Using the novel-told-in-a-series-poems, Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse as a sample text, I want to demonstrate how a CLTL literacy development class might take into consideration some of the physiological challenges PTSD poses for learning. Mitigating the chances of eliciting overwhelming arousal—and a corresponding dissociation—is one of the first concerns in working with students who have been traumatized. Arousal already will be high due to the novelty of the class and the possibility of embarrassment in front of other students and institutional figures. That arousal may dissipate as the focus on the texts, rather than on them, becomes more apparent. However, analyzing narratives including abuse and loss may seem to violate this principle of avoiding excessive arousal were it not for Greenberg, Wortman, and Stone’s (1996) suggestion that writing about imaginary trauma provides less emotional arousal than writing about one’s own trauma. Still, to minimize similarities between the women’s own experiences and those encountered in the literature, I recommend choosing texts set in another time and place, such as the Oklahoma droughts of the 1930s’ depression in Out of the Dust.

In addition to choosing a narrative setting removed from the students in time and place, choosing a main character, such as 13 year-old, farm-raised Billie Jo, removed in age and cultural situation from them—though not necessarily removed from their traumatic situation— should help students who dissociate easily stay instead with the character and her narrative.