Any experience with a restorative circle in the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

Can you explain some of these miracles? What was the outcome of a circle, for example, and did you track student behaviors / emotions afterward in order to ensure success? What did that look like? What skills or training did the circle’s leader have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

I certainly believe that! But lots if people have had the experience that it did not and in fact has had deleterious effects and I believe that too. Before rolling out something like this on a large scale it seems like teachers should know how to implement appropriately and for thee to be actual research comparing it to other methods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

I certainly believe that! But lots if people have had the experience that it did not and in fact has had deleterious effects and I believe that too. Before rolling out something like this on a large scale it seems like teachers should know how to implement appropriately and for thee to be actual research comparing it to other methods.

Seems like a common sense method for dealing with a group with issues. Does everything really take training and years of research?

"OK, guys, come on in -- there's been a lot of grumbling about gossip and bullying, and we need to get to the bottom of this and lay it to rest once and for all. That's not how we operate in this classroom. Does nyone with direct knowledge want to share what's happening and how it makes them feel? What can we do to stop this behavior?"

Not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Restorative justice can be valuable if done well. My experience with a restorative circle in a school setting was not a good one. My 7th grade niece was being verbally and physically bullied by a key ringleader who had pretty much scared the entire class into not talking to my niece. Even my niece's friends were afraid to hang out with her as the bully would then bully them too. The ringleader had 3 or 4 key sidekicks who would make up rumours about my niece to give the bully a reason to be nasty to her and to keep others away from her.

The school did a restorative circle with my niece, the bully and her 4 sidekicks. In the circle, the bully and 5 sidekicks said my niece was the bully and made up multiple fake examples of my niece bullying them. The side kicks cried about how much my niece hurt them. My niece said basically nothing as she was terrified of them all. The person leading the restorative circle basically told them all to stop bullying and to be nice to each other and that it was a shared blame and misunderstanding issue. They all had to agree to be nice to each other going forward. They left the restorative circle and basically bullied her immediately.

My niece changed schools the next year but that restorative circle did far more harm than good.

Sorry to tell you this but if a half-dozen kids are claiming your niece was the bully there's a strong possibility it was true.

I'm a different poster and I'm fully inclined to believe the PP's story. What I see is simply an extension of bullying into the RJ circle, which would have amplifed the bully's voice and given it legitimacy. I'm grateful the PP's niece changed schools and I hope she's doing better in her new environment.

I'm not. It's basic math and they sound like a person in denial.

Yes, their story is sus. It's not like these kids are pro actors that cry on demand. Agree the PP seems to be in denial.

LOL you don't know many kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

I certainly believe that! But lots if people have had the experience that it did not and in fact has had deleterious effects and I believe that too. Before rolling out something like this on a large scale it seems like teachers should know how to implement appropriately and for thee to be actual research comparing it to other methods.

Seems like a common sense method for dealing with a group with issues. Does everything really take training and years of research?

"OK, guys, come on in -- there's been a lot of grumbling about gossip and bullying, and we need to get to the bottom of this and lay it to rest once and for all. That's not how we operate in this classroom. Does nyone with direct knowledge want to share what's happening and how it makes them feel? What can we do to stop this behavior?"

Not rocket science.

Teacher with 20 years experience here. That statement above is going to be met with silence. Then you’ll get some louder voices creep in, the ones who are probably responsible for the bad behavior in the first place. They will immediately begin defending their actions and blaming it on others. That statement will descend into chaos and you’ll have absolutely zero growth in the classroom.

It may not be rocket science, but it is adolescent psychology. One may argue they are equally difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

I certainly believe that! But lots if people have had the experience that it did not and in fact has had deleterious effects and I believe that too. Before rolling out something like this on a large scale it seems like teachers should know how to implement appropriately and for thee to be actual research comparing it to other methods.

Seems like a common sense method for dealing with a group with issues. Does everything really take training and years of research?

"OK, guys, come on in -- there's been a lot of grumbling about gossip and bullying, and we need to get to the bottom of this and lay it to rest once and for all. That's not how we operate in this classroom. Does nyone with direct knowledge want to share what's happening and how it makes them feel? What can we do to stop this behavior?"

Not rocket science.

Teacher with 20 years experience here. That statement above is going to be met with silence. Then you’ll get some louder voices creep in, the ones who are probably responsible for the bad behavior in the first place. They will immediately begin defending their actions and blaming it on others. That statement will descend into chaos and you’ll have absolutely zero growth in the classroom.

