Professional Learning

What Is This Section About?

Trauma Engaged Schools Knowing to Doing Video Library

What Can Leadership Do?

• A. Assess administrator and staff understanding of trauma and their readiness for trauma-engaged approaches. Meet everyone where they are.

  • The Missouri Model: A Developmental Framework for Trauma Informed Approach
    How to take an inventory to assess the implementation of basic principles of trauma informed approaches and develop a common language and framework for discussion.
  • Trauma Responsive Schools (TRS) – School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation System (SHAPE)
    The TRS-SHAPE is an evidence-informed self-assessment that comprises eight key domains of trauma responsive schools and districts. Automatically generated feedback reports support schools and districts working to enhance their trauma responsiveness.
  • Trauma Sensitive Schools Fidelity Tool
    A tool intended to paint a picture of your school prior to the implementation of trauma sensitive policies and practices. It may also help shape your school conversation around how to become more trauma sensitive.
  • Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL)
    A tool to assess for secondary traumatic stress and burnout. This is one of the most commonly used tools for measuring the negative and positive effects of helping others who have experienced trauma. It includes sub-scales for compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue.

• B. Inventory professional learning structures, resources, time allocation, and supports already in place. Develop an ongoing professional learning plan that utilizes best practices. Ensure job-embedded learning focused on integrating trauma-engaged practices throughout the school year.

  • Sample Trauma Professional Development Plan
    This is only an example of what a professional development plan might look like for your school or district. This example is intended to help teams develop a comprehensive plan to ensure all staff develop an awareness of trauma and begin to respond to behavior with a trauma-informed lens.
  • Integrating Trauma Response Into Your System: Professional Development Plan
    A PowerPoint from Midwest PBIS Network to help distinguish professional development needs for staff using an “all, some and few logic model” and to assemble a professional development plan.
  • Building Trauma Sensitive Schools, Handout 2
    This handout is designed to help school-based administrators and trauma-sensitive work groups create the plan needed for a significant and ongoing investment in professional development to support students affected by trauma.
  • Professional Learning Inventory: A Tool for School and District Leaders
    This inventory reflects recommendations, comments, and concerns of classroom teachers in evaluations of their professional learning experiences. School and district leaders can use these ideas as they design, implement, and evaluate professional learning for teachers.
  • Professional Learning Strategies Self-Assessment Tool
    The primary purpose of this tool is to support districts in the planning, integration, and implementation of professional learning for continuous improvement.

• C. Collaborate with staff and community (families, elders, tribes, support services) to enhance the professional learning plan by embedding community-based and culturally responsive approaches. Include opportunities for school staff, families, and community members to engage in learning together.

  • Anchorage School District Trauma & Culturally Responsive Practices In-Service Modules
    This training provides a unique opportunity for schools to open up their doors and invite parents, community members, and business partners into school to learn about trauma and resilience in a collaborative manner.
  • Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools
    These standards have been developed by Alaska Native educators to provide a way for schools and communities to examine the extent to which they are attending to the educational and cultural well-being of the students in their care.
  • First Alaskans Institute Resources for Alaska Native Dialogues on Racial Equity (ANDORE)
    ANDORE is a statewide project that aims to initiate, foster, and grow racial healing by meaningfully engaging in conversations in communities across Alaska on race, racism and racial equity in order to move people into a place of understanding, healing and growth.
  • Bridging Differences Playbook
    There is a growing movement of individuals and organizations who are working to foster more constructive dialogue and understanding across group lines, bringing us together at a time when so many forces are pulling us apart. This playbook describes research-based strategies to promote positive dialogue and understanding.
  • Indigenous Ally Toolkit
    Being involved in any kind of anti-oppression work is about recognizing that every person has a basic right to human dignity, respect, and equal access to resources. Being an ally is about a way of being and doing. This means self-reflection, “checking in” with one’s motivations, and debriefing with community members is a continual process and a way of life.

• D. Deliver trauma engaged professional learning content for all staff. Communicate that school-wide trauma engaged practices provide a path to success for all students. Model and practice the strategies staff are being asked to use with students.

