Hello there and thank you for reading!
My name is Dennis Etzel, Jr. (he/they, MA ‘06), and I currently teach English at Washburn University.
I am thankful to Deborah Murray and Karin Westman for publishing this as part of the blog. I call it “Bold TIP Tips” to give thoughtful overviews of how to incorporate trauma-informed pedagogy (TIP) into the classroom.
The use of the word “bold” is to acknowledge that we are pushing the status quo of what classroom atmospheres look like. However, as naysayers might think TIP approaches are asking them to lower the rigor or content of a course, these practices are merely changing the delivery style.
I am working on a book about the practicalities of what I call a “quiltwork pedagogy,” that as we each have our own personalities we teach out of — like Dr. Taylor Hartman’s classifications of “people types” in his book “The People Code,” that we can generally be categorized as Power Wielders, Do-Gooders/Connectors, Peacekeepers, or Fun Lovers — we can each pick from the buffet of anti-racist pedagogy, first-generation best practices, ungrading, and trauma-informed pedagogy. As the de facto mission of any university is to create the best atmosphere for all students to learn in, which includes safety and a sense of belonging, I see our personal missions should involve challenging our internal biases and give our perceptions of pedagogy “a tune-up” by adopting from those trailblazers who have created such pedagogies.
The following is what I discovered by my own interests in the connections between learning, emotional regulation, and trauma, that in order to learn we need to feel safe enough to leave our comfort zones, but not become too stressed. As I reflect on how my childhood of being unsafe at home, in the school (especially with a few teachers), and after school, I can also see how going to college and being inspired by non-judgmental professors helped me to build a resilience to strive to learn, as well as feel like I could belong in college. I feel empowered taking this work and applying it practically, as I know I wish to do the best for my students out of what religious people call “a calling” while moving from a boy who needed healing into a professor who sees themselves as a teacher-healer (see bell hooks’s Teaching to Transgress).
When it comes to trauma, we are looking at it not as a detriment, but as a fact. We also acknowledge that many survivors, like myself, go on to be resilient and create wonderful lives and careers.
As instructors in front of the classroom, we are familiar with the glazed-look students who are making eye contact with us, motionless. Or we see the students who have their leg in motion up-and-down, as if being the fastest on a sewing machine. What we don’t know is the culmination of what students are going through, how many are still developing their minds, and the trauma many go through—as well as the burnout.
I am familiar with this mode of survival in the classroom as I was a student like this throughout high school and when I first went to college.
Theories of learning, self-regulation, and trauma have helped me find the ways to talk about my experiences as well as understand how I may teach effectively—something the best of us teachers strive for.
Luckily, because of the pandemic added to my personal life as a parent and the need for therapy, I came across the a-ha moment of intersections between these theories of self-motivation towards learning in the world. By taking two theories for child development and self-regulation—which actually can work for anyone any age—and my therapist’s introduction to the Window of Regulation, I could create a way to approach students to “check in” at the beginning of each class while allowing their full consent to share or not. This helps everyone to “ground” themselves—including the teacher.
The steps are simple:
• Show the following three graphics—I recommend finding from the internet based on personal preference—during the first week of the semester
• Continue using the self-regulation graphic just to check on the class and normalize that we are all coming in different “zones” of feelings
• Continue using other graphics, like self-care in five minutes or battery-charging self care, easily found on the internet
• Normalize the need for self-care and getting help through campus resources and creating a support system
• Focus on resiliency—not trauma
Vygotsky
It is during COVID when I discover Lev Vygotsky. As a part of faculty development, as well as connecting with other staff and faculty, we are zooming to study and discuss first-generation best practices. It is during a presentation that Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development is introduced to me.
Figure 1: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development: With the help of a mentor, a child (or anyone) can move from the middle comfort zone into the stretch zone where learning is possible. Past the stretch zone is where learning is unattainable, so through the lens of emotional regulation is labelled the panic zone. Note the red I added for panic and anger.
Yes, this is common for people who studied education through their PhD years. It made sense, that to learn we need to move out of the comfort zone but not too much that we are stressed out or anxious.
Zones of Regulation
It’s during these trainings that I reflect on when we were seeking therapy for one of my sons on the autism spectrum. The therapist used the Zones of Regulation to help him think of how he might be feeling that day and what he could do to move to the Green Zone—the one for “Ready to Learn”—if possible. The Vygotsky graphic I saw matched some of the words from the Self-Regulation graphic we used at home
Figure 2: Zones of Regulation: I recommend one that uses emojis, easily found online.
This is the graphic I often use throughout the semester, to normalize how we each might feel while reminding students there is no “wrong” zone to feel. I do tell students I recommend stepping out of the class for a few minutes if they feel in the red zone—to splash water on their face or cool down through breathing exercises.
One way to help students not feel on the spot is to ask, “May I see a couple of hands of anyone who happens to be in the blue zone today?” By normalizing how many may feel this way and there is nothing wrong with it, usually four or five students raise their hands. I also like to say, “How many are feeling between green and yellow? I know I am!”
Through this, students know they are not alone in how they feel, as well as I get to “read the room” to adjust my teaching for how students are feeling.
I also note that burnout might be the cause of how students are feeling, too, as Emily and Amelia Nagoski (2021) note in their TED Talk on the topic of burnout, that we have stressors in our lives—those things that we are reacting to—which are separate from stress—our bodies reaction to stressors. As stress is like the “fight or flight” reaction our body is making, we can take steps to tell our body it is safe by stomping our feet, doing jumping jacks, getting out into fresh air, or even splashing water on our faces to refresh ourselves.
The Window of Tolerance
First described by Dr. Dan Siegel and simply put, those who have trauma, anxiety, or mental illness have a window to effectively function with everyday stress. It is through the work of therapy that a therapist helps widen the window.
Figure 3: Window of Tolerance: I recommend any online that fit your needs. One that I like describes the therapist’s job to increase the window.
This window sits between the two terms of hyperarousal and hypoarousal, arousal meaning to be able to be function. Hyperarousal is the fight or flight mode, where someone feels nervous, anxious, or even angry. Hypoarosal is the freeze response when someone is unable to move, feels sluggish, or bored.
A-HA!
So the connections between these three theories, that the potential to learn or function in the best way is between where we can feel unmotivated or just unable to move and too anxious or even angry to be able to learn or function.
Another interesting aspect about these theories is that a mentor-teacher is needed—someone to help move someone into learning. I give students a mentoring map to help. Anyone, even faculty and staff, can use this to see where their needs are met and where they might need to seek others for unmet needs (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Mentoring Map: developed from the NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity), but I like this one I designed as it is simpler.
This means creating the best atmosphere for learning possible. How do we have students feel comfortable in our classrooms but not too comfortable? How do we create a sense of belonging so students feel safe and themselves? How do we create equity in learning experiences?
For me, it means a quiltwork or different pedagogies which include: trauma-informed pedagogy, first-generation best practices, anti-racist pedagogies, and ungrading. I hope to write about these in detail, but this establishment and being transparent with students about how they can give themselves agency through the awareness of moving out of comfort while not being to stressed out is my first, best practice in the classroom. I do not need to think of trauma as a deficit, but something that can build resiliency for those students who already are resilient in being in the classroom, as I am personally resilient as a survivor and creating the best life possible as a teacher—what religious folks call “a calling”—and to serve all students out of these theories grounding in reality through best practices.
— Dennis Etzel, Jr. (MA ’06)
K-State English 