Our classrooms have not been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and forced us to rethink everything we know about teaching. While much of the public conversation has centered on "learning loss," the author instead found that personal loss and collective trauma have had the strongest impact on defining the differences between her students before and her students after the pandemic. Leaning on Alex Shevrin Venet's Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education (2021), this article examines four essential principles for classroom-decision making (predictability, flexibility, empowerment, and connection) and connects them to practical routines for secondary English teachers to create more compassionate learning spaces where students and adults alike can heal from trauma and move forward.