. Use sentence frames to give students practice with academic language.

All students, not just English language learners, need practice with academic conversations. Sentence frames - partially completed sentences like "I disagree with what _________ said because..." - show students how to structure language in a formal way. Keep these posted in a highly visible spot in your classroom and require students to refer to them during discussions and while they write.

For this kind of language to really sink in, though, Kim says it has to become a regular part of class. "They won't do it if it's not the norm in the class, because they'll be embarrassed to use it among their peers," she says. "But if they can put it off on the teacher and say, Oh, well, you know, Miss Kim makes me talk like this, then they don't look as hoity-toity as they would otherwise."

8. Pre-teach whenever possible.

If you're going to be reading a certain article next week, give ESL students a copy of it now. If you plan to show a YouTube video tomorrow, send a link to your ESL students today. Any chance you can give these students to preview material will increase the odds that they'll understand it on the day you present it to everyone else. "That kind of thing is wonderful," Yurkosky says. "The kids feel so empowered if they've had a chance to look at the material ahead of time."

9. Learn about the cultural background of your students...

Our second-language populations grow more diverse every year. Taking the time to learn the basics of where a child comes from - exactly, not 'somewhere in the Middle East/South America/Asia/Africa' - tells the student that you respect her enough to bother. Kim remembers one time when she had to set the record straight about the diverse South American population at her school: "I was listening to the teachers talking about the 'Mexican' kids in our building," she says, "and I was like, 'We don't have any Mexicans.'" Not taking the time to at least correctly identify a child's country of origin, much like not bothering to pronounce their name correctly, is a kind of microaggression, a small, subtle insult that communicates hostility toward people of color. Make a commitment to be someone who bothers to get it right.

Once you have the country straight, take things up a notch by learning about students' religious and cultural practices. If he is a practicing Muslim, he should be told if one of the pizzas you ordered for the class party has sausage on it. If she comes from a culture where eye contact with adults is viewed as disrespectful, you'll know not to force her to look you in the eye when she's talking.

10. ...but don't make a child speak for his entire culture.

In her podcast interview, Kim shared a story about watching a teacher ask a new Iraqi student how he felt about the war in his country, right in the middle of class. "That's not cultural inclusiveness," she explains. "I've seen teachers do this and then pat themselves on the back. The students' English is limited so they can't express themselves very well, and they don't want to 'represent'; they just want to be there." If you anticipate a theme coming up in your class that's going to be relevant to one of your students, have a conversation with them in advance, or check with your ESL teacher to see if they think it's appropriate for in-class discussion.

11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously...

By modeling the risk-taking that's required to learn a new language, you help students develop the courage to take their own risks, and to have a sense of humor about it. "I tried to say the word 'paint' ( pinta) in Portuguese and instead I said the word for 'penis' ( pinto). They all roared with laughter while I stood there with a What?? look on my face," Yurkosky says. "When they explained what I'd said, I laughed so hard! I told them that laughing was fine because sometimes mistakes are really funny, but ridicule is never okay."

12. ...but always take them seriously.

One of Kim's pet peeves about how teachers interact with English language learners is the way they often see students' efforts as 'cute,' missing the whole point of what the student is trying to say. "A student will be desperate to communicate, and the teacher will get distracted by the delivery and miss the message," she says. "That's painful for me to watch." It bothers her when teachers mistake a lack of language for a lack of intelligence or maturity. When a child can't express themselves as well as they would in their native language, it's far too easy to assume the concepts just aren't in their heads.

"It breaks my heart when I hear teachers say (ELL kids) don't know anything," says Eddington. "These are brilliant kids and they know a lot. They just can't tell us in English yet." Make a conscious effort to see past the accent and the mispronunciations and treat every interaction - every student - with the respect they deserve.

"They're doing twice the job of everybody else in the class," Kim adds, "even though the result looks like half as much." ♦

Further Reading

The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide is one of the highest-rated books on teaching English-language learners available. In addition to offering an overview of the research on second-language learners and best practices in teaching ESL, it also includes a whole section on teaching ESL in the content areas and another specifically geared toward teaching ELL students in mainstream classrooms.
References:
Walker, A., Shafer, J., & Iiams, M. (2004). "Not in my classroom": Teacher attitudes towards English language learners in the mainstream classroom. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2(1), 130-160.

