Poems about Works of Art, Featuring Women and Other Marginalized Writers

Introduction and Rationale

Over the years I have noticed vast and egregious negative behavior changes in the students I teach. Experiences in counseling, along with other programs of study, led me to notating the shared patterns of negative behavior whenever they appeared.  If I could find a common pattern it might lead to an underlying cause which would hopefully lead to a solution.  As with all complex issues, I knew that there was no easy answer or easy fix. However, my students were struggling and I needed to help them, which was my motivation.  After extensive reflection, looking for a place to begin, I suspected my observations were the results of trauma.  Quickly, having administered the Trauma History Screen to my students, I learned that my suspicions were well-founded. The results were shocking, with 79% of my students affected by either a one-time or on-going traumatic event(s).  This percentage cross-correlated with other districts in Los Angeles, Western North Carolina, and Philadelphia city and urban schools.¹

Where I thought I would find barriers in trauma research, I did not.  I thought I would have difficulty finding information because of the number of students I see struggling.  How can students be so besieged and not receiving help?  What I learned was that there has been a steady increase in the number of trauma-affected students and that this has been established as the root cause of the increasing negative behaviors.  Trauma has long been understood to be a problem among students.  What has changed is the number of students who experience trauma in their life and the lack of appropriate supports and the promotion of skills to help them positively cope.  Systems in place to serve such students have not changed and are no longer adequate to meet the increased needs.  Changing the system is not an easy task and often involves more politics than plain common sense.  Research reveals the dire need for trauma-sensitive schools.²  Currently schools and programs are set up to help “identified” students, but there are also the “unknown or unidentified” students affected by trauma.  Additionally, due to the “causative relationship” of trauma-induced behaviors there are the students affected by these behaviors whom their peers subject to harassment in school.³  This relatively recent revelation, coupled with increasing numbers, has been the rationale for changing the current ineffective system from “additional supports” to trauma-sensitive schools.⁴

While my current unit on Ekphrastic Poetry and Art will not help change the inadequate support systems in schools, I can create my own system of support using the expressive elements of the visual arts and poetry to help students cope and manage.  Research states that the best way to help students affected by trauma is to teach self-concept and self-reflection.⁵  Teaching students self-concepts helps them know who they are, which aids in identity development that is often compromised when a relationship with a care-giver is compromised.  Teaching students how to read and write poetry and make art related to their feelings is a positive step; and expression in two different modes will connect cognitive processing and promote identity development.