World-renowned educator Dr. Ruby Payne was the featured speaker at Emporia State University’s second annual Trauma-Informed Educators Conference Saturday morning.
Trauma-informed education, also known as social-emotional learning, has become a highly publicized topic in recent years. Many school districts across the country, including some local districts, have chosen to undergo education redesign to provide a learning experience more focused on social-emotional development than before.
Dr. Payne says the focus on social-emotional learning is a welcomed one as previous teaching methods, such as traditional disciplinary practices, are “not working anymore.”
Dr. Payne has an extensive background as an educator having served as a high school teacher, district administrator and elementary school principal before transitioning into the literary world where she has written a number of books utilized on a regular basis by educators. Payne’s most well-known work “Emotional Poverty A Framework for Understanding Poverty” is considered a landmark literary resource in the educational field having sold over 1.8 million copies.
Emporia State Dean of the Teachers College Dr. Joan Brewer says the insight and perspective offered by Dr. Payne will be an invaluable asset to students in attendance as they prepare for their careers in education.
In addition to Payne’s presentation, representatives of ESSDACK were on hand to discuss a range of topics including the importance of understanding, building hope both inside the classroom and community and how educators can reduce reliance on traditional disciplinary methods such as suspensions. Attendees also took part in a discussion on self-care and had access to a poverty simulator meant to give teachers a better understanding of what it’s like to be poor and the impacts it can have on a student’s learning experience.
Students who attended the conference Saturday are eligible to receive course credit for their participation.
