In Service Plan
Schools using this book as an in-service book study should plan for a minimum of six study sessions. This In-Service Plan below provides topics for discussions and other suggestions for each of these 90 minute, workshop sessions. Some of these sessions will be for the school-wide faculty while others will be for smaller groups. Prior to Session one, each faculty member should obtain a copy of the book and read chapters 1 and 2.
We recommend that a school administrator, a guidance counselor, or lead teacher take the role of workshop facilitator for these sessions. This person will chair each 90 minute school-wide sessions, coordinate the various activities, and lead the discussions during each session. Should the school wish to schedule a zoom meeting with one of the authors, this workshop facilitator will manage that communication, and schedule that zoom meeting. This free zoom meeting with an author is available with a purchase of 50 books or more. Schools may wish to partner with other schools in the district to undertake this study guide option together.
Sesson One: (90 minutes; for school wide faculty)
This session will highlight chapters one and two, and will involve a deep-dive into the causes of and quantitative evaluation of trauma. Initially the various causes of trauma should be discussed, without spending excessive time, as most professionals know what trauma involves, and most have had at least one student who was exposed to repeated trauma. Next, the ACEs study is presented, and teachers should be encouraged to consider the ACEs document on the website and develop their own ACEs score. The purpose for that is to begin to encourage teachers to “think through” trauma in a new, more profound way. For example, one or more teachers may have been raised by a single parent, and exposure to that ACE may have impacted their lives in ways they might feel comfortable discussing with the group. Next, the facilitator should invite the group to consider the issue of “complex ACEs.” While most persons are exposed to one or two ACEs prior to the age of 18, imagine the impact of being exposed to six or eight of these issues, and what the behavior of such a child might look like. Teachers might be encouraged to describe (without naming names) particular children in their class with challenges stemming from various trauma, with particular attention to how they behave, and what strategies teachers have tried to successfully reach them. A “Good Idea” board might be kept by the facilitator, with ideas that work added as each session progresses.
Next, this book stresses seven things a school should undertake to be trauma informed. The standards for trauma informed schools have changed somewhat recently, with the Covid Pandemic and increasing knowledge of how trauma impacts childrens' brains. Some of these action items are discussed in chapter 2, and others in later chapters. All seven are listed in the Epilogue. The facilitator should present this list of actions briefly in session one, as the things schools undertake today to be truly trauma ready.
We also encourage the facilitator to emphasize the resources presented on this website. Facilitators may consider requesting that various teachers watch one of the videos described here, and present a two minute description of that at the beginning of the next workshop session. Other teachers might be asked to check out some of the additional resources for chapters 1 and 2. This should be an ongoing emphasis throughout this series of workshops with some time given at the beginning of each for reports on the videos and resources teachers explored. At the end of the session, the facilitator should specify the date and time of the next meeting, and suggest that teachers read chapter 3 and 4.
Session Two: (90 minutes; for school wide faculty)
This session will focus on chapters 3 and 4, and the various ideas from the chapters might be discussed initially. The facilitator should again, begin with the Good Idea board, and invite teachers to comment on various ideas in those chapters that they may have used previously. How did those strategies work? Were there implementation problems? Not every idea works every time, or for every student exposed to trauma. The focus should be on adding ideas that the facilitator and teachers wish to make note of and try as the sessions progress. As a final 15 minute activity during this session, teachers should be invited to scan the next four chapters (chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8), and select a strategy that they will agree to utilize in their class. Each teacher should then be assigned to read that chapter that before the next session, as well as watch a video or two on strategy implementation. They should be encouraged to select a video specific to their strategy and their grade level. They should then implement it in their class, and collect baseline and intervention data, as shown in various case studies in the text, with the idea that they will present their intervention data during session three. The facilitator should try to ensure that at least 3 or 4 teachers are attempting each of the individual strategies from each of the four chapters. While a week is typically sufficient between most of the six workshops described here, the facilitator may wish to provide two weeks of time between session 2 and 3 to assure that teachers can read about an intervention idea, collect a week of baseline data, and then collect some intervention data.
Session Three: (45 minute small group session; 45 minute whole group)
This workshop session is divided into small group presentations, and then whole group presentations. Initially, for 45 minutes or so, teachers should present their intervention data to other teachers who tried the same intervention idea from a particular chapter. One overall goal of this workshop series is for each faculty member to share their individual strategy implementation and a data chart for one strategy from the book that they have implemented in their class. Faculty should present for 5 minutes, presenting their study projects and their data chart. Next, that entire group, focused on one strategy should plan to present together their interventions to the whole group. Thus, the last 45 minutes of this session will be used for those whole group discussions. The next assignment will be for each teacher to select a second strategy from chapters 5, 6, 7, or 8, and implement that strategy in their class. Some teachers may wish to continue the intervention they have already begun, if it shows promise of working, and that should be encouraged. Again, a two week time period is recommended between session three and session four.
Session Four: (45 minute small group session; 45 minute whole group)
This session will be a repeat of session three. Faculty will present their implementation results along with their data charts to small groups of faculty that chose the same strategy for implementation for the first 45 minutes. Next, they will, as a group, present that strategy to the whole group. As an assignment after this session, the facilitator should request that teachers read chapter 9, 10, and 11. Again, there may be additional reports by various teachers on videos that they viewed that were found to be helpful.
Session Five: (90 minute small group session)
The strategies described in chapter 9, 10 and 11, are typically implemented at the school level, and while teachers can do these individually, we encourage school wide use of at least one of these strategies. As described in the chapters, each of these can require some degree of school wide planning, and a number of videos are presented for all of these to help teachers choose an idea that might be right in their school. Teachers should be encouraged to consider which one or two of these strategies might be best, and then explore that emphasis in discussions prior to the final session. At the first of this session have teachers select one of three small group discussions based on these chapters. Then for the remainder of the session have those small groups discuss implementation of that option.
Session Six: (90 minutes; for school wide faculty)
This session is the final session for this workshop series, and involves selecting one of the whole group intervention options from chapters 9, 10, and 11. There may also be follow-up reports from successful individual interventions from particular teachers. Each of the three groups from the last session should present pros and cons of implementation of the option they discussed, with the idea that the faculty as a whole should select one or two of these options for their school.
This final session is typically a good time to invite one of the authors to join via distance education technology in the discussion, if your school has chosen to utilize that option. This is a free 30 minute discussion or question and answer period with the author, contingent on the purchase of 50 or more books. Smaller schools often partner together to use that many books, and can then schedule the zoom meeting together. The focus here will be selection of a strategy from chapter 9, 10, or 11 that the school might wish to implement to assist children who have been victims of trauma. We would also urge the facilitator to review the list of items in the Epilogue that should be considered in any trauma informed school. School faculty should carefully consider doing all of these things.