Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes	Part A: Gallery walk
30 minutes	Part B: AIME plan
20 minutes	Part C: The aftermath
05 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Gallery walk

Step 1.

Hand out a blank sheet of paper to each student.

Step 2.

Ask students to write and illustrate one to three strategies that help them when they are feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed. E.g., speaking to a friend or taking a deep breath. You may like to notify students that these strategies will be shared with others.

Step 3.

Once completed, invite students to do a gallery walk around the classroom to learn about their peers' strategies to help them navigate stressful situations. You may like to monitor students during the gallery walk as they might need help if they do not understand or misinterpret the strategies of others.

Part B: AIME Plan

Step 1.

Explain to students that identifying your fight, flight or freeze responses to stressful situations such as a natural disaster can help us become better prepared to perform under pressure. The stress created by these events can benefit us and our bodies if we know how to cope effectively with the threat. Assure students that when we understand how our body responds to fight or flight situations, we can start looking for ways to manage our natural responses.

Step 2.

Invite students to create an AIME plan to prepare for a natural disaster based on the recommendations from the Psychology Society report: Preparing for natural disasters. Explain to students that their plan will involve four steps:

Anticipate that the situation will be stressful – How do you anticipate reacting to the stress? How do you usually respond to highly stressful situations?

Identify your physical and emotional responses – How will your body respond to the situation? What are the physical and emotional signs to look for?

Manage your response – What strategies can you use to manage your response? You may like connecting with others and engaging in activities that make you feel calm or grounded. Refer to the strategies viewed in Part A of the lesson.

Note: If students need further support, they may refer to the Phoenix Australia website and browse the Managing Emotions (https://www.phoenixaustralia.org/recovery/recovery-online/managing-emotions/) page of the Phoenix Australia website (https://www.phoenixaustralia.org).

Engage with someone you trust – Write a list of people with whom you can share your experiences, emotions and thoughts. After completing your list, use the internet to research organisations or initiatives that can help people after experiencing a natural disaster.

Step 3.

Refer students to the Student Worksheet to use the AIME template.

Step 4.

During this task, rotate around the classroom to support and guide students.

Part C: The aftermath

Step 1.

Play this video What Is "Trauma" - and How to Cope With It (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX6W5OfN7iY).

Step 2.

Explain to students what the term ‘trauma’ means. Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event such as a natural disaster, accident, or abuse. Many Australians experience trauma from natural disasters such as fires and floods, and 3 out of 4 people will experience trauma in their lifetime (Reference). As traumatic experiences are characterised by the distress they cause, these natural disasters can cause emotional distress to thousands of people, whether they were directly or indirectly affected.

Step 3.

Outline to students that there are three main types of trauma:

Acute: A single incident or experience from which trauma can occur.
Chronic: A repeated and prolonged experience that causes trauma.
Complex: Exposure to multiple and varied traumatic events.

Reference: Three Types of Trauma.

Step 4.

In pairs, allow students ten minutes to read through the case studies below from Australian children affected by the Black Saturday Bushfires. These case studies demonstrate how young people can react to traumatic events.

Case Study 1: Meet Jack
“10-year-old Jack has always been an outgoing child, with lots of friends. Over the past year, he hasn’t spent as much time with friends as he normally does. He tends to go to the library at lunchtime and has stopped playing sports. Although he is still going okay with his schoolwork, he doesn’t seem to put his hand up to answer as many questions and doesn’t seem to get involved with other kids in the classroom. His mood also just seems to be a bit flat, and he just doesn’t seem to laugh as much anymore.”

Case study 2: Meet Sarah
“Sarah is 13 and lost her house in the Black Saturday Bushfires. Even though it’s been a while since the fires, she still gets quite upset when she is reminded of anything to do with the bushfires. If anyone in the class starts talking about the fires, she starts crying, becomes agitated or leaves the room. Sometimes during class, she looks as though she is just staring off into space and will only respond when her name has been called several times. Last week, she became visibly upset when she heard a siren outside the classroom, and she went white and started shaking. Sarah also just doesn’t seem to be able to relax and always seems on edge.”

Case study 3: Meet James
“James is 16 years old. His teachers last year reported that he was a good student who got along with everyone. This year, however, he has been talking back a lot to teachers, fighting with his classmates and has generally become quite irritable. He is very distracted in the classroom, isn’t completing his homework and his grades are slipping. He has just been suspended for turning up to the school dance intoxicated and for smoking at lunchtime. When anyone tries to talk to James about how he is feeling, he shuts down and tells them he is fine and that he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

All case studies provided by The Australian National University ‘Case Examples of Trauma Reactions in Young People’.

Step 5.

After reading, ask students to discuss the following questions in pairs:

What signs of trauma do Jack, Sarah and James display?
Does trauma present differently for each person? What makes you say this?
If you experienced a natural disaster such as a fire or a flood, how would understanding how your body responds to this type of situation help you?
Using your knowledge from your AIME plans, outline strategies that could help Jack, Sarah or James.

Reflection

Ask students to write a response in 50 words or less to the following provocation:
What are some ways we can possibly identify that someone has experienced trauma?

Differentiated learning

Extension

In Part B, you could allow students time to share their AIME plans with their peers to generate discussion, feedback and support.

In Part C, offer students time to do independent research on ‘trauma’, and ask them to report their findings back to their peers.

Provisions for learning support

In Part B, refer students to the following PDF if they need further support in Step 3 of their AIME plan - Managing Emotions - Phoenix Australia

In Part C, you may like to provide students with vision impairment or learning difficulties with a printed copy of each case study in suitable font size.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Resilient Australia - Overcoming Trauma

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