Teaching Through Trauma: Supporting Teachers Through Times of Personal Trauma and Loss

• In Event: Beyond Survival toward Thriving: Emerging Research on Fostering Holistic Teacher Wellbeing

Abstract

Purpose:

AERA’s 2026 conference theme reflects a need to reimagine practices in schools which honor and support the full range of teachers’ humanity, especially during times of trauma or loss. Increased awareness of the adverse effects of trauma on children and adolescents has led to a growing body of research in education focused on student-centered trauma and trauma-informed pedagogy. However, little research has focused on teachers’ own experiences of trauma or has addressed a need to better prepare and support teachers as they encounter experiences of trauma during their teaching careers. This study seeks to center teachers' wellbeing and humanity by providing insight into how secondary English teachers’ experiences of trauma intertwine with their professional lives, personal selves, and pedagogical practices.

Conceptual Framework:

In this study I present research-in-progress exploring the stories of secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers who have taught through experiences of trauma. Using a theoretical framework of affect (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Zembylas, 2006) and a methodology of narrative inquiry, I conduct and analyze in-depth interviews of teachers to better understand what secondary ELA teachers' experiences of trauma entail and how those experiences intertwine with their work in the classroom, such as their pedagogical approaches, interactions with students and coworkers, and engagement with ELA curriculum.

Methods and Data Sources:

Methods of data generation consist of an anonymous questionnaire of grades 6-12 current or former ELA teachers, followed by multiple in-depth, open and semi-structured interviews with a subset of voluntary respondents from the questionnaire. Organizing and analyzing data consists of a multi-phase process in which I examine raw data, generate themes through coding and recoding processes, and represent the data in constructed narrative form. I draw from methods established by narrative and qualitative researchers (e.g., Clandinin & Connelly, 2006; Saldaña, 2007; Braun and Clarke, 2012), and use Creswell and Poth’s (2007) data analysis spiral in order to: 1) manage and organize data; 2) read and memo emerging ideas; 3) describe and classify codes into themes; 4) develop and assess interpretations; and 5) represent and visualize the data. These elements feed into a loop of description, classification, and interpretation (Creswell, 2007) which illustrates the living, telling, reliving, and retelling (Clandinin & Connelly, 2006) of teachers’ stories.

Findings and Significance:

Evolving understandings in trauma research offer insights into the experience of trauma as a fundamentally human phenomenon which relatively few elude over the arc of a lifetime. Teachers face distinct challenges as adults who work with children and engage in high amounts of emotional labor. Yet, teacher preparation programs rarely consider the realities of teachers’ experiences of trauma and the ways in which such experiences can affect their work as teachers. Teachers often face the realities of the classroom during times of personal trauma and hardship with little preparation for such challenges and limited institutional support. Teacher educators, leaders, and scholars have an incumbent responsibility to honor the range of teachers’ humanity and center their wellbeing by addressing the realities of teaching through trauma and providing needed support.

Author

• Dulcey Hunter, University of South Florida - Tampa