7 Ways to Transform the Lives of Wounded Students

Joe Hendershott

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317820062
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

7 Ways to Transform the Lives of Wounded Students provides a wealth of strategies and ideas for teachers and principals who work with wounded students—those who are beyond the point of "at-risk" and have experienced trauma in their lives. Sharing stories and examples from real schools and students, this inspirational book examines the seven key strategies necessary for changing school culture to transform the lives of individual students. Recognizing the power of effective leadership and empathy in creating a sense of community and safety for wounded students, Hendershott offers a valuable resource to help educators redesign their school environment to meet the needs of children and empower educators to direct students on a path to academic and life success.

1Become a Leader

DOI: 10.4324/9781315819501-1

Where to Begin

Truth be told, I struggled with where to begin this book. There are seven important aspects to transforming the lives of wounded students, and my original intent was to place the topic of leadership at the end as a way of sewing the first six points together. However, I kept coming back to the reality that leadership is where transformation starts. Who is going to step up as an example for positioning students to experience transformation in their lives? We must first have people who recognize the need is great in order to begin the “doing.”

I have been asked by educators on numerous occasions, “What is it that these students must do to turn their lives around? What skills must they develop to be successful?” I would like for us to begin a new conversation by asking the questions in a different way: “What can I do to help turn students’ lives around? What skills can I develop to be successful in helping my students?” This is where leadership begins.

Early in my career, I sought that person who was going to provide leadership and an example of what to do with these struggling kids. What I usually found was frustrated professionals, up to and including myself, who had more questions than answers. At some point, the realization came that if I felt it was important to have an impact on the lives of wounded students, then I needed to be willing to step into a leadership role by seeking knowledge and creative pathways to opportunities for transformation in their lives.

Educators today can feel isolated within their content or area, so the idea of leadership can be daunting. My personal experience of developing as a leader in working with wounded students did not come easily. Any unfamiliar territory that we venture into may be challenging and even intimidating, feeling like an area of weakness instead of an avenue for growth and potential. Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?” The realization came that if I was going to be effective as a teacher, and eventually as a school administrator, I was going to have to take the plunge and develop my inexperience into an intentional awareness, because there were often wounded students in my classrooms.

I encourage you as an educator—be it teacher, counselor, or administrator—to look at what leadership capacity you have in regard to understanding wounded students, so that you can identify areas for development. I believe it is imperative that everyone within an organization should see themselves and others as an integral part of the whole picture, taking a broader view of the educational team and its efforts to reach every member of its student population, including the wounded students. Kouzes and Posner observed, “Trust is the social glue that binds human relationships” (2006, p. 71), and Thompson further stated, “We cannot study leadership by isolating people and their behaviors from the social-organizational settings in which they act” (2008, p. 180). As members of a team, it is fair to have the expectation of receiving professional training that extends a systems view, forcing team members to work together to better service all children.

How to Begin

First, understand that you do not have to become a counselor, therapist, psychiatrist, or other mental health specialist to be a leader working with wounded children. I do not hold any of these certifications or degrees myself, but over the years I have aspired to deepen my capacity as an educator to understand wounded children. In the pages of this book, you will find various strategies for working with wounded children as well as an understanding of the effects of trauma. However, just as we are constantly seeking effective methods for teaching subject matter, I always encourage schools to continue in their pursuit of ideas for and understanding of wounded children through ongoing professional development. So, where does professional training come from that can provide understanding and equip us for working with wounded students? One excellent resource is the local social services agency. Typically, they are more than happy to provide professional training and insight on working with children from traumatic backgrounds. Another valuable resource can be your local law enforcement officers. They have had specialized training in deescalating situations, which is an integral part of keeping students in the classroom. Additionally, pediatricians, mental health professionals, and child development specialists can provide invaluable information about how traumatic experiences affect brain development, esteem, learning, and behaviors. As a school leader, one of my biggest areas of personal growth was the recognition of the need for well-rounded training for myself and my colleagues, addressing the real challenges facing educators working with children of trauma who are struggling behaviorally, socially, and/or emotionally, in order to help them discover their full potential. There is still a tendency towards hesitation, fear, or uncertainty when we start questioning the school policies, handbooks, and discipline guidelines that have been the normal way of doing things for a long time, and this is understandable. However, the wounded children in our schools fall outside the textbook practices many guidelines are built upon. We need leaders to rise up to challenge these norms using current research as well as personal experiences, so that the need for training beyond preparation to work with only the traditional student population is recognized.

Famous National Football League and Hall of Fame Coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made by effort and hard work.” The willingness to take a leadership role in bringing transformation to the lives of wounded students is definitely hard work. It requires positioning others as well as yourself to be prepared to understand the students who are hurting the most. That very understanding expresses itself as sincerity, which wounded students are very adept at perceiving. Positioning ourselves to understand can lead to wounded children being more open to receiving help, guidance, instruction, and encouragement.

What Are You Trying to Change?

Effective leadership in bringing about transformation or change for wounded students should begin with three questions. First, what are we trying to change? Many answers will be unique to the challenges facing your particular school culture, so I would suggest doing a survey to determine if there is a consensus among team members about what they see as the most necessary changes. Of course, we always strive for academic achievement, but I believe that will naturally occur when we are seeking ways to develop our students as individuals in that process.

