in the classroom?
Restorative Justice in the Classroom
Practicing restorative justice in the classroom is one model teachers have found helpful in creating classroom equality and spaces of trust and reflection.
Discussions in the classroom can open students and teachers alike to unexpected responses and emotions. How then do teachers create environments where students feel comfortable enough to voice their feelings and opinions for the sake of productive conversation?
Language of Trust
One teacher working in an urban public school discusses how she approaches some novel's bigoted themes in a classroom with primarily minority
students. This teacher suggests alternatives for reading racial slurs aloud, and how language contributes to the environment of a classroom.
Among the teachers interviewed, some common tactics have included community agreements made at the beginning of the term, student moderators for discussion, and talking sticks that students hold when they are the only ones allowed to speak. Most teachers agree that controversial or emotional conversations can be difficult without some type of premeditated preparation or classroom rules.
How can a teacher create trust
Offering their own experiences navigating this dynamic, some teachers I spoke with (many of whom were white women) indicated that they wait to broach difficult conversations until few months into the term, or even until winter term. This, they find helps educators gauge the classroom community and understand what topics could be triggering to certain students.
Another dynamic that can often be difficult in classrooms is the trust between students. In high schools especially, students are hesitant to share personal details or emotions. Numerous teachers suggested beginning the term with a class agreement or constitution that every student signs. By doing this, students acknowledge that the classroom is a safe space to share without fear of retaliation and that topics discussed inside the classroom are also not be shared with others.
Teachers found that there are two types of relationship that require trust and respect in order for a classroom to successfully approach discussions of controversial topics. First, students must feel that their opinions and emotions are recognized their teacher. Many teachers noted that this dynamic can be especially difficult when the students and teacher are a different race or come from dissimilar cultural backgrounds.
Student-Led Discussions
In an effort to restructure student's perception of authority in the classroom, one teachers asks a student to be the moderator of a possibly controversial conversation. This student isn't permitted to voice their own opinions, but instead ensures that each student is given a chance to speak.
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