Yigzaw, A. (2012). Impact of L1 use in L2 English writing classes. Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, 8(1), 11-27.

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12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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Advice from three ESL teachers on the things regular classroom teachers can do to help English language learners thrive in mainstream classrooms.

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Learners have diverse needs whether or not they are formally diagnosed and have accommodations via an IEP or 504 Plan. Reach out to special needs educators, case managers, etc . . . 

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Learners have diverse needs whether or not they are formally diagnosed and have accommodations via an IEP or 504 Plan. Reach out to special needs educators, case managers, etc . . . 

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The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications

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In this video, special education expert Lee Ann Jung outlines the essential difference between accommodations and modifications. Dr. Jung explains that accommodations change how different students learn the same content, while modifications change what students are expected to learn, thereby altering the learning goal

Your Students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms

Your Students, My Students, Our Students explores the hard truths of current special education practice and outlines five essential disruptions to the status quo. Authors Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener show you how to

Social-emotional learning

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The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications - ASCD

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In this video, special education expert Lee Ann Jung outlines the essential difference between accommodations and modifications. Dr. Jung explains that accommodations change how different students learn the same content, while modifications change what students are expected to learn, thereby alterin

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Cross Culture - Know culture for better business

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Up to the middle of the 20th century, the scrutiny, analysis and comparative studies of the world's cultures were largely matters for academicians. Some knowledge of the subject was helpful in our travels abroad or when welcoming foreign guests to our shores.

The globalisation of world business in the last 5 decades has heralded in an era when cultural differences have become vitally important to leaders, managers and executives in the world's international and multinational companies. The complexities of merging corporate cultures, issues of leadership, planning, decision-making, recruitment and task assignment are all compromised by the nation-traits of the people involved. What allowances must be made when outlining organisational culture? Where can one look for guidelines?

One of the great dilemmas in analysing a person's cultural profile and deciding where to fit him or her into an existing organisation is how to choose cultural dimensions to create an understandable assessment.

Several dozen cross-cultural experts have proposed such dimensions. None has yet succeeded in capturing the whole field. The best-known models are:

Edward Hall, who classified groups as mono-chronic or poly-chronic, high or low context and past- or future-oriented.

Kluckholn saw 5 dimensions - attitude to problems, time, Nature, nature of man, form of activity and reaction to compatriots.

Hofstede's 4-D model looked at power distance, collectivism vs. individualism, femininity vs. masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. Later he added long-term vs. short-term orientation.

Trompenaars' dimensions came out as universalist vs. particularist, individualist vs. collectivist, specific vs. diffuse, achievement-oriented vs. ascriptive and neutral vs. emotional or affective.

Tönnies dwelt on Gemeinschaft vs. Geselleschaft cultures.

The Lewis Model is the latest to gain world-wide recognition, being developed in the 1990s and articulated in Richard Lewis's blockbuster, When Cultures Collide (1996), which won the US Book of the Month Award in 1997. Lewis, after visiting 135 countries and working in more than 20 of them, came to the conclusion that humans can be divided into 3 clear categories, based not on nationality or religion but on BEHAVIOUR. He named his typologies Linear-active, Multi-active and Reactive.

Lewis considered that previous cross-culturalists, in accumulating the multiplicity of dimensions listed in the preceding paragraph, ran the risk of creating confusion for those who sought clarity and succinctness. Moreover, he pointed out that the experts' preoccupation with north/south, mono-chronic/poly-chronic dichotomies, had caused them to overlook or ignore the powerful Asian mindset (comprising, in fact, half of humanity). He named this behavioural category Reactive, thereby creating a model that is essentially tripartite and cites the following characteristics:

The Linear-active group is easily identified. It comprises: the English-speaking world - North America, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, and Northern Europe, including Scandinavia and Germanic countries.

