Meeting the moment: Trauma responsive teaching for student success

Classroom environments, virtual and face-to-face, are changing; we are moving to focus more explicitly on students' health and well-being and to ensure we actively promote anti-racist educational environments for students. This paper examines how we can enshrine those lessons into academic programs by institutionalizing a trauma-responsive approach to education; building upon key findings from student and adult development theories, then bridging the scholarship of teaching and learning literature as a guide for developing teaching practices that support individual student growth. We outline structured practices that faculty can utilize to improve learning and success for students who are experiencing personal, secondary, or institutional trauma while establishing boundaries in teaching. Five goals for trauma-responsive teaching include 1. Ensure safety; 2. Establish trustworthiness; 3. Maximize choice; 4. Maximize collaboration; and 5. Prioritize empowerment. We conclude by offering tangible practices to incorporate from syllabus changes to classroom discussion guidance and beyond.