Assess Success: Exploring Authentic Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom

Becoming a Trauma-Informed Educator   Q: What is Trauma? Unable to complete a satisfactory fight/flight/freeze response. Changes how we perceive danger Overwhelms the capacity to emotionally digest Consider...Is this student reacting only to this present moment or are they reacting to a series of unprocessed lived experiences? Trauma or trauma Big T: Big event, something that threatens physical safety (accident, attack, natural disaster) Little T: More ongoing events that are deeply distressing, smaller individual events but chronic (neglect of emotions, shaming); build-up in childhood can lead to Complex Trauma Q: What is trauma-informed education important? As teachers, we are often the first point of contact in society.  Responsibility and opportunity to impact this -- more than trauma therapists -- because we have access to the general population Trauma is possibly the largest public health issue facing our children today. (CDC) Students can't learn if they don't feel safe...

Our caring leadership can help kids to feel safe.  When kids feel safe, their alarm can lower and they can take in their world, learn, and discover their capacities.  Reframing -- Tool to use when a kid is "stuck" in their failure Helps the child see the positive in themselves in the midst of failure We have to lean into the growth, when it's so natural for us to lean into the failure We are quirky humans, all with unique gifts. When you're a kid, you're expected to be good at everything. When we grow up, we're expected to be good at a few things and no one really even knows the other parts of us, because we just don't do them.  Attachment can lead a child to believe the good (or bad) in themselves Rest through... Relationship Stepping into the leader position ("I got this") Bridging what could divide Helping to hold on when apart Rhythm Routine puts at ease Structure can lower alarm Providing something "known" in the unknown Some predi...

 So what's the answer?  Comes in two parts: Kids need... a place to feel safe and a safe place to feel . And these are not the same thing.  We need things that will bring us to our feelings: Play Music Drama, great theatre Play is where you get to process emotions without having to feel them yourself. Attachment isn't about love and liking. It's a very specific dynamic. When there are equal amounts of warmth and firmness, attachment is unconsciously cued.  Attachment happens when a child feels very safe to follow your lead.  Warmth + Firmness = Caring Leadership Kids feel safe when they can emotionally rest on a caring adult.  The Primary Instruments of Attachment Collecting is the art of connecting Make eye contact, say "Good morning" (with teens, don't ask questions!)  Collecting before directing: chance of following directions is massively increased Many of our students need to be collected before every time they're directed Collective practices th...

When kids show up at school/home each day and we tell them to "stop" with the aggression, we are basically telling them to hold it in, rather than teaching them to have a positive release valve.  We can create conditions that encourage and model care, but we can't make a kid care. Those conditions are crucial.  Defining Play (What Play Is) Play is not work. Play is where children digest and process their lives.  Play is where children find release. (If it doesn't come out here, it WILL come up somewhere.) Play is engaging but not necessarily fun.  Frustration and tears can come from play -- this is engagement. Being able to work through this is what rewires the brain and teaches us to deal with life.  Children (and teenagers) are hardwired toward frustrating play and play that is not "fun".  The play itself  wires the brain. There should not be an adult standing there saying "Good job!" Brains are like snow hills. You go down on a toboggan and crea...

Emotional Health in our Schools A child’s behaviour is like the leaves of a wilting plant - a message about what’s going on in the world around it.  When we see a child’s behaviour is off and we try to fix the behaviour instead of the root cause, we will not actually change the situation. Why is that behaviour there in the first place? In order for true change to happen, it has to ignore your intuition.  Teaching is relationship. You have to UNDERSTAND it. We have an epidemic of anxiety, aggression, shut down kids. We have to talk about “why?” before we get to “what do we do about it?”  Why? What is going on with kids? Not because of COVID! Two  major cultural shifts: 1. Living in a culture of disconnection Cultured imbed rituals into their lives that connect/attach kids to their adults (ex. eating together) Eating is about attachment more than anything else.  Day of rest: people gather, have dinners together, stores were closed 2. We replaced play with entertai...