The Reactive group is located in all major countries in Asia, except the Indian sub-continent, which is hybrid.

The Multi-actives are more scattered: Southern Europe, Mediterranean countries, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Arab and other cultures in the Middle East, India and Pakistan and most of the Slavs. Though these cultures are wildly diverse, geographically and in their religions, beliefs and values, they can be categorised as a group, as behaviourally they follow the same pattern with the following traits and commonalities: emotion, talkativeness, rhetoric, drama, eloquence, persuasion, expressive body language, importance of religion or creed, primacy of family bonds, low trust societies, unpunctuality, variable work ethic, volatility, inadequate planning, capacity for compassion, collectivism, relationship-orientation, situational truth, dislike of officialdom, tactility, sociability, nepotism, excitability, changeability, sense of history, unease with strict discipline

NB While the three types are distinctive, each possesses behavioural elements from the other two categories. It is a question of which one is dominant. Many individuals deviate from the national type in a work situation e.g. engineers and accountants tend to be Linear, sales people Multi-active, lawyers and doctors Reactive.

The Lewis Model is based on data drawn from 50,000 executives taking residential courses and more than 150,000 online questionnaires to 68 different nationalities and has produced the following tripartite comparison according to country.

The questionnaire provides us with individual cultural profiles, which are displayed in the following manner.

The location of each individual shows how close he or she is in behaviour or affinity to different cultures.

How does this information help training officers, headhunters or others engaged in the placement of new recruits in the company structure? After assessment, the individual's cultural profile is pinpointed inside the triangle, showing how close or how far it is to the world's major cultural groups. It indicates not only how much affinity their behaviour has to that of other countries but also shows their similarity to or deviation from their own national norm, as well as their compatibility with other people tested. This is particularly useful if members of a proposed team are tested simultaneously.

Figure 3 shows the analysis of a compact group of engineers in a technical company, where two people show an affinity with Multi-active cultures, but no one likely to function comfortably in an Asian environment.

Figure 4 shows a group of HR officers with a concentration of profiles in a central position (good for HR work and mediation roles).

Figure 5 shows an analysis conducted in the search for a person leading Unilever's ice cream sales in South America (a huge job). The successful candidate (in red) was in fact an Indian national.

The Lewis Model, born in an era of rampant globalisation of business, is particularly appropriate for assessing an individual's likely performance in a commercial role. The design of the questionnaire is based on business situations. The nomenclature of the typologies is succinct: Linear-active, Multi-active, Reactive.

A Training Officer, on being told that "Candidate A is basically monochronic and low-context but high on uncertainty avoidance, has a tendency towards collectivism and femininity and is past-oriented," may well ask, "What shall I do with him?"

If the description is Linear-active, Multi-active or Reactive, the answer is clear and succinct:

Linear-Actives are task-oriented, highly-organized planners, who complete action chains by doing one thing at ta time, preferably in accordance with a linear agenda.

Multi-Actives are emotional, loquacious and impulsive people who attach great importance to family, feelings, relationships, people in general. They like to do many things at the same time and are poor followers of agendas.

Reactives are good listeners, who rarely initiate action or discussion, preferring first to listen to and establish the other's position, then react to it and form their own opinion.

Where and when do we need these types of people?

We Need Each Other!

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The Lewis Model - Dimensions of Behaviour - Cross Culture

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Up to the middle of the 20th century, the scrutiny, analysis and comparative studies of the world's cultures were largely matters for academicians. Some knowledge of the subject was helpful in our travels abroad or when welcoming foreign guests to our shores.

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What is trauma?

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), child trauma is when a child witnesses or is involved in an event and, as a result, feels intensely threatened. A traumatic event or situation exceeds an individual's ability to cope. Several types of psychological or physical trauma can lead to extreme distress. Sources of trauma can include (but are not limited to) bullying, natural disasters, and sexual abuse. The National Survey of Children's Health states that 35 million children in the United States have experienced one or more types of childhood trauma.

