Race, Class, and Punishment

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 18.01.07

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Demographics
  3. Enduring Understanding
  4. Objectives
  5. Rationale
  6. Content Background
  7. Trayvon Martin Suspended for 10 Days
  8. What are Restorative Practices?
  9. Peace Talking Circles
  10. Teaching Strategies
  11. Norms
  12. Prompts for Restorative Circle Dialogues
  13. Bibliography
  14. Student Reading List
  15. Appendix A: Implementing Standards/Common Core/State Standards
  16. Anchor Standards

This is America: Restorative Peace Circles and the decline of Suspensions and Expulsions

Sharon Monique Ponder

Published September 2018

Tools for this Unit:

Demographics

Carter G. Woodson Elementary School is a pre-K through 8th grade Chicago Public School on the South side of Chicago. The student population consist of 400 students, of which 100% are considered low income and qualify for free and reduced lunch. The population is also 100% African American. Students that receive special education services account for a little over 25% of the student population. The majority of my fifth grade students come to school with social and emotional wounds that many parents don’t have the time or resources to manage. Every week at least one student has experienced violence, death, physical, verbal, emotional abuse or some tragic event in their lives.  This unit is designed for the entire school population of students.  

Comments:

Reginald Ponder

June 29, 2019 at 5:17 pm

The Impact of Restorative Practices

I really like the entire concept. This put part of the educational responsibility on the students. They learn to express themselves, to listen, to develop ownership for their actions and how to resolve conflict in a productive way. The exercises are exciting as they use material young people are paying attention to today while connecting it to some of our literal greats. An ingenious way to insert literal exploration into the restorative justice process. I think the entire school will need to be trained on this to minimize \\"back-sliding\\" into initial reactions. Lets say the janitor feels disrespected but is not aware of the Restorative Justice approach, he/she will lash out and may do harm to the process and the sessions we are trying to teach. Therefore we all need to be part of the process. I also think there should be strong emphasis on the fact that this is not a \\"feel good thing to do\\" but rather something that not only stops bullying but improves the learning process in so many tangible and intangible way. Finally, I love this practice but administrators must also take into account age appropriate behavior BEFORE we even get to this point. There is mush evidence that children of color are punished for age appropriate behavior when there should be no punishment at all. Many times there is no need for a circle but rather better judgment by teachers and administrators. I love this unit and can see it being effective on many fronts and can even see some expansion opportunities.

Rhinold Ponder

June 29, 2019 at 6:49 pm

Restorative Justice Moving Foward

This is a wonderful program as restorative justice practices are essential for reforming the educational environment and prospects fr children of color and children with disabilities.The implementation of Peace Circles is the beginning of cultural changes that will encourage adults to treat kids of color like learning community members as opposed to criminals. The dismantling of the school-to-prison pipeline can begin here.

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