Trauma-Informed Care in Adult Education
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If you have a foot in the world of mental health or social services, perhaps in the past few years you have heard of the trend of "trauma-informed care." This new paradigm of helping individuals is best summed up as a shift from the question of "What is wrong with you?" to that of "What happened to you?" and more importantly, "How does that continue to impact your life today?"
Trauma-informed care also came to the forefront last month when
Oprah spoke
on
60 Minutes
about how it has been a "life-changing" question for her.
The idea of trauma-informed care is a subtle but significant shift in how we view the people we work with. Many of the adult education students that we work with have had some event or ongoing pattern of negative classroom experiences in their past and many of those can be traced back to negative experiences at home. Very quickly, it becomes clear that those experiences affect how they act and react in the classroom today.
This twelve minute
TED Talk video
can help you learn more about trauma-informed care.
An
April 2017 article
in the
Online Journal of New Horizons in Education
noted several themes common in many traumatized learners. They had little parental support and a lot of social problems with their peers. They had developed an alternative educational identity, and they did not feel safe, emotionally, in the classroom community.
How can we turn these things around in our own adult education classrooms? The end of the above article provides several recommendations for successfully implementing trauma-informed practices in adult education. Most of these center on listening, trust, and respect.
Talk with colleagues or consider for yourself how you can change your view from handling "prob
lem students" to helping with students' problems.
On Wednesday, May 2, 2:00-3:30pm, a webinar titled
Our Journey Together: A Trauma-Informed Approach for Youth and the Workforce System
will be held
. This webinar will be a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration’s, Division of Youth Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Participants will discuss how those in behavioral health and workforce agencies can partner to appropriately help and impact the youth that we serve.
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Teaching Tips and Resources
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GED® Student Study Guides
You can now find
GED®
Student Study Guides on the
GED®
Manager homepage. PDF versions of the guides are also available for download here:
Math
,
RLA
,
Science
, and
Social Studies
.
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GED®
RLA Extende
d Response videos
ProLiteracy has shared eight videos to give students and instructors an overview of the Reasoning Through Language A
rts
GED®
exam
and the accompanying extended response. They include strategies and tips for completing the written portion and being prepared to write confidently. The videos can be
seen online
.
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Teaching about the brain can help students use theirs
Maybe your students are not interested in neuroscience, but knowing a bit about how the brain works and how learning happens on a neural level can give students some perspective on their own learning or their struggles to learn. Understanding the abilities and limitations of their own brain tissue can both motivate them to excel and also help them to forgive their own mistakes. Edutopia's recent article
Building a Metacognitive Classroom
has several links, videos, and examples from both the elementary and secondary classroom that could give you ideas for how to discuss this with adult students.
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Professional Development Opportunities
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Webinar:
Graphic Organizers - Powerful Tools for the Classroom
GED Testing Service®
wil
l hold
a webinar on April 24 at 3:30pm titled
Graphic Organizers--Powerful Tools for the Classroom
. A part of the Tuesdays for Teachers webinar series, this session will explore different types of graphic organizers and how they can be used to enhance student learning within the
GED®
con
tent areas.
Register online.
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Webinar:
Understanding and Applying Disability Data
On Wednesday, May 23, 1:00-2:15pm, WorkforceGPS will host a webinar on the topic of disability statistics which will explore and discuss two main ideas. First will be an overview of disability employment trends, and second will be an examination of how two practictioners have used data in both urban and rural communities to advocate for those with disabilities. Learn more and
register online
.
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PA Workforce Development Association annual conference
On May 16-18, the PA Workforce Development Association will hold the 2018 Annual Employment, Training, and Education Conference in Hershey, PA. With the theme of "Journey to the Top," this conference will feature 60 workshops, speakers, and training sessions focused on addressing workforce challenges in keeping Pennsylvania competitive.
Learn more online
or look over the
workshop schedule
.
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State and National Adult Education News
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The PA Career Guide Companion
The PA Career Guide Companion
is a great resource to use with the
PA Career Guide
to assist adults with career exploration and planning. It is available in
PDF format
or check your local PA CareerLink® for a printed version. The Workforce Development Project is available to provide additional resources and technical assistance as needed. Contact KayLynn Hamilton (
klh267@psu.edu
) or Chrissie Klinger (
cok5111@psu.edu
).
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COABE announces national award winners
The Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) has announced the 2018 class of national award winners. You can read the inspiring stories and profiles of awardees on the
COABE website
.
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Eight new languages added to driver's license exam
PennDOT has add
ed eight new languages to the list available for the Pennsylvania Driver's License exam. A total of 18 languages are now available for the exam, in both text and audio formats: Burmese, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Nepali, Polish, Somali, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Spanish and English. For further information about interpreter rules, see PennDOT's
recent letter.
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Community, Courses, and Resources for Adult Education
LINCS
is a place for adult educators to share ideas and resources and to pose questions to other adult educators; find evidence-based instructional materials and professional development resources; and take over 20 self-paced online courses.
Highlighted resources:
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TIAA Difference Maker 100 grants
TIAA is awarding $1 million in grants to nonprofit organizations who are making a positive impact in the world. The deadline to apply is June 12. Learn more
online
.
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The job postings below are for adult basic education programs that are funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and, at least in part, by WIOA Title II funds. They can also be found on the
paadultedresources.org
website. To post a job, please email the job advertisement to
lbailey@tiu11.org
.
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No jobs are currently posted.
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PA Adult Education Resources
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Upcoming State and National Conferences
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State and National Newsletters
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These are state or national organizations' newsletters that may be of interest to you. To receive the most recent editions by email, please subscribe directly to the newsletter.
Families Learning News of the Week,
National Center for Families Learning
Features information and resources for family literacy, early childhood education, and parent education
GED® In Session, GED Testing Service®
Features news and information related to the GED® test
OCTAE Connection, US Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, & Adult Education
Features news and resources for adult basic, career, and technical education
COABE Journal, Coalition On Adult Basic Education
Features national information, resources, and initiatives for adult basic education
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