Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice is a philosophy near and dear to my heart. It is rooted in building empathy and community. It starts with the premise that people can learn and develop social and emotional skills. I am pleased that PPS, and Glencoe in particular, is moving toward a Restorative Justice framework. In our classrooms and our school, we create time and space for building community, discussing conflicts and making things right. "When we do things that impact others and create harm in the community, it is our individual and collective responsibility to make things right. Restorative practices help create spaces that hold us accountable in supportive and inclusive ways." (Restorative Justice in Schools Training Manual)
Second graders often come to school with very different levels of social and emotional skills. I approach conflicts as teachable moments. Together, we sort out conflicts, learn empathy and impact, and figure out how to make things right. This can be approached in different ways; an adult and impacted students dealing with an immediate conflict; a whole class discussion sharing on a topic (feeling left out, how to be inclusive, wanting to do something differently than your friends, what it feels like to be listened to), or, when the conflict feels too big or immediate for the classroom, another adult such as the counselor or principal can mediate a restorative dialogue. The goal is help those harmed feel a sense of healing and justice. Collectively, the parties involved decide what to do to repair harm.
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For further reading:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/education-uprising/where-dignity-is-part-of-the-school-day
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