After the very tragic events of Sandy Hook, CT in 2012 and the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, Open Circle Staff created the following guide and suggestions to assist teachers to help their students deal with traumatic events. Some of this document relates to classroom activities, but the thoughts and suggestions will be helpful to all parents and teachers.<\/p>\n
During times of trauma, children may\u00a0need reassurance that their classroom\u00a0and school are safe places for them.\u00a0It is important to recognize the needs\u00a0of individual children who might have\u00a0a harder time coping with traumatic\u00a0events than others. Often children\u00a0who are prone to anxious feelings or\u00a0those with their own trauma history\u00a0can be triggered by another traumatic\u00a0event, even if it did not directly happen\u00a0to them. In addition to the positive,\u00a0supportive classroom climate and the\u00a0social and emotional learning tools that\u00a0Open Circle provides, some students\u00a0may need additional time with a school\u00a0psychologist or guidance counselor to\u00a0help them manage their fears.<\/p>\n
It is also critical that adults get the\u00a0support they need to help students\u00a0with their questions and feelings about\u00a0this tragic event. Modeling how to stay\u00a0calm and knowing when to ask for help\u00a0yourself will help reassure students of\u00a0their safety and remind them that the\u00a0adults in school will be there to take\u00a0care of them.<\/p>\n
During difficult times, safety,\u00a0consistency and predictability are critical\u00a0to helping children maintain a sense of\u00a0stability and psychological comfort. Open\u00a0Circle provides a classroom routine\u00a0and climate that is safe, consistent and\u00a0predictable. Continuing to do Open\u00a0Circle, as usual, is very important.\u00a0Revisiting and applying the following\u00a0skills and concepts may be one way to\u00a0help students and adults as they deal with\u00a0traumatic events.<\/p>\n
Being able to apply calming-down techniques is helpful for both children and adults. It is normal and understandable for adults to feel anxious when upsetting things happen, and yet children take their emotional cues from adults. When adults model ways to calm down, they are reinforcing a critical self-regulation skill. The physiological benefits of calming down are also useful as we try to take care of ourselves during stressful times. Knowing how to calm down contributes to a child\u2019s courage and resiliency. Children are empowered to take charge of their own bodies and emotional reactions. They can use this strategy in and out of the classroom, whenever they feel worried or upset.<\/p>\n
In Open Circle, children learn that\u00a0people have all kinds of feelings \u2013\u00a0some feelings may be comfortable or\u00a0uncomfortable, but all feelings are OK.\u00a0We are encouraging children to share\u00a0their feelings and expand the range of\u00a0feeling words that children can identify.\u00a0Our emotions give us information about\u00a0our internal state, and they can pass\u00a0with time. Children can learn to identify\u00a0many feelings to best communicate\u00a0their emotional state, and they can also\u00a0learn that even uncomfortable feelings\u00a0don\u2019t last forever. We do not need to\u00a0bring up the tragic event directly to\u00a0encourage use of feeling words. For\u00a0example, we can ask, \u201cWhen you wake\u00a0in the middle of the night and hear loud\u00a0thunder, how might you feel? Are there\u00a0other examples of times when you felt\u00a0that way?\u201d<\/p>\n
Feeling words allow us to let people\u00a0know in words rather than in actions\u00a0how we feel and therefore keeps them\u00a0from misinterpreting, let\u2019s them know\u00a0what\u2019s wrong, and helps them to pay\u00a0attention to our experience. Sharing\u00a0children\u2019s books such as The Way I\u00a0Feel, by Janan Cain, or Lots of Feelings,\u00a0by Shelley Rotner, might be one way\u00a0to help young children expand their\u00a0feelings vocabulary beyond \u201csad\u201d and\u00a0\u201cmad,\u201d so that they can communicate\u00a0with more accuracy. Some children will\u00a0have difficulty expressing feelings and\u00a0say that they are feeling \u201cnothing.\u201d This\u00a0is at times a self-protective strategy\u00a0when feelings are experienced as too\u00a0overwhelming. (At other times, children\u00a0are simply unaware of their feelings\u00a0at given moments). We cannot push\u00a0children to talk about feelings if they do\u00a0not want to, but rather we can teach\u00a0the necessary skills and create a safe and\u00a0caring environment so that when they\u00a0are ready, they can participate.<\/p>\n
Even if children can identify feelings\u00a0and find feeling words, they are not\u00a0always comfortable with speaking up\u00a0and therefore they may not share the\u00a0feelings they are experiencing. The Open\u00a0Circle lessons on Speaking Up focus on\u00a0the importance of speaking up on behalf\u00a0of oneself and others.<\/p>\n
In Open Circle children are learning\u00a0to identify at least one adult with whom\u00a0they can speak if they feel anxious or\u00a0scared. This lesson also reminds children\u00a0that when they tell a responsible adult\u00a0about dangerous or destructive behavior\u00a0they are keeping themselves and others\u00a0safe.<\/p>\n
In times of crisis and stress, children\u00a0need the support of adults who will\u00a0really listen to them. In the Open Circle\u00a0lesson on listening skills, children learn\u00a0to identify what listening well looks and\u00a0sounds like and which people are capable\u00a0of listening to them when they need to\u00a0be heard.<\/p>\n
Some classes might want to find ways\u00a0to help victims of a tragedy. The process\u00a0of giving to others is often empowering,\u00a0as well as helpful. The problem-solving\u00a0process can guide students as they\u00a0choose an appropriate way of helping. If\u00a0your class uses a problem box, keep this\u00a0box available and remind students that it\u00a0is anonymous. If you are not comfortable\u00a0dealing with what a child writes for\u00a0the problem box, consult with school\u00a0counselors, administrators and parents.<\/p>\n
The National Association of School\u00a0Psychologists and the U.S. Substance\u00a0Abuse and Mental Health Services\u00a0Administration have excellent resources\u00a0available in multiple languages for\u00a0helping children, parents and teachers\u00a0cope with violence, crisis and traumatic\u00a0events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After the very tragic events of Sandy Hook, CT in 2012 and the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, Open Circle Staff created the following guide and suggestions to assist teachers to help their students deal with traumatic events. Some of this document relates to classroom activities, but the thoughts and suggestions will be helpful to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":922,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-960","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n