One way to consider trauma is as a continuum in frequency and severity, from a single event to multiple events occurring over and over again. The three types of traumas are acute, chronic, and complex. Acute trauma occurs as an isolated event, such as a severe accident, medical procedure, or being a victim of a crime. Chronic trauma is when stressful or threatening events are experienced repeatedly, such as domestic violence. Complex trauma results from multiple and ongoing traumatic events such as abuse or neglect, living with alcoholism or substance abuse, and suffering from financial, food, and/or housing instability.

Impacts of trauma

Trauma has both short and long-term effects on a child's brain and body. Reactions to acute trauma may include shaking, crying, or being easily startled. It may be easier to see and understand a child's response to an acute traumatic event because it happens immediately, and one can grasp the reason why the child is distressed.

Chronic and complex trauma can be more challenging to detect in the classroom. A child may appear to be reacting to the situation at hand, but in reality they've been triggered by something else. Trauma can affect the body and brain in the following ways:

Body development: Trauma can lead to living in a near-constant state of extreme stress or fear. This heightened stress response means the child or adolescent can seemingly overreact emotionally, behaviorally, and/or physically to something that another child may not consider stressful. Children who have been traumatized may also over-respond to stimuli and be extremely sensitive to light and sounds.

Brain development: Trauma often leads to difficulties with language, communication, and processing new information. Reasoning skills are often delayed because of trauma as well.

Emotions: Emotional struggles are common with a trauma history. Children or teens may have difficulties expressing and managing their emotions, quickly exploding and struggling to calm down once upset.

Behavior: Trauma affects the ability to develop healthy attachments and relationships. Distrust, manipulation, argumentative behavior, and impulsivity can be common in youth who have been traumatized.

The trauma-informed approach

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that approximately one in every four children will experience a traumatic event before the age of 16. This means each classroom could have multiple children struggling to deal with various traumas. To create a trauma-sensitive school, where every classroom is safe, healthy, engaging, and challenging for each student, educators must incorporate a trauma-informed approach. This involves first learning about trauma and how it affects children's behaviors, learning, and relationships. Then educators set about intentionally creating an atmosphere that supports each student, demonstrates empathy, and teaches resilience.

What is being trauma-informed?

First and foremost, being trauma-informed means that one has a level of understanding about trauma and its impacts on an individual's brain, body, emotions, and behavior. It is a commitment to learning more about trauma and viewing the individual as a person and not their behavior. Without being trauma-informed, a teacher may misinterpret a child or teen's behavior in the classroom. Being trauma-informed recognizes that the undesirable behaviors are attempts to soothe emotional dysregulation, and this is often done unconsciously on the part of the trauma-impacted individual. It shifts the question from "What is wrong with this child?" to "What has happened to this child?"

Having a trauma-informed lens

A trauma-informed lens is a perspective of how the instructor views the child and the classroom. With a trauma-informed perspective, a teacher can consider alternatives as to why a student might be acting in a certain way, and the teacher can respond in a way that will not cause additional trauma to the child.

Guiding principles of trauma-informed care

SAMHSA released a report containing the six guiding principles of trauma-informed care. Both in-person and virtual classrooms can apply these guiding principles. These principles include:

1. Safety: Throughout the school and in each classroom, all people (administration, staff, and students) need to feel physically and psychologically safe.

2. Trustworthiness and transparency: Decisions are made and implemented with the primary goal of building and maintaining trust between administration, staff, students, and their families.

3. Peer support and mutual self-help: An atmosphere of support is key to building trust and empowerment and in establishing safety.

4. Collaboration and mutuality: Everyone-administration, staff, and teachers-has an essential role in developing a trauma-sensitive school. This responsibility is not just for those in therapeutic positions; instead, everyone must do the work to create a trauma-informed workplace.

5. Empowerment, voice, and choice - everyone in the school strives to empower others and recognizes that each student is unique, and both require and deserve an individualized approach. For example, when emotionally dysregulated, a student may be asked what they need to feel better. Providing the student an opportunity to use their voice and select what they want or need empowers the child or teen to recognize what they need, express those needs, and feel calm and heard when those needs are met.

