Math, Talking Relationships & Trauma-Informed Teaching (Teacher PD)

Mathematics

The Math project I previously blogged about will probably be completed and posted on the wall when I return to Nelson Mandela PS.  Here is a photo of a designer in action and an image of a completed project (done by Ms. Baker's students in a previous year).

the planning continued

some finished products

Talking Relationships/Community Building in Grade 6

This particular unit was developed for Grade 7 & 8 students and I used this two years ago with my Grade7/8 class at Dovercourt.  It was developed by the Gender-Based Violence Prevention Office at the TDSB.   In an attempt to develop a stronger community of students in Grade 6 at Nelson Mandela, Paula Quintana (my SSTC colleague) and I have been doing a series of lessons and having the students develop some understanding of who they are and some of the dynamics which go into developing healthy relationships. 

Here are a series of photos detailing some of our explorations so far:

The aim of all lessons is to create a safe space for all learners to share and feel comfortable.  These are some of the norms we created as a class

Ms. Q's Circles of Myself identity exercise

Mr. P's Circles of Myself 

This lesson had the students define was they thought were particular behaviours you might see in a Healthy, Unhealthy relationship and the warning behaviours you would want to look for. 

In these two photos, the students made a list of activities they enjoyed doing.  One of the goals of this exercise was to have the students identify how these activities made them feel positive and, when possible, to engage in them.  The students then categorized them into categories outlined in the Talking Relationships book.  

 Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (grounded in Trauma-Informed Practice)

Trauma-Informed Practice is a strengths-based framework grounded in an understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma, that emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety for everyone, and that creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment (Hopper et al., 2010).  Source

This was a workshop led by the Psychologist who works at Ryerson PS.  I am posting the images here as an exercise in self-reflection.  I had heard of this workshop before and missed it and capture some key points in the following photos.  

This last slide was something I found on LinkedIn

I believe these items should inform how our classrooms look and sound. 

Wisdom from Ms. Owen's 5/6 classroom