A Handbook for Overwhelmed Educators in a Post-trauma World: The Case for Incorporating the Expressive Arts into the High School ELA and Undergraduate College Writing Classrooms

The purpose of this study is to explain why trauma-informed expressive arts activities are an essential component of the English Language Arts (ELA) high school and undergraduate college writing classrooms, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and to provide ELA teachers and undergraduate college writing instructors with practical, trauma-informed handbooks necessary to implement expressive arts in the classroom. Existing handbooks were examined, and a four-pronged criteria was developed to include: trauma-informed, adolescent, expressive art-based, and a handbook format. A meta-analysis was then conducted on four sample handbooks fitting this criteria utilizing the Constructivist Self-Development Theory (CSDT) as the defining lens. Knowledge generated from this study is expected to inform high school ELA teachers and undergraduate college writing instructors, as well as administrators at the high school and university levels