6. Cultural, historical, and gender issues - Ignoring stereotypes and biases and ensuring that both teaching and other interactions with students and staff are culturally sensitive and responsive is a crucial part of trauma-informed schools.

One must note that these elements of trauma-informed care are not merely a one-time task to be checked off of a list. Instead, a true trauma-informed approach is a series of ongoing, deliberate interactions that put the child as an individual at the forefront and not the exhibited behavior.

Trauma-informed best practices in the classroom

Studies have shown that classrooms can implement several best practices to maximize the support that students need. These evidence-based trauma interventions include:

Recognize the signs of trauma

Signs of trauma in the classroom may include a child having difficulty focusing, struggling with creating and maintaining friendships, being overly tired, and/or having poor self-regulation. Students with excessive absences, changes in their school performance, and withdrawing from activities or others may also be signs that a child has been affected by trauma.

Provide consistency and structure

Daily schedules should be structured and contain elements of academics, entertainment or play, and physical exercise or movement. Also, weaving in aspects of self-regulation skill building such as breathing exercises, mindfulness and journaling can be quite helpful so that students can learn to develop these skills and implement them on their own as needed. Consistency is key to helping a child feel secure.

Providing an overview each day of the schedule and lessons for the day can also reduce anxiety for those children and teens who may become easily distracted, wondering or fearing what might come next. This quick and straightforward task may help return a bit of control to the child as they can mentally prepare for the day.

These tips also apply to virtual classrooms. Consistency and structure can also be provided by setting expectations and goals together as a class, define responsibilities, and regularly checking in with virtual students to see how they are faring.

Utilize social-emotional learning

Social-emotional learning, also called SEL, is the process through which students develop skills in critical areas. These areas include self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, interpersonal skills such as feeling and demonstrating empathy for others, effective listening and communication, and making responsible decisions. SEL skills are critical for student success in school, life, and future work.

Educators can teach these skills in various ways, including modeling behavior, using specially designed SEL curriculum materials, and in their classroom management practices. In addition to specific counseling activities to teach social-emotional learning, these skills can often be introduced in the midst of everyday learning:

When reading a story to the class, discuss how characters might think or feel.

Assigning responsibilities and tasks to each student builds a sense of self-worth.

Starting the day with an affirmation can set the tone for a positive learning environment as it encourages positive self-talk and promotes a growth mindset.

Teaching mindfulness activities such as breathing can be done in conjunction with "brain breaks" in between lessons.

Journal exercises help students identify and express their feelings or opinions, and group discussions can promote healthy and respectful disagreements.

Social-Emotional Learning Circles help promote community discussions and respectful, reflective listening.

Use restorative practices over zero-tolerance policies

Trauma-informed programs realize that zero-tolerance policies are ineffective and harmful. Zero-tolerance policies focus on the offense and are rooted in punishment. The child or teen is punished for committing an infraction with detention, suspension, or expulsion. It removes the student from the classroom environment but does not consider the student as an individual and what might have led to the misbehavior. Zero-tolerance policies disproportionately affect students of color, perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline, and do not provide the support or services the struggling student needs to achieve.

Rather than a single technique or tactic, restorative justice is a paradigm shift in how schools consider discipline and how students who break the rules are perceived and addressed. The goal is to create a new disciplinary system that is highly supportive while also being highly controlled. This system is rooted in respect, healing, empathy, and accountability. Restorative practices seek to do just that - restore relationships and environments. Instead of focusing on punishing the offending student, the focus shifts to repairing relationships between the offending student and the victim or repairing physical damage that may have occurred.

Restorative practices use support systems, including talking circles and peer juries, to create an environment where the student can hear how their actions affected the other party, and the offending student can respond. This approach humanizes both parties and encourages keeping the misbehaving student in the fold rather than excluding them from the school community. It also allows the student to be involved in finding a way to make amends instead of having a punishment doled out upon them. Restorative practices rebuild a traumatized student's relationships with authority figures, reform their belief in fairness, and build their capacity for conducting themselves with integrity.

Research shows that school-wide use of restorative practices has long-term, positive impacts on student behavior, attendance, and achievement. Drop-out and truancy rates decline, and students report being happier while in school. Utilizing this trauma-informed positive behavior support can create an entirely different school environment, especially for students affected by trauma.

