UW–Madison’s Travis Wright is the author of a new book released in April that is titled, “Emotionally Responsive Teaching: Expanding Trauma-Informed Practice with Young Children.”
Wright, an associate professor in the School of Education’s Department of Counseling Psychology, is a nationally recognized expert on resilience and emotionally responsive teaching, especially for children developing in the midst of adversity. He is also the faculty director of UW–Madison’s Morgridge Center for Public Service, and the founder and director of the BASES Project, a school and community-based intervention for homeless preschool students, their families, and teachers.
Wright’s book offers “real hope, inspiration, and practical advice,” according to a forward written by Indiana University Professor Mary Benson McMullen. Benson McMullen adds that Wright teaches his audience “to navigate the challenging terrain of connecting with a child who is deeply afraid, angry, and/or sad.”
Teachers College Press, which published “Emotionally Responsive Teaching,” identifies the features of the book as follows:
- Provides models that guide teachers through the nuanced and sometimes overwhelming interactions they may have with children experiencing trauma.
- Shares the author’s own challenges and triumphs through case studies of pre-K–3rd grade classrooms to illustrate the process of emotionally responsive teaching.
- Builds on research from the fields of education, psychology, and counseling.
- Integrates current work on trauma-informed practice with the paradigm of culturally responsive pedagogy by framing trauma as often rooted in systems of inequity and oppression.
Learn more and purchase “Emotionally Responsive Teaching.”