Academic and Social Emotional Strategies
Hypothetical Situations and Debates
Hypothetical situations allow for students to reach the highest level of thinking. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, creating, imagining, designing and planning are examples of the highest level of thinking. Hypothetical situations require students to first understand the content and then apply their knowledge to complete a desired task. Students will then analyze their findings and argue a claim, which will ignite debates. Debates allow for students to develop a sense of ownership by allowing students to enhance their confidence. This will allow them to refine their voice and become empowered. Finally, students will be able to complete the highest level of thinking by creating alternatives to the hypothetical situation presented.
Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers offer students of all needs a space to organize content learned. They offer visual representations of important information to help students understand and remember information. Students who have experienced trauma often have a hard time organizing their thoughts. Graphic organizers will help them organize and provide a space for them to clarify these thoughts and ideas as well. Thus, they help students be more effective at learning the subject matter. Graphic organizers will be particularly helpful in this unit because we will be discussing complex and difficult topics. Graphic organizers provide a way for students to simplify the information which will allow them to arrive at their own conclusions.
Building Emotional Intelligence: Journaling and Mood Readers
It can be difficult for students who experience trauma to identify their emotions and handle them in healthy ways. Journaling can enhance reflection, facilitate critical thought, and help express feelings. Using a Mood Meter that was created by Psycho-lawology will help students identify and process emotions. The Mood Meter is a four-quadrant graph that measures pleasantness and energy levels. Each quadrant is designated a color to express the emotions felt based upon the levels of pleasantness and energy. For example, low energy and low pleasantness is in the blue quadrant, while high energy and high pleasantness is in the yellow quadrant. Words that describe the emotions felt in each quadrant are provided for more support.
For students who have difficulty identifying how they feel, it is helpful for students to have steps. For the mood meter, the first step is for students to plot their mood on a quadrant based on their level of pleasantness and energy. Next, they identify why they feel the way they do. Finally, they decide if they’d like to stay in this emotion or if they’d like to change how they feel. Being able to articulate what emotions are felt, why they are and the ability to control future actions based on this understanding, will empower students by reminding them they are in control.
Peace Circles & Talking Circles
Peace circles and talking circles both come from restorative justice practices. Talking circles can be used for discussions, problem solving or collective decision making. The purpose is to create a safe and non-judgmental environment where each participant has the opportunity to contribute to the discussion. Peace circles are typically used to address conflict and solve problems. The goal of a peace circle is to repair the harm that has been done through a collective group process, including everyone who was involved. The goal of peace circles is to provide victim reconcile, offender accountability and community healing.
A peace circle involves only those who were involved in the incident. All participants gather in a circle and the facilitator begins by explaining the purpose of the circle and how it works. The facilitator passes the talking piece to the survivor first. Participants know that they can only talk when having the talking piece. It is important to let the survivor talk first. Once survivors talk, the facilitator will typically rephrase what was said as a means to validate that the voice was heard. The one who inflicted pain will then get the talking piece and the facilitator will again restate what was said. This can continue for as many turns necessary. The ultimate goal is for the victim, the one who inflicted the harm and the facilitator to agree on appropriate next steps for repairing the relationship. This is typically in the form of an apology and an act of service. Talking circles can be conducted in a similar fashion, but the facilitator doesn't need to restate in between each voice.
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