Implement a trauma-informed pedagogy

Trauma-informed pedagogy is the practice that keeps trauma and how it affects learners at the forefront when designing and implementing teaching strategies. For instance, during this time of uncertainty and social isolation with the COVID 19 pandemic, educators can recognize that these stressors may compound upon existing trauma and lead to students having a more challenging time completing even basic tasks, being motivated, and engaging with other students.

A trauma-informed pedagogy also provides content warnings before discussing potentially triggering topics. The educator also prepares themselves in advance on how to respond if a student is triggered. It allows students to opt-out of participating in these discussions and reassures students that they can opt-out without any penalties. Trauma-informed pedagogy also describes and teaches grounding techniques for students who may feel overwhelmed. These types of practices help to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students.

Teacher self-care while being trauma-informed

In order to create a supportive, trauma-informed classroom, it is imperative that instructors not only identify and deal with their own trauma but also regularly engage in self-care. Self-care techniques can vary based on the educator's preferences, but examples include exercise, traveling, reading, meditation, yoga, seeing a therapist, and participating in creative or artistic pursuits, such as dancing or painting.

Secondary traumatic stress

Failure to prioritize self-care can lead to burnout or secondary traumatic stress. This is significant stress that develops as a result of caring for others with a history of trauma. Hearing about various traumas each day can weigh on an educator, resulting in both physical and mental difficulties that can severely interfere with one's life.

Warning signs of secondary traumatic stress include:

Difficulties sleeping/having nightmares

Excessive fatigue

Physical aches and pains

Lack of motivation and/or decreased productivity

Difficulties concentrating

Isolation - avoiding people or activities that once brought joy

Feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, or anger

Secondary traumatic stress is not a permanent condition. Prioritizing self-care, talking to supportive family, friends, and professionals, and finding healthy outlets to relieve the stress can all help. In time, these difficulties can resolve, allowing for a clear and healthy mindset ready to support and encourage hurting students.

Professional development and training

Training is necessary in order to develop a trauma-informed classroom. Professional development training is a perfect opportunity to learn about trauma and examine ways to build a supportive environment and trauma-informed communication skills.

Trauma-informed professional development and training topics

Trauma-informed training for teachers can include a variety of topics surrounding trauma, including:

The different types of trauma

How trauma affects a child's development

Ways trauma can manifest in student's actions in the classroom

How to and how not to respond to undesirable behaviors

Developing a trauma-sensitive classroom

Developing a trauma-informed lens and teaching pedagogy

School-wide techniques and programs that can be implemented to be responsive to both student and staff stress and trauma

For those who want to become even more well-versed in recognizing and managing trauma-based challenging behaviors in the classroom, options exist for both post-graduate certificates and even a degree in trauma-informed teaching. Spending time learning as much as possible about trauma and how to best support traumatized children in the classroom can have positive and lasting results on both students and the educator.

Resources

Building a Trauma-Informed, Compassionate Classroom: Strategies & Activities to Reduce Challenging Behavior, Improve Learning Outcomes, and Increase Student Engagement by Jennifer Bashant

Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom - by Kristin Souers and Pete Hall

Hacking School Discipline: 9 Ways to Create a Culture of Empathy and Responsibility using Restorative Justice - by Nathan Maynard and Brad Weinstein

Berry, M. (2018). Restoring American education: An end to zero-tolerance policies through restorative justice. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/cap_thes_all/315

Byer, L. (2016). Restorative practices in the school setting: A systematic review. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/564

SAMSHSA. (2014). SAMSHA's concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. Retrieved from https://youth.gov/feature-article/samhsas-concept-trauma-and-guidance-trauma-informed-approach

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Trauma-Informed Teaching Tips for Classroom & Online Educators | Resilient Educator

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Trauma-informed teaching incorporates the understanding of trauma and its impacts on a student's brain, body, emotions, and behavior. Learn strategies, pedagogy, and self-care in relation to the trauma-informed approach.