Recursive Trauma to Reflective Voice in an Urban Classroom

• In Event: Tracing, Re-membering, and Taking Care Amidst Modes of Violence

Abstract

I have a nascent thought on the intersectional, political geography of trauma, violence, restorative justice/SEL in K12 classrooms. My question is how to give voice among students who are survivors and witnesses of violence to nurture their skills for advocacy through an articulated language of recursive and reflective voice about their experiences. The young people in my classroom can speak to trauma as it affects their local experiences, including experiences they have knowledge about within their communities, yet their expression of reactionary and resolute emotions often seesaw between rage and indifference. How do we get to a place of empowerment?

Presenter

• Keisha Davenport, Cuyahoga Community College