What if you had the superpower to understand the most hidden barrier to your students’ achievement or the ability to see exactly what motivates them and bring that motivation to life? That is the power of a trauma-informed and culturally responsive (TICR) approach. A TICR approach helps you understand the underlying causes of challenging behaviors as well as personal motivators for academic achievement, and enables you to respond to students in a way that meets their underlying needs, honors their life stories, and empowers them while setting appropriate limits. When effectively applied, it unleashes a new method of tapping into student potential by giving you insight into students’ life stories and fostering relationships that help maximize their academic experience. This guide provides an overview of the three tenets of a TICR approach for maximizing students’ social-emotional and academic well-being; gives you the tools to understand the underlying reason for behavior issues; identifies common trauma triggers; outlines how to adjust the classroom to become more responsive to the needs of students with trauma; offers tips for acknowledging the cultural experience of students and making classroom adjustments that promote inclusivity; discusses secondary traumatic stress (STS) that may affect educators, and how to address it.