  • Modeling Trauma Informed Practice in the Training Environment
    It is not enough to just “inform” professionals about trauma in our efforts to establish a trauma informed workforce. It is essential that in the process of providing professional development and workforce training we imbed and model principles of trauma informed practice in the training environment.
  • Creating a Trauma Informed Training Environment
    Trauma informed principles center on safety, choice, agency, connection, and collaboration. These principles should also be reflected when we provide training to our colleagues and collaborative partners. This publication offers some tips on incorporating principles of a trauma informed approach in our training environments themselves.

  • Alaska Department of Education and Early Development eLearning Modules
    This three-course series defines adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and explains how they affect children’s brains and behavior. The series provides insight into the paradigm shift schools undergo as they become better equipped to support students’ responses to traumatic experiences and the impact it may have on learning and behavior. The sessions cover the steps necessary to become trauma engaged on a school-wide or even district-wide basis.
    • Overcoming ACEs in Alaskan Schools
    • Trauma Sensitive SchoolsTrauma
    • Engaged and Practicing Schools

  • Alaska Staff Development Network Recorded SEL Webinars
    In this series of webinars, participants can deepen their understanding of the impact of ACEs and trauma; gain tools to respectfully address cumulative and historical trauma; and be introduced to culturally responsive, trauma-informed interventions that foster connection, resilience, and success for students as well as educators.
  • Alaska Education Network – Project ECHO
    An initiative to build support networks of educational peers throughout the state with capacity to increase student achievement. Click on “view recorded sessions” to access webinars facilitated by Alaskan educators.
  • Trauma Informed SEL Toolkit
    This is a 120-minute professional development session designed for educators seeking research-based strategies to create a healthy classroom environment for students who have experienced adversities and trauma.
  • Midwest PBIS Network Integrating Trauma Modules
    PowerPoint modules from Midwest PBIS Network including modules on self care, what trauma is, trauma and the brain, trauma informed classroom practice, integrating trauma into the current system, professional development plans, and coaching.
    • In-Person Integrating and Installing Trauma
    • Virtual – Trauma Awareness within PBIS
    • Virtual – Integrating Trauma Into Current System
  • Secondary Traumatic Stress and Self-Care Packet
    In handout 3, learn about secondary traumatic stress and related conditions; in the second section, use the tools and strategies provided to help you create individual and schoolwide plans to promote staff self-care and resilience.

What Can Staff Do?

• A. Examine your own beliefs and be aware of your experiences with trauma. Consider how being engaged in this work may highlight opportunities for healing and personal growth.

  • Self-Care: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development eLearning Modules
    This new eLearning course for educators provides health-enhancing information on how to manage compassion fatigue and secondary trauma by practicing self-care strategies. Topics covered are: What is self-care, how to avoid compassion fatigue and burnout, what are the four important factors of self-care, and what are core self-care strategies. Active self-care reduces teacher turnover and depression, anxiety, anger and fatigue among teachers. In taking care of ourselves and each other, we provide positive role modeling for students.
  • Professional Quality of Life Self-Assessment Tool
    This toolkit aids educators in the exploration of the fatigue, burnout and even the trauma they may experience when helping students who are suffering.
  • Teacher Wellbeing Strategies
    Teacher wellbeing is a crucial element of overall school health. Educators often experience significant amounts of pressure and stress, and don’t have the proper tools or mindset to overcome these challenges. These resources help educators find healthy work-life balance and live happy and productive lives inside and outside of the classroom.
  • Support for Teachers Affected by Trauma (STAT)
    Geared toward preK-12 teachers, STAT (Support for Teachers Affected by Trauma) comprises five free online modules that explore the concepts of secondary trauma, risk factors associated with susceptibility to STS, the impact of STS across multiple life domains, and tangible self-care skills. Access to free modules simply requires registering to use the site.
  • Building a Self-Care Action Plan
    Vicarious (secondary) trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout can be prevented. Doing so, however, requires a conscious effort to practice individual self-care strategies on a regular basis, both personally and professionally, to assist in managing vicarious stress.

• B. Contribute to a safe professional learning environment by addressing your own unconscious biases. Collaborate authentically with colleagues.

  • Trauma-Informed Care: Parallel Skill Development
    Outlines trauma informed care skills for staff self-awareness and for staff partnering with others.
  • Strategies for Collaboration
    In Handout 9 learn strategies for collaborating that align with core principles of a trauma sensitive approach.
  • Teacher Collaboration: Spreading Best Practices School-Wide
    At Wildwood IB World Magnet School, teacher collaboration fosters a supportive professional culture, lessens teacher conflict, and provides students with school-wide best practices.
  • 5 Keys to Challenging Implicit Bias
    Challenge implicit biases by identifying your own, teaching colleagues about them, observing gap-closing teachers, stopping “tone policing,” and tuning into such biases at your school.
  • Four Tools for Interrupting Implicit Bias
    As culturally responsive educators we educate ourselves about implicit bias – how it operates and what we can do to interrupt it. From Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.

