Want to increase your capacity to support students’ social-emotional wellbeing and academic engagement?
Check out a sample of available professional development sessions below or contact me to discuss your needs. All learning sessions, coaching, and consulting services will be tailored to meet the needs of your district, school, or organization.
I always bring a culturally responsive lens to my work, including thinking deeply about how educational environments, curricula, and instructional practices may affect students differently depending on their dis/ability, socio-economic background, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other identities.
Areas of expertise
Overcoming the School Trauma Cycle
Students who struggle in school, including those with disabilities or other learning differences, are more likely to also struggle with emotional and behavioral challenges. This can trap students in a vicious cycle that’s hard to break. This professional development series helps educators understand the neuroscience of emotions and learning and develop strategies for getting students back on a positive cycle of learning.
Creating an Inclusive Culture
Student differences – in dis/ability, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socio-economic status, and other identities – can either cause divisions or be leveraged as strengths. Students (and adults) learn the most when different perspectives are brought to the table and when all students feel like they belong and have something to contribute. In this workshop series, we dig into the why and the how of building an inclusive class culture that celebrates differences and accelerates learning.
Embedding Social-Emotional Supports through M.E.L.T.S.
Emotions and learning are two sides of the same coin. Social-emotional supports underpin everything educators do and should be embedded within instructional practices. M.E.L.T.S. gives educators a framework for supporting students’ well-being and addressing challenging behaviors to get students on a positive cycle of learning.
M.E.L.T.S. Framework
- Mind your own mind
- Expect emotions
- Look for the root cause
- Teach skills
- Safety & Support
Trauma-Informed Teaching
Traumatic events or chronic stressors can tip a student into a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. This causes them to become hyper-vigilant to stressors and can cause all kinds of academic and behavioral challenges for the student (and their teachers) in school. Educators play an essential part in creating a safe and supportive environment for the student that can help them overcome and heal from this trauma response.
Testimonials
“Trynia led a lively and informative discussion for our staff and team of volunteers on the importance of ‘Building Positive Relationships with Students’ which was full of practical strategies backed by current research.” ~Emily Kirven, Founder and Executive Director, READ 718
“Trynia is a compassionate and knowledgeable presenter. She presented on trauma-informed education to an adult group at my church in October 2021. Her engaging presentation included a variety of images, metaphors, and stories to convey how traumatic events in the lives of children (and parents and teachers!) can affect the educational process. Trynia also frequently paused to allow participants to reflect on and integrate the ideas she was presenting. I was impressed by her solid content and the methods she used to deliver it.” ~Reverend Jeffrey L. Phillips, Winnetka Congregational Church
Trynia Kaufman 