Supporting Students and Staff after COVID-19

Your Trauma-Sensitive Back-to-School Transition Plan

Jen Alexander

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781681254494
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Counseling

When schools reopen after COVID-19 closures, both students and staff will have experienced months of unprecedented challenges, from social isolation and family illness to stretches of prolonged stress and anxiety. Your school will need a compassionate, intentional, trauma-sensitive plan for easing the back-to-school transition—and acclaimed trauma expert Jen Alexander is here to help.

Author of the bestselling guidebook Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools, "Ms. Jen" has developed a concise, reader-friendly blueprint for making the return to school as smooth as possible for everyone involved. In this ebook, you'll get timely, adaptable guidance on designing and implementing a trauma-sensitive transition plan that puts relationships first, prioritizes emotional and social supports, breaks down barriers to learning, and empowers everyone in your learning community. You'll also find simple, specific activities and strategies for helping every student and staff member feel safe, be connected, get regulated, and get ready to learn. Packed with the practical, immediately useful information every educator will be looking for, this must-have guide is your key to making a thoughtful, trauma-sensitive transition plan—and creating a learning environment that meets everyone's needs better than ever before.

DISCOVER HOW TO:

• Apply the four essentials of trauma-sensitive schools to your transition planning
• Facilitate team discussions and professional development sessions to prepare for the "new normal"
• Gather critical input from families about their concerns, experiences, and needs
• Address the specific challenges of school reopenings, including separation anxiety, elevated stress, safety fears, the need to feel in control, and sensory overload after months of isolation and remote learning
• Notice and meet needs: both your own and those of students and their families
• Help students develop social-emotional skills to navigate the transition back to school (four lessons and extension activities included!)
• Commit to examining and disrupting systemic inequities that affect children and families who have often been marginalized
• Make a plan for self-care and maintain a healthier work–life balance

PRACTICAL MATERIALS: In addition to the activities, games, and social-emotional lessons in the book, you'll get more than 50 downloadable resources, including journal pages, handouts, activities, planning forms, posters, and professional development PowerPoint slides.

FREE WEBINARS

• Prioritizing Student and Staff Well-Being
  
• Help for Stressed Educators During COVID-19: Noticing and Meeting Teacher Needs as Schools Reopen
• Trauma-Sensitive Student Support During School Closures Webinar
• Supporting Stressed Students During COVID-19: Noticing and Meeting Children's Needs As Schools Reopen

Index

All About Feelings (Brooks), 81

Anxiety

emotional contagion, 57

separation, 30, 70, 72, 83

from trauma, 17

Arousal, 5–7, 24, 63, 64

Attachment, 10, 60, 61, 63, 71, 72

Back-to-school professional development session, 35–37

activity, 36

closing, 37

discussion, 36

goal, 35

icebreaker, 35

instruction, 36–37

introduction, 35

materials, 35

Q & A, 37

sharing circle, 35–36

“Better together” journal entry, 77–78

Bias, 15–16, 17, 36, 44

Bi-directional communication, 43

Big feelings, 6, 50

Brain functions, 5–6, 24

Bubbles Journal, 56, 67, 80, 86

Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools (Alexander), 4, 22

Bullying, 8

Career Connections, as part of social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons, 78, 80, 86, 88

Caregiver lounge, 69–72

boundaries and procedures, 71

emphasizing social gathering in attachment-affirming ways, 71–72

setting up, 70–71

Closure (good-byes), rituals for, 58–60

Collective posttraumatic growth, 7, 11

Collective trauma, 7, 11

The Color Monster (llenas), 81

Communication

bi-directional, 43

dysregulation and, 57, 62

for keeping everyone safe an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Downloads
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section I: Preparing for Back to School: Focus on Staff and Families
• Section II: Making the Transition: Set Up Your School for Success
• References
• Index
• Back Cover