Two Backpacks: Learning Their Story and Building Relationships with a Trauma Informed Perspective

by Adolph Brown

Childhood trauma is an urgent issue with a profound effect on learning and living. In this book, Dr. Brown successfully addresses the needs of all young people and adults alike, by sharing the importance of dealing with the issues in your backpacks before they deal with your success and happiness. Two Backpacks increases one’s sense of self, grows social intelligence, and promotes individuals’ capacities to work collaboratively to positively make a difference in the lives of others. Upon completion, readers will be encouraged to see the toxic stress beneath the surface and "teach and reach" from a trauma-informed perspective and begin to create alliances and teams who develop a climate for learning where ALL experience success.

54 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2017

Reviews

[Taylor Juszynski · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have benefited from using my specific examples. The author claims to have researched social and emotional learning in relation to students yet the message feels disconnected from them. This book needed a more in depth analysis and specific ideas about how we as teachers and adults affect our children's lives.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great, quick read at 32 pages total. The author is clear and to the point. Everyone has two backpacks, the one you see, and the one you don’t. The invisible backpack is the story of their life that you will only get to know if you truly get to know that person, their history, and their troubles. Build relationships to get to know the invisible backpack. My favorite quote, was to just ask challenging students, “How May I help you?”

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good lesson for new teachers and a reminder for veteran teachers that we only see a small portion of our students' lives and that we need to remember that everyone is dealing with their own issues.

[Mollie Roque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, intense topic. Good overview of Trauma informed practices

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea of Two Backpacks, but should this “pamphlet” (it’s really 32 pages) be considered a book? I didn’t take anything from it. I find trauma informed training to be severely lacking in educational spheres. It’s always folks just talking at you without modeling or giving the audience tools to be a trauma informed person. Also, many people who run these trainings or write these books were never actually educators in the trenches. Teach a class in a poverty stricken district where students are packed like sardines in a classroom before you write a book on how to teach youth steeped in trauma.

I gave this book 3 stars because the information is necessary though, again, severely lacking.