Trauma and Learning in the ESOL classroom: What do we know? What

can we learn?

on the screen: women, learning and violence

NIFL fellowship, 1999-2000

Janet Isserlis

janet_isserils@brown.edu

goals of this workshopto:• share knowledge, experience, and understanding of

effective ways of working with ESOL adults

• explore classroom approaches designed to accommodate a range of learning needs, strengths, and circumstances, with a particular focus on ESOL learners

• review research on and strategies for ensuring the development of safe spaces for learning

• move our practice forward to support teaching and learning for all

Who’s here? What do we know?

• Who we are, experience with/interest in trauma and learning

• Questions/issues to raise

• Rationale: why consider impacts of violence and trauma?

• Cautions/considerations for the group

brief background - initial thinking/learning

Jenny Horsman, Something in my Mind Besides the Everyday

http://www.jennyhorsman.com

CCLOW - Making Connections: Literacy and EAL from a Feminist Perspective http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/Making_C/Cover.htm

Why ask the question?

To increase awareness in order to make lasting impact[s] on teaching and learning

To examine impacts of trauma and violence on adult learning

To strengthen practice, including: - material development;

- teaching/learning approaches;- program design and policy

What did we do?10 practitioners, 10 months Application process to clarify expectations

Monthly meetings Ongoing reflection/correspondence

Workshops for participants, including :

- DV support providers

- Richard Hoffman, Half the House

- Jenny Horsman, Too Scared To Learn: Women, Violence and

Education

additional activities and resources

- trauma counselor on call

- collective learning, face-to-face, online and through ongoing research

- workshops facilitated for learners and adult literacy workers beyond participant cohort

- intergenerational literacy project at shelter

- ongoing reflection, journal writing, listserv

So what?- work/collaboration/thinking across disciplines

- child protective workers, case managers (within and beyond adult education)

- awareness of shared constituency

- increased awareness system-wide

- policy shifts, especially recently - (e.g. through persistence studies)

what gets in the way of learning and teaching?

- violence - poverty

- racism - dis/abilities

- immigration status/history

- health and mental health

- gender - sexual orientation

- un/employment - housing/food security

- religion - economic status

Ongoing steps

• Infusing/integrating awareness into all aspects of adult literacy work

• Recognizing ‘school privilege’ with adult learners, practitioners and policy makers

• other ideas:

• ________________________________

• ________________________________

• ________________________________

To learn more: theory, life practice

Inger Agger, The Blue Room: Trauma and Testimony Among Refugee Women: A Psycho-Social Exploration

recourse support for staff in FE and HE http://recourse.org.uk

Tanya Lewis, Living Beside: Performing Normal After Incest Memories Return

http://www.brown.edu/lrri/screenref.html

 

To learn more: classroom practiceOn the Screen: http://www.brown.edu/lrri/screen.html

Learning and Violence Dreams of a different world: towards ending violence and inequality http://www.learningandviolence.net/dreams.htm

World Education, Women, Violence, and Adult Education Project http://www.worlded.org/docs/TakeOnTheChallenge.pdf

  contact: janet_isserlis@brown.edu