"'Act firm' yet 'be flexible,' 'set high standards' yet 'remember their fragile egos'... In the middle grades, everything is always 'this' and 'not this' at the same time"(Cushman & Rogers, 2008, p. 5). Navigating middle school is like walking a tightrope, for teachers as well as for students; it makes sense, then, that we can learn and grow together, working cooperatively to make our time in middle school productive and positive.
Conflict resolution is an ever-present element of middle school culture, and
educators and schools have utilized several
systems over the years in tackling this element. Corporal punishment may be one of the oldest forms of conflict resolution, meant to punish a wrong-doer for his or her actions. There are newer forms of conflict resolution making their debut in society, especially in schools, such as restorative circles. More and more schools are finding that problems can be resolved without physical punishment.
According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, corporal punishment is "a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts
pain upon a child in response to a child's unacceptable behavior and/or
inappropriate language" (AACAP, 1988). The same article states, "The immediate aims of such punishment are usually to halt the offense,
prevent its recurrence and set an example for others. The purported
long-term goal is to change the child's behavior and to make it more
consistent with the adult's expectations" (AACAP, 1988). According to Cushman and Rogers (2008) and the children they interviewed, this sort of discipline only makes students want to act out more: "My science/math teacher always embarrasses kids. If you forgot your math book, or if your homework is overdue for this amount of time, she'll announce it to the whole class, instead of just telling you privately. I don't think they should do that. It makes me feel embarrassed. I just want to go away and crawl into a hole or something" (Gabe, p. 93). Cushman and Rogers (2008) add that "if [your students] feel your disappointment too keenly, they are likely to withdraw or retaliate" (p. 93).
Restorative circles, on the other hand, are a relatively new idea to help facilitate a healthier conflict resolution practice, and it's found some success in schools and juvenile facilities around the world (Garmon, 2013, Making Healing Part of Justice). Restorative circles are situations "in which authors, receivers, and community are brought together" (Garmon, 2013). A restorative circle involves "authors" and "receivers" to come together and discuss what happened, why it happened, and the reactions and/or intentions of all involved parties. There is a TED Talks video that better explains restorative circles (see below), featuring Ann KcKnight, who talks about an example where she has personally used restorative circles in an educational setting.
Some of the students who talked with Cushman and Rogers (2008) also talked about systems they've used in their classrooms that sound very familiar to the idea of restorative circles. Thea, for example, said, "We have a town meeting and the seventh graders come with the eighth graders. Or we get a partner with the seventh graders, and then we talk about our thing and tell them how we feel and stuff like that" (p. 45). This approach to conflict resolution allows students to explore what emotions they are putting out into their community and how those emotions are being received, especially at a time when, developmentally, middle school students are just figuring out who they are, what they believe, how they plan to act, and they're trying on different personalities and personae to see which one fits best.
As an intentional teacher, I plan to introduce my students to the use of restorative circles in one form or another as a method of conflict resolution. I also plan to involve my students in creating their own classroom norms, and parts of their curriculum to help show them that they do have the power to affect change in a positive way. I wish to empower my students, above all, with confidence that they can learn, they can succeed, and it's up to them to have a positive outlook.
References
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (1988). Corporal punishment in
schools. Retrieved from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/policy_statements
/corporal_punishment_in_schools
Cushman, K., & Rogers, L. (2008). Fires in the middle school bathroom: Advice for
teachers from middle schoolers. New York, NY: The New Press.
Garmon, M. (2013). In Restorative justice (Making healing part of justice). Retrieved
from http://lakechalice.blogspot.com/2013/02/making-healing-part-of-justice.html
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