By By Anastasia Tsioutas

A boy, about three or four years old, stands at the door of a shelter in Baton Rouge holding a bottle of soap. He smiles as people walking in and out bend over, so he can pump soap into their hands.

This is one of the touching memories Professor Denny Taylor, a doctoral director of literacy studies at the University, took away from her recent visit to Baton Rouge.

“What impressed me the most was the participation of children in organizing life in the shelters,” Taylor said. “If there is something you take away, it is the active role of children helping each other.”

Taylor’s visit to the ravaged city was an effort to assist teachers who are dealing with displaced children due to hurricane Katrina. She is part of an organization called, Teachers Helping Teachers. The organization is still in the process of development, but aims to set up communication between teachers around the world, mainly to help them deal with situations in areas of armed conflict or natural disaster.

“Teachers are often first responders after traumatic events,” Taylor said. However, there is no real training given to teachers to prepare them for such situations.

Using her knowledge gained in areas of armed conflict and other natural disasters, Taylor has been helping those teachers faced with this dilemma. Along with other members of the organization, Taylor offers teachers advice on what they can do to support the children.

“We can’t assume that the kids’ basic needs are taken care of,” Taylor said. “It’s an extreme situation and the children need reassurance and encouragement. For the teachers, just being with the kids is an intervention.”

In addition to the 250,000 population, residents in Baton Rouge are providing housing and welcoming children into their schools for another 250,000 people after the hurricane.

The active role of the adults at the shelter also made an impression on Taylor. She stressed that their efforts generated by the people themselves isn’t ever really emphasized. They are working hard to reach FEMA, organize the shelter and find places to go. They are also actively engaged in making the shelter a safe and secure living space, Taylor explained.

“What I’m doing is very small,” she said. “The people living there are doing their best to support kids on a daily basis. My part is miniscule.”

She goes on to describe one of her most memorable recollections; children finding any way of participating, from her visit to Baton Rouge.

“Watching older children taking care of younger children,” Taylor said. “Children 7-years-old taking care of children 3-years-old. Older children taking care of babies.”

Having to deal with displaced and traumatized children and families is one thing, but the teachers in Baton Rouge must also cope with their personal losses as well.

“There are teachers sleeping on cots in the schools,” Taylor said. “So they can continue working with either their students or other children.

In the article “Katrina – Observations from Baton Rouge,” written by Taylor, she describes the struggles that these teachers are faced with. One teacher is quoted saying, “Many members of my family have lost everything.”

Another teacher in Taylor’s article discussed a principal she knows, “All her family are living with her. Her grandmother was killed in the storm and they can’t find her body, but she is still in school.”

Supporting children is not the only concern that Taylor has. She feels teachers should get time to cope with their problems as well.

“Remember that teachers have also experienced the hurricane and need support too,” she said. “Teachers need time to discuss what’s happening and share feelings, make time for teacher support groups, hold meetings at lunch time or after school. These groups should be non hierarchical.”

In her opinion, schools provide a comfort and security for children. They offer an opportunity to reestablish their routines and talk about what happened. This makes the children feel more secure and less anxious.

Taylor stressed that she has used past experiences of working with teachers in areas of armed conflict to help teachers that she met.

One of the many awards she has received includes the Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize from the Modern Language Association, Amongst all of these accomplishments, Taylor was also recently inducted into the International Reading Association’s Hall of Fame.

She has written nine books on literacy, including, Growing up Literate: Learning from Inner-City Families.

The effort to learn how to support children after disastrous events was brought a little closer to home on April 7, 2005, when Taylor and numerous other volunteers got together for an International Scholars Forum at the University. The discussion was entitled, “Teachers Helping Teachers: Using Literacy to Support Who Have Experienced Armed Conflict or Natural Disasters,” and was sponsored by the Literacy Studies Department.

Speakers came from various areas that have faced horrendous events such as, Sri Lanka, Rawanda, Croatia, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.

Taylor’s efforts are far from oer. She returns to Louisiana on Sept. 30, but this time her agenda is to visit rural areas outside of Baton Rouge.

“They [teachers] are not trauma specialists,” Taylor said. “But I think they are doing an extraordinary job.”

Depsite Taylor´s active involvement in the ´Teachers Helping Teachers´ organization, she still finds time to help her students out with their work. (Harry Tanielyan/The Chronicle)