Wentworth instructional designers Josh Luckens, Megan Hamilton Giebert, and Lucy Wolski team up again to discuss actionable ways to bring trauma-informed pedagogy into the classroom.

Trauma-informed pedagogy is a holistic approach to teaching and learning that recognizes and responds proactively to the collective and individual traumas that both students and faculty experience.

Underpinned by the neuroscience of learning, this approach brings heightened awareness of the crucial role of emotion in cognition.

Trauma-informed teaching practices seek to create classroom communities in which students feel safe, empowered, and connected. Such thoughtful promotion of student and faculty well-being fosters deeper engagement and more equitable learning outcomes.

Additional resources:

• Transcript: View as Word Doc or PDF
• Article: Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now: Helping Students Thrive in Times of Trauma (By Mays Imad, Inside Higher Ed)
• Guide: Trauma-Informed Teaching Checklist (By Karen Costa, 100 Faculty)
• Videos: Brené Brown on Empathy and Brené Brown's TED talk The Power of Vulnerability
• TLC blog post: Maslow’s before Bloom’s: Strategies to Mitigate Student Anxiety