Austin ISD Circles Up!

This image represents a harm-focused, reactive approach popularized by the Criminal Justice System. Austin ISD is taking a proactive, education-focused whole child, whole adult, whole community approach to Restorative Practices. #RPAustinISD

Austin ISD is planning for a Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices (RP) approach in its schools. The district recognizes  the need to address systemic inequities and improve campus climates and cultural proficiency. The faculty, staff and administrators in the Akins vertical team, for example, have received basic training in Culturally Responsive RP to begin their restorative journey. Other schools around the district are exploring community-building circles in classrooms and with faculty and staff to deepen connectedness and build campus culture.  So what exactly are Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices, and how do they fit into our district’s push to increase student voice, close achievement gaps, and address disciplinary action inequities?

In Austin ISD, Culturally Responsive RP are rooted in these Core Assumptions for the whole child and whole adult:

THE TRUE SELF IN EVERYONE IS GOOD, WISE AND POWERFUL

The core self may not be reflected in how people behave, but beneath the masks we adopt is a deeper, healthier self.

THE WORLD IS PROFOUNDLY INTERCONNECTED

What we do to others, we are also doing to ourselves although we may not always be aware that this happening.

ALL HUMAN BEINGS HAVE A DEEP DESIRE TO BE IN GOOD RELATIONSHIP

All people want to love and be loved and all people want to be connected.

ALL HUMANS HAVE GIFTS; EVERYONE IS NEEDED FOR WHAT THEY BRING

All gifts are indispensable to the well-being of the whole.

EVERYTHING WE NEED TO MAKE A POSITIVE CHANGE IS ALREADY HERE

There are rich reservoirs of talent and wisdom within our communities waiting to be accessed.

HUMAN BEINGS ARE HOLISTIC

There is a connection between the mind, body, and spirit in all that we do.

WE NEED PRACTICES TO BUILD HABITS OF LIVING FROM THE CORE SELF

We need practices which help us connect to our core self so we can live in alignment with our values and build healthy relationships in families and communities.

Adapted from: “Heart of Hope Resource Guide” Suffolk University, Center for Restorative Justice Carolyn Boyes-Watson and Kay Pranis 2009

 

Because the very nature of Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices is doing it with, rather than to, an individual or community, schools exploring RP are introducing it authentically in ways that best serve that campus. Community circles are generally done with a centerpiece, to focus thoughts and words, and a passed-around talking piece, to hold space for equity of voice. However, circles can look lots of different ways!  Here are some pictures of how Restorative Practices look around our district right now.

Ms. Polk facilitates a circle with 7th graders in her classroom at Martin Middle School.

Secondary and elementary staff from the Discipline Alternative Learning Placement campuses debrief a professional development activity in community circles.

Staff from the Akins Vertical Team model a community circle during an RP training (for the whole vertical team!)

Ms. DeLaTorre at Walnut Creek Elementary facilitates a circle with her 5th graders.

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Though these pictures are from all around our district, every one of them shows people talking to each other in circles. The circle is the hallmark of Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices, which is rooted in the ancient indigenous tradition of forming circles to communicate effectively in community. Austin ISD is exploring a whole school, whole child, whole adult Culturally Responsive Approach to Restorative Practices. Although circles are the most visible piece of the process, restorative practices is #MoreThanCircles. Restorative practices provides a framework that helps us create a school culture and climate that is safe, welcoming and inclusive. The AISD Social and Emotional Learning team supports Culturally Responsive RP community-building circles. We are excited about the deep Restorative Practice work beginning in Austin ISD, and look forward to seeing it serve the social and emotional needs of all our students and staff! We are #AISDProud that we are continuously working on #AISDEquity!

Check out this Restorative Practices Twitter chat from December 2016 to experience part of the larger, real conversation that is helping to move our Culturally Responsive RP journey forward. For more information about Austin ISD Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices, contact Angela Ward (cultural.proficiency@austinisd.org), who collaborated on this blog post!

 

A Shared Mission

Social/Emotional Learning: Explicit skill instruction and concept integration systems that build a culture of inclusion, respect and connectedness in schools and districts.

Restorative Practice: Systems implemented to build personal connection, belonging, equity, inclusive decision-making, and problem solving in a school, district or community.  The basis of restorative practice is the structured circle conference.

I recently had the privilege of attending two intensive workshops addressing Restorative Practice and Restorative Discipline.  The first was led by Sherwynn and Kim Patton, the visionaries leading Life Anew, a local non-profit bringing Restorative Practice to schools and the community in Austin and Manor.  The second was a statewide conference for teachers and administrators presented by the University of Texas Institute of Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialog in partnership with Life Anew.

Life Anew and the Institute are dedicated to Restorative Practice and Discipline via facilitated discussions in the restorative circle.  The circle is an intentional space created to foster belonging and empathy, critical aspects of building relationships and healing harmful conflicts.  The philosophies behind SEL and Restorative Practice are beginning to gain traction in educational policy-making at the state and national level—compelling data from schools implementing SEL and RP show significant reductions in disciplinary referrals and significant increases in academic achievement.

At the most recent training, I told Kim and Sherwynn that I would like to blog about the natural partnership of Social/Emotional Learning and RP/RD in the school system.   I asked if Sherwynn would give me his “elevator speech” about Restorative Practice, and how he thought it relates to SEL.  After we came back from lunch, he gave me the following…which is now AISD SEL Blog’s first Guest Blogger Bloffering!

The Perfect Marriage:  SEL and Restorative Practices

By Sherwynn Patton

At its core, restorative practice helps students and adults connect with one another in a way that promotes the development of empathy, social support, accountability, responsibility and communication skills.  All of these are important within the context of peer to peer relationships, as well as peer to adult relationships.  The way this happens in restorative practice is the promotion of active listening.  Typically, when we converse with others, we are either waiting for our opportunity to be heard or competing for the opportunity to get our point across.  In the restorative process, we learn that everyone receives the opportunity to be heard and that listeners are most important.

This process allows us to develop the social and emotional skills we need in order to be able to develop healthy relational practices.  We use the restorative circle method to create a space where people can develop socially and emotionally.  It actually gives students and adults a real opportunity to measure and use  their social and emotional skill development.  The best way that I can describe the relationship between restorative discipline and social emotional learning is that it is a perfect marriage.

In a perfect marriage, each individual complements the other; there is mutual edification, a clear line of communication, and a shared vision.  Restorative practice and SEL are the perfect marriage—both relationally-driven processes complement each other by using listening as a tool, allowing people to engage socially and discover the reciprocity in every relationship.  We can then work together to establish core values that govern our interactions, resulting in mutual respect and the deepening of relationships.  In short, the marriage of Social/Emotional Learning and Restorative Discipline gives birth to EMPATHY.

I am so thankful that Kim, Sherwynn and the Institute are doing this work, and that I get to learn from their great passion and expertise.  I am excited that Social-Emotional Learning is in partnership with Restorative Practice on the mission to create more just, peaceful, and equitable schools and communities.