Becoming an Everyday Changemaker: Healing and Justice at School

Educators with a vision for more equitable, caring schools often struggle with where to begin. I’m just one teacher, where can I start to make change? Is it even possible? How do I do this within current constraints?

In this new book, bestselling author Alex Shevrin Venet empowers everyday changemakers by showing how equity-centered trauma-informed practices can guide our approach to school change. Unlike other books on social justice, this powerful resource doesn’t tell you which changes to implement; instead, it focuses on helping you develop the skills, strategies, and tools for making change meaningful and effective.

Topics include change opportunities and why trauma makes change harder; skills for navigating the change journey such as building relationships, working from strengths, and navigating many streams of information; and sustainable structures for lasting change. Throughout, there are reflection questions to use as conversation-starters with fellow changemakers, as well as Rest Stops so you can pause and process what you are thinking about and learning. This book will help you start your change journey now, putting you and your students on the path to equity, justice, and healing.

Alex Shevrin Venet is an educator, professional development facilitator, and writer. She is a teacher educator at the graduate level. Her teaching experience includes roles as a teacher/leader at an alternative therapeutic middle and high school, a community college instructor, and an elementary after-school teacher. She lives in Winooski, Vermont.