• C. Engage in ongoing reflective practice to assess the effect your trauma engaged approach has had on student learning.  Revise and modify practices as needed.

  • The Value of Self Reflection
    We rarely take the time to pause, think, reflect and evaluate what we have learned.  In our fast-paced careers and lives we jump from one activity to another and plough through one change after another, without doing an analysis of what each experience provided us.
  • Getting Started with Reflective Practice
    This unit from Cambridge Assessment International Education looks at the basics of reflective practice and examines the research behind reflective practice, The unit discusses the benefits, explores some practical examples, and encourages you to think about how you can include reflective practice in your own classroom practice.
  • Assessing Trauma-Informed Practices
    This resource mapping activity is intended to help assess how the practices you are currently implementing might be trauma-informed to help determine gaps for considering practices to add.
    • Sample
    • Blank Template
  • Classroom Practices Resource Map
    This is a tool to assess: What do you already do? How will you practice current strategies with more intentionality? What will you add to your classroom management practices?
    • Sample
    • Blank Template
  • Moving from Cloudy to Increasingly Clear: Aligning Explicit Teaching Behaviors with the Core Principles of Trauma-Informed Practice
    Illustrations and examples of practices that promote social, emotional, and behavioral wellness that depict what trauma informed instruction looks like at the universal preventive level in a typical classroom setting

• D. Seek out additional professional learning. Participate in community events, celebrations, and dialogues to deepen your understanding of community strength and resilience.

  • Alaska Department of Education e-Learning Modules
    • Classroom Practices
      Trauma can have a profound effect on how students perform in school. Teachers who take a trauma engaged approach are sensitive to the fact that some students have experienced significant trauma and can provide the supportive environment students need for success. This course walks you through strategies you can use in your classroom.
    • Emotional Intelligence
      Students who have experienced trauma can react to stress in unpredictable ways because trauma can impede their ability to develop emotional intelligence. This course gives foundational information about emotional intelligence and walks you through strategies you can use with students.
    • Mind-Body Connections
      To ensure the academic success of students who have experienced trauma, it is necessary for schools to address their health and emotional well-being. This course provides a foundational understanding of how non-academic mindfulness tools and techniques can help students focus in the classroom. You may also find these activities helpful and healing for yourself.
    • Self-Regulation
      Self-regulation is the ability to manage emotions and behavior. Students who have experienced trauma may have trouble developing self-regulation skills. This course provides a foundation for understanding self-regulation and walks you through how to help students develop these skills.
  • Teaching/Learning Across Cultures: Strategies for Success 
    As an educator, how can you enter into and learn about a new community in a way that will maximize your chances of making a positive contribution to the educational experiences of the students with whom you will work? Article by Ray Barnhardt, Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  • Community, Home and Schools—Relationships We Can’t Ignore
    Going into children’s communities is the best way for teachers to learn about the cultural wealth existing in homes.

• E. Adapt trauma engaged practices to reflect community and cultural values. Share practices with colleagues, especially with those new to the community.

  • Guidelines for Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers for Alaska’s Schools
    The guidelines are presented as they relate to each of the Alaska Teacher Standards, taking into consideration the Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools and the Alaska Student Content Standards.
  • Culture in the Classroom
    Standards, Indicators and Evidences for Evaluating Culturally Proficient Teaching was created for Alaskan teachers with the purpose of self-reflection and continuous improvement.
  • Self-Assessment Checklist – Cultural Competence
    This checklist from Georgetown University’s National Center for Cultural Competence provides examples of the kinds of values and practices that foster an environment that is aware and respectful of cultural diversity.
  • Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education: Teacher Leadership
    Cultural competency is the ability to work effectively, and sensitively, across cultural contexts. It involves learning, communicating and connecting respectfully with others regardless of differences.
  • Trauma-Informed School Practices
    The value of culture and community in efforts to reduce the effects of generational trauma.

Additional Resources for Leadership

Additional Resources for Staff

Milestone Guide