EDSP 295

Course Overview

EDSP 295 was the second half of a year-long course, labeled Trauma Informed Practices and Trauma Academy. Over the five month long semester, Professor Jennifer Jorgenson, Jessica Strolin-Goltzman and Haley Woodside-Jiron led the class through research-based strategies and direct applications of content around Trauma-Informed Practices. Before each class, we would complete an online learning module through Vermont Child Welfare Training Partnership ELearning Portal, and multiple guest speakers gave lectures on specific topics. The class began with an overview of the CANS evaluative process and the core concepts of Trauma, with a deep dive into the TIPS trainings that Vermont Children and Family Welfare offers to families through the Placement Stability Project.

In small teams, our overarching project was to create a micro-learning session on a trauma-informed strategy that was applicable to our professional work. My team chose to tackle power struggles, and created an online, interactive learning module in Articulate software (linked below). As we discussed in class, micro-learning trainings are meant to be succinctly informative, yet flexible enough to be used in different professional environments. Our lesson led the viewer through a trauma-informed approach to power struggles, and is versatile enough that it could be used by a family struggling with a defiant child or a educator in a classroom.

Personally, I believe my biggest growth was creating and cultivating a toolkit of trauma-informed strategies and practices. While I had a basic understanding of trauma as an educator, it was crucial to develop and practice these skills. These trauma-informed strategies can only help me be a more effective educator to all students, and will be crucial in my next position as Technology Integrationist at Edmunds Middle School.