February 2025 Edition

We love highlighting the work of our school partners, giving readers an inside look at the ways schools across the state combine science and data with understanding and heart to help their students learn, grow, and thrive, no matter their circumstances. This month, we have the honor of sharing the story of one teacher at one of our partner schools. By sharing her story, we highlight how North Carolina educators bring resilience and inspiration into their work of helping students discover their own.

Mrs.Tamika Farmer, a fourth-grade teacher at G.W. Carver Elementary in Edgecombe County, was named North Central Regional Teacher of the Year in December 2024! She is a finalist in this year’s North Carolina Teacher of the Year selection. North Carolina has recognized its teachers through the Teacher of the Year Program since 1970 and with the help of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund since 2013. The recognition is awarded to teachers in each district for outstanding leadership and excellence in teaching. From these candidates, nine Regional Teachers of the Year are selected. Ultimately, one teacher is honored as the state’s Teacher of the Year in the spring.

While this year’s Teacher of the Year won’t be announced until April, we want to take this opportunity to highlight Mrs. Farmer’s work and approach to teaching, as well as the school community of which she is a valued part. As the Resilience & Learning coach at G.W. Carver, I have had the privilege of observing Mrs. Farmer’s work in her classroom. In November, Mrs. Farmer sat down for an informal interview to discuss her views on trauma-informed practices and her role on the school’s Resilience Team. She believes these aspects are key reasons for her consideration as Teacher of the Year and hopes to highlight their importance while in the spotlight.

In 2023, Carver Elementary partnered with the Center for Resilience and Learning to assess and further develop their trauma-informed practices. The goal of this collaboration is to foster academic achievement by building resilience within the school community. Mrs. Farmer joined as a member of the school’s Resilience Team, a steering committee of staff across multiple roles informing and leading the partnership’s work. In this second year of the school’s partnership, Mrs. Farmer has brought a trauma-informed lens to her co-leadership of the school’s PBIS Committee (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). She says she was initially drawn to join the Resilience Team because she thought,

“Oh, trauma – I can definitely relate to trauma.”

Mrs. Farmer is intentionally open about having faced numerous Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as a child, with both of her parents struggling with chronic substance abuse and mental health problems throughout her life. Growing up, she and her two younger brothers frequently witnessed police at their home and often had to stay with other family members while their mother was in the hospital receiving mental health treatment. Mrs. Farmer was in JROTC (US Military Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) during all four high school years. When she was 18, she joined the military and married her husband. She credits a supportive husband who shares her attitudes and goals, as well as her service in the US Army, with helping her continue to build resilience. She also credits her Christian faith. She and her husband both became pastors and are transparent with their church members about their childhood hurts and struggles, as well as their faith practices for growth and healing. Mrs. Farmer has discovered healing by sharing her story and helping church members who want to heal through the sharing of theirs.

Her personal experiences of childhood trauma were partially what drew Mrs. Farmer to become part of the school’s Resilience Team, and also help her to better understand and relate to children in her class facing their own ACEs. She remembers coping as a child by being “quiet” and “sneaky” and becoming a “people-pleaser,” longing to prevent and resolve the anger and arguments she saw between the adults in her life.

Mrs. Farmer knows that children cope with trauma and chronic stress in many different ways, and when her students act out, shut down, or try to be perfect, she has a lens through which she can better understand their reasons and support their needs.

Mrs. Farmer credits the Resilience Team and her school’s partnership with the Center for Resilience and Learning, in part, for helping her add a scientific understanding of trauma and resilience to her personal understanding and for helping her hone practical strategies to help all of her students strive. Her school and district invited training from Peaceful Schools last year to help staff learn how to facilitate “circles,” a useful teaching tool that can help students feel more at ease, connected, and confident while developing their skills for reflective thinking, effective communication, and problem-solving. Mrs. Farmer and her colleagues had already been introduced to circles by experiencing the process and benefit themselves at Resilience Team or whole staff meetings. Since then, she has used circles to help her students build a strong sense of community with one another and with her. This creates a social environment where they feel safe and understood, allowing them to be honest, reflective, and open to learning new things....

#SELday: Making SEL a Way of Life

by: Vanshu Singh, CASEL

As a teacher in a bustling school, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the incredible impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) on my students’ lives firsthand. In our classroom, SEL isn’t just a curriculum—it’s a transformative journey that nurtures students to be expressive, happy, confident, and resilient individuals. SEL lessons are carefully integrated with our unit of inquiry, focusing on specific social and emotional skills such as compassion, resilience, kindness, and empathy. Through engaging activities and discussions, my students explore these concepts in depth, applying them to their daily lives.

Equity Considerations for Hurricane Disaster Relief

by: Malasia McCledon

The Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity, in collaboration with community members from across Western North Carolina, has created a resource highlighting critical equity considerations for supporting the diverse communities in Western North Carolina. The resource proposes recommendations for entities from across the state and nationwide that can support long-term recovery by ensuring that historically marginalized and underserved communities are at the forefront of all efforts. The recommendations are proposed in four categories .....

How can students engage with AI while protecting their emotional well-being?

by: Chantel Brown, EdNC

“On the other hand, though, I think there’s been real concerns coming out related to some of the youth, (who are) especially very vulnerable for the possibility of this over-reliance,” Kim said. 

Kim said this can also be an issue with adults who are experiencing loneliness or on the autism spectrum. The professor also said that they believe that the capacity for younger people to understand other people’s emotions, let alone the lack of emotions in an AI, is limited.

Kristi Boyd, who works as a trustworthy AI specialist at SAS Institute, said people should ask questions about the functions of AI in different toys and tools in their everyday lives. 

Building a Resilient School Culture That Lasts

by: Erica Ilcyn, STARR

Let’s be real: there is no magical program, curriculum, or one-size-fits-all approach that will transform a school into a trauma-responsive, resilience-focused environment overnight. True transformation doesn’t come in a pre-packaged box. Instead, it happens through intentional shifts in mindset, culture, and daily practices at every level of the school system. 

For public school district administrators navigating the ever-growing demands of school leadership, the question isn’t whether trauma impacts learning, but rather how to create a system that effectively responds to it—without overwhelming staff, draining resources, or burning out educators along the way.

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Elizabeth DeKonty

Director

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Raleigh, NC)

Eulanda Thorne

Program Manager

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Wilson, NC)

Brian Randall

Western Senior Program Manager

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Asheville, NC)

Michelle Harris Jefferson

Sr. Program Manager of Professional Learning

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Greensboro, NC)

Orlando Dobbin, Jr

Eastern Senior Program Manager

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Greenville, NC)

Stacey Craig

Program Manager

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Raleigh, NC)

Leslie Blaich

Program Manager

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Asheville , NC)

Rebecca Stern

Consultant

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Carrboro, NC)

Ervin Jones

Consultant

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Elizabeth City, NC)

Katie Rosanbalm

Research & Evaluation Partner

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Duke University)

Whitney N. McCoy, Ph.D

Research & Evaluation Partner

(Duke University)

Jessica Edwards

Program Coordinator

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Nashville, NC)

Angela Mendell

Program Manager

NC Center for Resilience & Learning

(Elizabethtown, NC)

The Resilience Reader is published monthly by the Public School Forum of NC and distributed to Forum members, educators, policymakers, donors, media, and subscribers -- or anyone interested in issues such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), childhood trauma, resilience and the power of trauma-informed schools and communities.

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