It may not be rocket science, but it is adolescent psychology. One may argue they are equally difficult.

+100. This exactly. Another teacher here. Adolescents are fascinating but so complex

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Restorative justice can be valuable if done well. My experience with a restorative circle in a school setting was not a good one. My 7th grade niece was being verbally and physically bullied by a key ringleader who had pretty much scared the entire class into not talking to my niece. Even my niece's friends were afraid to hang out with her as the bully would then bully them too. The ringleader had 3 or 4 key sidekicks who would make up rumours about my niece to give the bully a reason to be nasty to her and to keep others away from her.

The school did a restorative circle with my niece, the bully and her 4 sidekicks. In the circle, the bully and 5 sidekicks said my niece was the bully and made up multiple fake examples of my niece bullying them. The side kicks cried about how much my niece hurt them. My niece said basically nothing as she was terrified of them all. The person leading the restorative circle basically told them all to stop bullying and to be nice to each other and that it was a shared blame and misunderstanding issue. They all had to agree to be nice to each other going forward. They left the restorative circle and basically bullied her immediately.

My niece changed schools the next year but that restorative circle did far more harm than good.

Sorry to tell you this but if a half-dozen kids are claiming your niece was the bully there's a strong possibility it was true.

I'm a different poster and I'm fully inclined to believe the PP's story. What I see is simply an extension of bullying into the RJ circle, which would have amplifed the bully's voice and given it legitimacy. I'm grateful the PP's niece changed schools and I hope she's doing better in her new environment.

I'm not. It's basic math and they sound like a person in denial.

Yes, their story is sus. It's not like these kids are pro actors that cry on demand. Agree the PP seems to be in denial.

LOL you don't know many kids.

Exactly. My kid had to sit with the bully and listen to the bully cry and say how sorry. Kid even believed it and I hadn’t the heart to warn them about crocodile tears. Sure enough, bully jumped kid in the hallway the next week. On video, so don’t try to say it was really my kid doing the bullying.

RJ just hurts the victim all over again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

Can you explain some of these miracles? What was the outcome of a circle, for example, and did you track student behaviors / emotions afterward in order to ensure success? What did that look like? What skills or training did the circle’s leader have?

I would love to but that would be inappropriate since these matters range from sensitive to confidential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's great when the bond between students and teacher is repaired like this. However sometimes circles are used to deflect blame and distract when one side is clearly in the wrong and the administration wants to protect them anyway.

I don't have enough info to say whether it's one or the other, OP. But I'll say that if it's just this one time that the teacher did something, I'd want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

No one speaks up in a group. If they wanted the truth they’d do 1:1s in a safe space. Not a group and not with a power imbalance.

Umm that's why they do it this way...

yep...awful despite all the gilding of the lily

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The same kids will always participate and a sizable number of kids will never, ever say anything. That sucks.

This hasn't been my experience as a 5th grade teacher in the 5ish years my school has been doing them as a regular part of the daily/weekly schedule. The first few times, most kids participate. After a few months and we've settled in, usually all participate in some form. I've had a few kids that never did, but there were also some other issues they were dealing with, and they comfortable enough to join the circle and say "pass" when it was their turn.

They can be kind of hokey, but I really like them, and it really does help build a classroom community that sticks together and looks out for each other.

Okay how about when there's a kid bullying another kid. Do you think the bully and the other kid should be forced to sit in a meeting to talk it out even if the victim does not want to be there? Because this happens ALL THE TIME.

Then they're not done correctly in those cases. Restorative Justice does not stand in place of the consequence; it's supposed to show the offender why the consequence is needed. Sometimes a person who is breaking the trust of the community has to be removed from the community. The situation of a bully and victim "talking it out" is supposed to be used, in my experience, when it's unclear who is the victim--a shoving match on the playground, a back and forth argument that turns physical, and the like. When there is a clear offender and victim, there might be a restorative conversation in which the victim gives what amounts to an impact statement at a sentencing. They certainly should never be forced to do it, though I know some schools that have not properly received the training do violate this.

I'm disappointed by the way many schools have jumped on board RJ without fully comprehending the steps and what they mean. It really is 90% about building community and relationships, and the consequences/discipline aspect is really only a small piece. It's primarily meant to be preventative rather than reactive. I think the higher-ups have taken notice of this and the RJ unit has been doing special trainings and now there is a stipend for each school to have an RJ Coach, to lead school-level trainings.

