3 things that stood out:
- In 2008, violent acts were down 52% at West Philadelphia HS due to changes that had been made using restorative justice.
- The need to understand the issues that students bring with them into school.
- The thought process of "how do we heal and clean-up the messes" that we make. Understanding that everyone makes mistakes and what harm was caused (healing the harm rather than punishment).
Questions about the restorative approach to managing difficult behaviors:
- How would restorative justice work most effectively with students who tend to respond with violence (ie, fighting) particularly at the MS/HS level?
- How do school officials and teachers most effectively reach out to students who experience or are impacted by bullying?
I too wonder about the bullying aspect. If a student is being bullied, will this talking it out approach work at all? I'm not sure the bully worries about how he makes the victim feel. There isn't really much of a communication problem. Might it even make the bullying worse?
ReplyDelete