Proposal
When teaching emotionally triggering subjects such as the devastating impacts of the fashion industry on our environment or climate catastrophe the way the information is taught can make a big difference in the experience of the learner.
Very often students or participants have a traumatising experience during presentation, which leaves them disempowered or depressed. I have noticed students checking out physically or mentally during an offload of challenging information. The learners get burned and therefore loose the willingness to engage with the subject afterwards.
How can a learning space resource the learner to stay present and engaged and feel inspired to move forward?
How can we teach the difficult stuff while helping the students to be resourced enough to stay engaged?
Aims
An online workshop about the impacts of the fashion industry on our environment with a trauma-informed framework.
The aim is to create a teaching frame that includes techniques, tools and exercises that help the student to stay present and leave the workshop informed, inspired and in some way empowered to move forward. This framework could then be applied to various topics.
- I want to create an online workshop that teaches kindly the devastating facts of the fashion industry and the crisis in which we are in.
- The aim of the online workshop is to inform the learners about important facts and impacts of the fashion industry in a kind way. The tools given help the learners to move through difficult emotions and leave with an empowered sense of direction and inspiration to move forward.
Aim from Presentaiton
Objectives
- I want to create and hold an online workshop on the environmental impact of the fashion industry with a trauma informed teaching frame. The tools in the workshop are aimed to help the learner to resource themselves and their nervous system to be able to stay present and engaged in the learning process. Therefore, I want to investigate the following questions:
- What can cause disassociation and trauma? What are trigger signs?
- How can we take the trauma awareness, consent and awareness of the nervous system into teaching?
- What structure, tools and exercises can help the learner to stay present and engaged?
Plan to gain deeper understanding and collect ideas
Areas of research are Trauma Informed Teaching practises, Nervous system and Consent work and Future-oriented and wholesome teaching practises
- Nervous system and Consent
- Dr Bessel van der Kork – Polyvagal / PTSD
- Betty Martin – Wheel of Consent
- Sophie Banks – Wise Activism
- Rupert James Alison and Rose Jiggens – Consent and the Nervous system
- Emily Baron Cadloff – Brain function during stress
- Dr. Jamie Marich – Trauma Therapist
- Deb Dana – Nervous system
- George Slavich – Stress Assessment and Research at UCLA
- Solution-oriented change in Fashion / Workshop examples
- Fletcher, K. and Tham, M.. Earth Logic Fashion Action Research Plan
- Trauma informed teaching workshops
- Teaching Sustainability
- Hickman, C. and Hogan, From Anxiety to Agency
- Dr John Blewitt, The Green Campus is also a Virtual One
- Extinction Rebellion, Educator’s Toolkit
- People to talk to
- Alice Wellby, Sustainability in Fashion CSM
- Rose Jiggins, Wheel of Consent trainer
Methodology
Start
- Conversation with colleagues, practitioners and activists, what are their experiences when teaching potentially triggering subjects?
- Documentation of experience including my own observations
Research and Preparation
- Research relevant knowledge and specific existing techniques for trauma informed teaching. This includes watching documentaries, reading journals and books, listening to podcasts, reviewing workshop participation
Workshop Planning
- Design and prepare the workshop. This workshop needs to be suitable for various audiences.
Delivering and Evaluation
- Documentation of workshop
- Design an evaluation format for feedback and learn about the experience of the participants
Feedback from group
- Is the term ‘Trauma informed Teaching’ accurate or is there a way to phrase it in a more positive way?
- Inclusivity elective unit which is run by Aisha Richards and Terry Finnigan give warnings when it gets uncomfortable. They are very transparent how they teach challenging subjects.
- Interactive activities in online teaching (Book: 53 interesting things to do in your lecture) and note down on Lesson Plan S->T , T->S
- Am I looking at the subject that I am teaching or am I looking at the pedagogy and the way that I am teaching it? Even though I need to put the lecture together I am more focused on the pedagogy and the way of teaching
Action Steps
- Look at varieties of activities, teacher to student, student to teacher, student to student activities. Book: ‘53 interesting things to do in your lecture’
- Look at lectures from Inclusivity unit by Aisha and Terry
- Activities from ‘Earth Logic’ workshop
- Workshop content check with Alice Welby, not the focus.