But anyway, a kid bullying another kid within my class wouldn't be the subject of a circle that I'd lead. We would discuss more objectively about the idea of bullying/being bullied, rather than specifically naming/embarrassing the students involved with a specific incident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

I certainly believe that! But lots if people have had the experience that it did not and in fact has had deleterious effects and I believe that too. Before rolling out something like this on a large scale it seems like teachers should know how to implement appropriately and for thee to be actual research comparing it to other methods.

Seems like a common sense method for dealing with a group with issues. Does everything really take training and years of research?

"OK, guys, come on in -- there's been a lot of grumbling about gossip and bullying, and we need to get to the bottom of this and lay it to rest once and for all. That's not how we operate in this classroom. Does nyone with direct knowledge want to share what's happening and how it makes them feel? What can we do to stop this behavior?"

Not rocket science.

is this satire?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arch-conservatives hate restorative justice or anything involving feelings. They seem to believe that children should seen and not heard and prefer corporal punishment since that's how things were done a century ago.

Name calling and ignorant generalization are extremely weak forms of argument. As an “arch” conservative, I would like to see substantial, credible data before making large scale changes in education, a field that frequently adopts and then abandons the latest fads… to the detriment of kids.

Super liberal here (and the teacher who just posted about my experiences). You are absolutely correct. Education is nothing more than a revolving door of fads. I’ve seen so many come and go over my two decades teaching.

Whenever someone claims to be a moderate or a liberal, it's usually clear they're the opposite, but simply trying to moderate their extreme views.

I recommend not dismissing people so easily. Yes, moderates and liberals can also disapprove of something like RJ. That’s not just the domain of an “arch conservative.”

The PP above dismissed my RJ experience immediately, assuming that I went into it closed-minded. There was no room in her worldview for the fact the circle simply didn’t go well and resulted in victim blaming.

Ideas like RJ will lose all relevance and support if they are so blindly followed. If schools want this to work, it can’t be like what I experienced. I didn’t post above about this, but it is relevant and will get the thread back on track: I’ve had students participate in these circles before. More often than not, the circles lead to more counseling and more trauma. Perhaps they are working well somewhere, but all I’ve seen is a failed experiment.

And I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss RJ. You may have noticed but several posters here are professional trolls that want to undermine clinically proven methods like RJ because it suits their political agenda.

I would love to see the “clinically proven” (lol) data on rj as it’s practiced in the community at large!

I don't know about any studies but when they started trying this earnestly at our school it worked miracles.

I certainly believe that! But lots if people have had the experience that it did not and in fact has had deleterious effects and I believe that too. Before rolling out something like this on a large scale it seems like teachers should know how to implement appropriately and for thee to be actual research comparing it to other methods.

Seems like a common sense method for dealing with a group with issues. Does everything really take training and years of research?

"OK, guys, come on in -- there's been a lot of grumbling about gossip and bullying, and we need to get to the bottom of this and lay it to rest once and for all. That's not how we operate in this classroom. Does nyone with direct knowledge want to share what's happening and how it makes them feel? What can we do to stop this behavior?"

Not rocket science.

Teacher with 20 years experience here. That statement above is going to be met with silence. Then you’ll get some louder voices creep in, the ones who are probably responsible for the bad behavior in the first place. They will immediately begin defending their actions and blaming it on others. That statement will descend into chaos and you’ll have absolutely zero growth in the classroom.

It may not be rocket science, but it is adolescent psychology. One may argue they are equally difficult.

+1 It used to teach at an urban school with a lot of needs. I tried to do something very similar with just FOUR students once. Horrid mistake. Punches were thrown. Screaming. Safety officer had to be called. Doing it with a whole class? I kid you not, I think the police would have been called.

[Anonymous]

First, let's not dumb down RJ to being simply "circles" with talking pieces. When properly practiced, RJ is amazing and extremely effective! But when certain strategies are cherry-picked and used ad nauseam for most social conflicts and inappropriately for the very severe ones, ALL involved become reluctant to participate with sincerity.

MCPS cherry picks everything. This is also why you have so many platforms to deal with navigating and even more convoluted tales to tell that don't match up with other parent experiences.

Don't get me started...

Regards,
one SOUR cherry