Some possibilities for change might include suspension rates, graduation/dropout rates, attendance rates, or maybe something as simple as creating a better sense of community for children and faculty alike.

At this juncture, I would like to share that I have had instances where the overwhelming response as to what needs to be changed was student behavior. This kneejerk reaction is totally understandable, but this is where reflection on the part of the educator is helpful. When working with wounded children, it is almost a given that some types of dysfunctional behaviors are involved. The whole point of trying to bring about transformation in wounded students’ lives is to find a way to see past the behaviors to find hope in a child, instead of trying to control behaviors or take them personally. When wounded children begin to feel the hope that we see in them, their behaviors will naturally begin to evolve. In many instances, assistant principals or guidance counselors have been the only team members who have had any instruction in this kind of response to dysfunctional behaviors. Again, professional training will enable a universal understanding of wounded children and their behaviors as well as encouragement for developing consistent, productive avenues of response to those behaviors.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. surmised:

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Social justice to me should start with the children in our schools. This is where they should understand that we have an equal playing field and that their hopes and dreams can be realized during these formative years.

Dr. King was the epitome of an ethical leader. According to Brown and Trevino, ethical leaders do not just talk a good game. They practice what they preach and are proactive role models for ethical conduct (2006). Dr. King recognized that schools are a place to reach all children, and he believed in the change he was preaching.

What do you think needs to change? Do you believe in it enough to become an ethical leader for that change?

Who Are You Trying to Change?

The second question that needs to be asked is who are you trying to change? Do you seek to evolve as an educator in regard to your approach to working with wounded children, or are you maintaining your current approach with the expectation that the wounded student will change? What would be the answer for your school as a whole?

If we are trying to change ourselves to meet the needs of wounded youth, then we need to be honest about where we are in that process. Identifying areas that are proving to be difficult helps us to make effective choices when requesting types of professional training. As more and more educators take steps into becoming leaders who communicate specific needs as a team, those requests will show consensus toward a common goal. As Goleman said, “Leadership is not about domination, but the art of persuading people towards a common goal” (2006, p. 149).

If the expectation is that wounded students will change to conform to traditional approaches, the hill becomes steep and everyone will struggle. I know change is hard, I do. And change is harder for some than for others, and it does not happen overnight. This is where leadership matters, and some leadership happens through action rather than words.

Several years ago, I was invited to provide professional development for a school district in Ohio. The woman who had orchestrated the training had previously heard me speak at a conference. She was totally on board with making changes to bring transformation for wounded students and had put into practice many of the ideas I had shared. A few years later, I heard back from her. She shared that in the beginning, the training was not well received by many staff members. However, over time, and having witnessed transformation happening for some students, many of those same staff members chose to become active agents of change in their school. (You will find a more detailed letter from Julie about this school’s experience later, in Chapter 7.) Gandhi said it best when he said, “Be the change that you wish to see in this world.”

Why Are We Trying to Change?

Finally, we need to ask why are we trying to change? According to recent statistics from the National Center for Educational Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the graduation rate was 80% for the school year 2011–2012 (Stetser & Stillwell, 2014). This percentage of graduates approaches a forty-year high in the United States. I don’t know about you, but if I received an 80% on anything in high school, I was doing cartwheels around the block. Just me? Well, at any rate, 80% seems pretty okay. Or is it?

• ◆80% of a graduating class of 400 = 320 graduates, 80 non-graduates
• ◆80% of a classroom of 20 = 16 graduates, 4 non-graduates
• ◆80% of a lunch table of 5 …. Yes, one of those 5 kids is not going to make it.

It is easy to get lost in big numbers, but when you break it down to actual faces in your school, in your classroom, or a child at the lunch table, these numbers are just not okay.

Educators are by nature caring and giving individuals who want the best for all their students. Sometimes it is difficult to rise to that task or just easier to look to others to lead the way for change. Northouse said, “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (2007, p. 3). There is a pressing need for change, and for leaders to step up in our schools in order to spearhead that change. Wounded students need people who look very much like you.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

—John Quincy Adams

Chapter 1Key Points

• ◆Everyone within an organization should see themselves and others as an integral part of the whole picture, with everyone willing to step into a leadership role to reach every member of the student population.
• ◆Every person in the school organization is in a position to be a transformational leader in the developmental years of a child’s life.
• ◆It takes commitment, desire, and ongoing training to become a leader in reaching wounded children.
• ◆Seek professional development opportunities specific to working with children from traumatic backgrounds.
• ◆Asking who, what, and why we are trying to change gives focus to your personal and organizational mission. The motivation for change should always be transforming the lives of wounded children.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Meet the Author
• Introduction
• 1 Become a Leader
• 2 Recognize the Effects of Trauma
• 3 Include the Whole Brain
• 4 Incorporate Empathy
• 5 Create Community
• 6 Develop a Professional Plan
• 7 Develop a Personal Plan
• Conclusion
• From the Desk of Joe Hendershott
• References