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A north Tulsa middle school will take a different approach to teaching when classes start in August.
Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, Monroe Demonstration Academy will be the first site in Tulsa Public Schools to start incorporating the Oklahoma Tiered Intervention System of Support, or OTISS.
Developed in 2011 and supported through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, OTISS is a trauma-informed, multi-tiered teaching model designed to provide additional interventions and assistance for students both academically and emotionally.
The school’s teachers will receive coaching and professional development opportunities throughout the 2022-2023 school year to help with implementation.
“It’s not about what happened to you,” TPS Executive Director of Student and Family Support Services Stephanie Andrews said about the trauma informed approach. “It’s about what’s right with you. It’s about how can we build your resiliency.”
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For example, to help provide a sense of emotional consistency, teachers may be asked to be mirrors and model what kind of behavior and preparation levels they expect their students to have when they come to class.
Rather than setting unilateral, non-negotiable classroom rules, a trauma informed approach could allow each class of students to have the opportunity to develop and implement a charter that lists out their priorities and what is needed to feel safe and supported in that individual classroom beyond some basic ground rules such as mutual respect.
Given that no two sections are identical, the community charter for one class might include parameters that students in another class did not think of or even need.
“One of our core values is empowerment,” Monroe Principal Rob Kaiser said. “I really view the trauma informed practices work as finding ways to empowering our students to be in a position to where they can be successful in our school. It gives our teachers tools to create an environment where students feel empowered in a healthy way to speak how they feel and have a voice within the building.”
Amanda Jones is the lead counselor at Monroe Demonstration Academy. Although the concept of trauma-informed practices is not new in the mental health profession, she said it is just as important on the education side, as students often spend more time around their teachers than they would around counselors.
“Not only are we meeting students where they are, but where they want to be in the future to help them get there,” Jones said. “That’s really important because our kids are in middle school, but we want to see them through so all of the things they want to happen in their future happen – and even better than what they dream.”
lenzy.krehbiel-burton@tulsaworld.com
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