Praxis of Justice

After my little success with circles in 3rd period, I conducted a circle in my film class. It was cool because I really got a lot more feedback from students. I don't like it when I just stand in front of a room to silence and blank stares. We talked about what was their favorite movie of all time, then about what movie they liked the best in the film class. It was interesting because students either loved Clockwork Orange or they hated it. Films that elicit a strong reaction are great for discussion. Doubt was like that most recently for me. Then my final question was, "Had they ever been in love and how did it make them feel?" After they all answered that we started watching "Eat Drink Man Woman." It was cool because the circle set them in the proper mindframe to watch the film. It's been a while since I've seen it, but watching it again was still fun. We didn't get to finish watching it that period, so it's been making me think about it. I want to talk to them about the theme /metaphor of Life without love and honest human relationships is like food without taste. Looks nice and you'll live but there is no je ne sais quoi. All that beautiful Chinese food that makes me so hungry watching it. An interesting cross cultural exchange, when the two sisters are fighting while washing dishes they don't look at each other. They stand side by side. One of my black kids yelled out why aren't they looking at each other. My Chinese student and I both at the same time yell out that it's awkward to look at each other. I notice when I speak sometimes in circle I look to the ground when talking about my feelings.

So come Thursday I wanted to do circles in all my classes. As my opening ceremony, I played a clip from "Enter the Dragon". The one where Bruce is talking to his student about Emotional Content and a finger pointing to the moon. Then I talked about the finger being the circle but the moon being justice. The finger is important in that it points but it is not the thing that is desired. In the circle, we need Emotional Content. Don't think, FEEEEEEEEL! Then from there we created the guidelines. In 1st period, I was able to do some icebreakers and then move onto content on Chinese Lunar New Year. It was cool because it engaged one of my students that is going through some crazy ass shit and she just wants to put her head down on the table. She sat up and participated in something in class.

My 2nd period was a more interesting circle. There are some children in there...and I mean children. It's the part about working with teenagers that is sooooo lame. Remember how back it the day people used to say "Oh my God, you are like soooooo immature"? Watching the interactions and behavior sometimes, just pulls that phrase from the recesses of my mind. I just want to say "pffft! WHATever!" Anyways, the idea of two talking pieces came up and my more obstinate young ladies decided that they wanted to run with it, but they did it by respecting the one talking piece and we did it in circle with each person passing and having their say. Their argument was that if they wanted to ask someone a question or respond to something someone was saying they should be able to have two talking pieces going. The argument that I've read and agree with is that the talking piece gives each person a voice, allows those that have trouble talking talk, and helps control dominant voices. If there were 2 talking pieces then things could easily descend into a back and forth shutting out all others. I said that if they had something important that they wanted to say they could either write it down as I was doing or they could just remember it. At the end of class, one of the young ladies just started saying how she knew she had a bad attitude and would go against things just to go against them. That little girl has it hard. Her story is sad. Unfortunately, she plays out her inner turmoil in classes and on the people around her, especially authority figures. On Friday we had to come back to this, but it was good because I really got a better feel and understanding for building a consensus. A consensus is something agreed upon by everyone but it's also the idea of is this something you can live with. After more rounds of trying to gain consensus, I also better understood the power of the circle as a socializing tool. More and more students that were getting impatient about the obstinate young ladies voiced their opinions on the importance of one mic. This changed the attitude of the girls as they saw that the community was getting restless and they decided to drop the idea of two mics. But the group did agree on suspending the talking pieces and using the terms, "clarify" and "louder" when someone had spoke. Those could be interjected between bowl passing.

The circle worked well for my second period class because that was the class were I had the students with the most behavioral problems. It's the class that needs to build the most community. Through building the community, then we can all become accountable for each other's learning.

Getting trained in restorative justice circles

So on Sunday and Monday I got trained in restorative justice circles. I trained with my staff and 7 students. Unfortunately, 2 of my coworkers, my principal, and one student weren't able to make it but we'll get them up to speed. If you've ever done workshops or trainings often times they suck. You come out of them feeling like you just wasted a whole bunch of time and what do you do now. This training was completely the opposite.

Before we did the training, my coworker Gina and I identified 8 students that we would like to have trained in restorative justice. These were kids from various backgrounds that had "bought" into our school and we felt could reach students of different backgrounds. Then I composed a letter essentially honoring the students for being chosen, explained what restorative justice was, and created a permission slip for their parents to sign. Then I met with all the students read the letter to them and stressed how important this was and if this was something that they wanted to be a part of. Each student was very excited and flattered to be chosen. This was the buy in on their part. No problem. Then I had to convince my coworkers. Getting them to come in on a Sunday and Monday for a training from 8:30-5 was not something that they wanted to do, but they begrudgingly came along with me telling them how much I loved them and how great they were. A few gave me that "kiss my ass for sucking up to me" look.

