Trauma disrupts, disorients, and displaces; it makes a mess. When trauma occupies the content that we teach, the bodies of our students, and the experiences that we share, teachers must find a way to read the shore as the storm rewrites the line.  
 
This workshop with guest presenter Adam Wolfsdorf is based on his 2022 book, Navigating Trauma in the Classroom, and offers a transdisciplinary exploration of the critical questions surfacing in trauma studies that braids theory, praxis, and healing in presentation and demonstration. During the session, we will collectively: 

• Define trauma (impact, relational, and trauma of everyday life) using questions, examples, and language that dignifies its complexity; 
• Identify the limitations of trigger warnings and the challenges of managing student expectations (deflection, projection, countertransference) 
• Apply trauma-informed pedagogy in responding to and assessing our students;  
• Explore education as healing by practicing somatic and mindfulness exercises.  

Please, bring your experiences, questions, bodies, and hearts to share in this collaborative, immersive investigation of the classroom as a trauma conscious learning community.  

Please register: https://libcal.dartmouth.edu/event/10738154

About the Presenter

Adam Wolfsdorf is the Humanities Department Chair and an original founding member of Bay Ridge Preparatory High School. He is also an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in Wesleyan's Graduate Liberal Studies Program. He has published extensively in Changing English, The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, English Education, English Journal, and The Columbia Literary Journal. Dr. Wolfsdorf has book chapters in Humanizing Grief in Higher Education (Routledge) and Deep Reading, Volume 2 (Peter Lang). His new book, Navigating Trauma in the English Classroom, came out in November of 2022 (NCTE). It spent four weeks as Amazon’s #1 new release in Humanities Education. Wolfsdorf completed his BA at Harvard University, and holds a Ph.D. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

This event is held in collaboration with the Department of Medical Education at Geisel School of Medicine.

This event is being held in person. If you are sick, please do not attend. If you cannot attend in person due to illness or disability, please email us at least 48 hours in advance at dcal@dartmouth.edu to make alternate arrangements. While we cannot promise an equivalent remote experience, we are happy to accommodate. Thank you!