The Second Annual Sister Mary Paul Educator Symposium: Trauma Informed Teaching Practices Effective Strategies for Educator with author Jennifer Bashant

Keynote Speaker: Jennifer L. Bashant, Ph.D., LMSW, MA, founder of Building Better Futures, LLC. Jennifer is an educational consultant, motivational speaker and therapist with the mission to provide educators with evidence- based strategies to reduce challenging behavior in the classroom and create a positive impact on learning.

Building a Classroom Culture with Trauma-Awareness and Trauma-Informed Interventions
Children and teens who have experienced trauma have more success in classroom environments with certain qualities and with teachers who understand how trauma impacts learning and behavior. The first step in building a trauma-informed classroom is understanding how the brain and body process trauma, and how these experiences impact brain development. When a student is triggered, there is a predictable physiological response, then coping strategies that are used to return the body to a relaxed state. During this keynote, we will look at how a collaborative, restorative, strengths-based classroom is beneficial. This knowledge is important, but it is also critical to have a toolbox of strategies and interventions that help build students’ cognitive skills. We will touch on the “window of tolerance, “or the optimal zone of physiological arousal, and ways to help students get in the zone and stay there for longer periods of time so they are ready and available to learn.