So come Sunday, we get there and we immediately start in on getting to know you activities. Real fun icebreaker stuff that everyone that's ever done a workshop/training has done. Then we move into other activities where we ranked our top values on a paper plate and wrote our most important value on the other side. The whole time these activities are being conducted using circles. These activities got us through most of the day and towards the end of the day is when we got to the heavier shit. We started to talk about the impact of harm and the an example of when we were harmed and what are needs were after that harmed happened. Then we talked about a time when we did someone harm and what we needed that led us to committing that harm. It was some heavy ass shit. I mean people got deep and dirty, but the facilitators had done such a great job with creating a safe, respectful, and trusting space that people went there. We had people crying and letting out some shit. At the end of the first day I was wiped out. Two of my coworkers drove me home and we hung out afterwards and just talked about the experience. I was elated because they were all into it. They totally got it and they wanted more of it. After they left I just passed out. No more energy.

Come Monday, people were excited to be back and we wanted to get to the nuts and bolts of it. How can we make this happen. This time the facilitators gave us this exercise that we had to do in silence with blocks. I had read about the exercise in Carole Boyes-Watson's book, but only after having experienced it and only now as I process it, do I start to understand the subtle brilliance in it. It was a fascinating sociological experiment on the dynamics of human relationships through silence. After this exercise, we discussed it and then moved into talking about the history of circles and different uses for circles. The final thing we did was plan on making a circle for a fictious case example. We did this paired with students and their perspective was invaluable. It really fleshed out a lot of things. After this, we discussed it and there was a closing ceremony.

In my 3rd period today, I conducted a circle in class. I saw this as a community building circle. So I explained to them the format of the circle and what the talking piece was (I used a singing bowl). As a centerpiece to the circle, I had my plant sitting on a nice shawl. As an opening, I played Bob Marley's War. My first question was how were they and how was their 3 day weekend. After that, I asked them to answer, "They felt respected when..." next asking, "They felt disrespected when..." Then I had them say something they liked about the school followed by something they didn't like about the school. Next they said something they liked about their hometown and something they would change about it. The last series of questions being something they would change about themselves and something they like about themselves. Finally, I had them stand up and then go around telling what they thought about the exercise and putting their questions next to the centerpiece. Almost every single one enjoyed the experience and many stated that it was a calming experience. Immediate success I'm hooked.

One of the things that I like about this is that this is the praxis of my views on justice. I don't like the punitive system. It's not what I believe in but it's all that I've ever known. I realize now the punitive system is also the easiest of responses and a bandage solution. I recognize of course that there is a time and place for a bandage, but I'm trying to move to where knives won't have to be drawn in the first place and how to get back to that place after someone does draw a knife.

Compassion and restorative justice

In case you didn't know, I should tell you that I'm a vegetarian. I started doing it as a religious thing. It's a compassion training thing. I figured working where I was going to work...I should have more compassion. More empathy ain't bad either.

But I don't feel that I have had the opportunity to express my compassion through the system of punishment at my school. When students get less than an 8 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday on their contracts, they have that many hours loaded up in detention. You get a 3 then you have 5 hours. I make my kids do them. You can't have no accountability. If I want something different I've got to have something to replace it with. My problem with our system is that it is just a form of punishment. It doesn't make the person not want to do what they were doing, it just makes them not want to get punished for it.

I would like restorative justice to transform me. I'm hoping the process will be the tool to create the type of social environment and community that I want to be a member of. Restorative justice requires me to change my own mentality. Of course, the irony is that for it to be successful, the qualities that it requires from me are the ones that I need to work on the most. You know, things like listening and patience, and shit like that.

Last week Tuesday I went to see this guy Howard Zehr. He's this guy that's been involved in restorative justice for a while. He talked about the stories of victims. It was some heavy ass shit. Made me really rethink the way that I do things. Too often I focus on the offender to the neglect of the offended. His talk made me think about all the ways that I handled interactions in ways that weren't in line with my core values and beliefs. I have found in my life that when I my values and my actions are in harmony my mental state is as well. The more I move towards praxis the greater the self integration the greater my personal peace. I am hoping for some restorative justice for my self and greater peace. Either way, I feel going through the process of trying to make this work will be purifying for me.