Community Building @ Washington
Restorative Justice News: October, 2016
Community Building
Happy Fall! I spent the month of September getting to know as many of you as possible. With curiosity and a smile I did my best to connect with students, parents, teachers and staff. I held circles with 7th graders, mediated conflicts, completed a student anthology with overflow students focused on the story of their names, and made plans moving forward for more intentional community building.
I will be collaborating with Ms. Carrillo and Ms. Chita-Williams and their perspective classes, Ms. Chahal with a cohort of African American students, Ms. Walker and Male Academy and Ms. Ochoa and Female Academy, as well as individual students in danger of suspension. Through activities, community building circles and one-on-one's, as well as coaching and collaborating with teachers we continue building on the strengths at Washington!
Community Building Circle with 7th graders
Soy Yo! I am me!
I was happy to collaborate with Ms. Flores in facilitating two activities for overflow students. Pictured are overflow students watching music group Bomba Estereo's video for their recent single, "Soy Yo" a song about being unique, and proud. The song's chorus, translated into English is: "Don't worry if you are not approved of, when you are criticized, simply say, "I am me!" We watched the video and held a short discussion. Ms. Flores reported that some randomly started singing the song days after we watched the video. The second activity was a poetry workshop centered around one of the stories in the now canonical book, "House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros. We used the story, "My Name" as a model to writing about our own names and thus building community through creatively getting to know each other. The result is an awesome poetry anthology titled, "My Name Is..."
Poetry can be a great tool for community building and self reflection.
click here to view anthology -----> https://www.instagram.com/p/BK3s9_2g6x2ltOk5yoR11wJN1hrAiVqPQXSqrc0/?taken-by=hecvortex
Asking Questions
One of the tools of restorative practices are affective questions. These are questions that put emotional literacy and relationships at the center of discussion. I was happy to see the sign pictured above on my first day at Washington, confirming that there are already many examples of restorative practices and messaging throughout campus and practiced by many teachers and staff. If we continue watering the positive within ourselves and within our students, in time we will see the fruits of this practice.
What are other examples of affective questions?
Upcoming Trainings: December 6th and 7th
We at CCEJ are excited to be offering a two day Community Building Training.
The 2-day Tier 1: Community Building Training offers in-depth training and coaching in using circle to build community & create positive relationships amongst adults and with youth. Each participant will receive a set of resource books about Restorative Justice that can be used to support learning. The Community Building Training will give participants an understanding of Restorative Justice foundational philosophies, as well as opportunities to both experience and practice leading Restorative Justice Community Building circles.
Email Ms. Traver for more info on space and registration.
Read story to the right for a short review from colleagues who attended the training.
Building Capacity
Ms. Gilley, Ms. Martinez, Ms. Baker, Ms. Angel recently took advantage of an opportunity to take a Community Building training offered by CCEJ (see picture).
Here are two reviews of the training:
Ms. Baker: "Mind opening. Inspiring. Beneficial."
Ms. Martinez: "Last year I used more authoritative measures for discipline and this year I decided to build relationships and the results are positive. The training helped confirmed this shift for me."
All four teachers and myself will begin meeting regularly to reflect and support each other in making this paradigm shift in how we think about discipline and how we build community.
Positive Relationships
What are ways you build community and positive relationships in your classroom?
Hector Luis Rivera
Restorative Justice Coordinator
Community Building
Email: hrivera@cacej.org
Website: www.cacej.org
Phone: 562-489-3554
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CACEJ