Wounded by School - Part 2

Kirsten Olson, Ph.D.

Creating Unwounding Schools

To follow up on her interview about “wounded” learners in Part 1 of this two-part series, Dr. Kirsten Olson offers nine practices to help create nurturing, challenging, and healing schools for all learners. These practices are key to boosting achievement in underperforming schools and addressing learning disengagement.

1. Overcome denial. Who are your wounded learners? Why? Use student panels,
surveys and fishbowls to “hear” students.
The first step in creating unwounding schools is confronting the denial many of us have
that schools can be toxic, unfriendly and unengaging places for many students. For
teachers who work with students who have chaotic lives that are under-resourced, it is easy
to see how school may not meet their needs. Denial is often stronger in suburban, middle
and upper-middle class schools where there is a tendency to think “we are doing everything
right” or “those kids are not my problem—they are the guidance counselor’s problem or the
assistant principal’s problem or special ed’s problem.” Whatever the environment, in high
performing, unwounding schools, adults tend to feel that every kid in the school belongs
to them—the academic and social well-being of all kids is their problem. Even more, they
have a professional and personal responsibility to see every kid as mine.

Recently I worked with a high performing suburban school that had made a commitment to better serve students who were unseen and marginalized on their campus. On the opening day of school, they held a panel featuring 10 students who normally never spoke publicly to teachers or in class. The students described their experiences in school. Many teachers and administrators said this was transforming and incredibly eye opening. They heard things they had never heard before and could begin to address the situation.