- One of the first questions I had while watching the videos about restorative in California I wondered what restorative looks like in our communities. Students say that they do have circle in class if they misbehave but it has no impact on overall class behavior.
- On the video of school to prison pipeline, one students at one of my schools mentioned the school wide announcement that any student that gets into a fight will be arrested. This made the video more than relevant. I wondered how this made students feel, what if they were attacked and defended themselves would this also get them "arrested".
- I remember around 2012-2013 the start of restorative practices became the new "detention"/"in school suspension" however I wonder if any schools have taken it on as an after school program or class period like some of the schools in the video.
- I feel like restorative practices/ justice is a good alternative because sometimes students need a space to feel like they are being listened to or be able to talk about their side.
- Many of the times students get pulled from class they are asked what they did wrong and what they can do to fix it. They dont get questions on their emotions or what triggered them to have the reaction they did. Many students feel that teachers are "out to get them" however if they were able to have a real one on one conversation with a moderator maybe they can come to a better conclusion/understanding.
Justice Jasmine ✰
This is my Youth Development Blog!
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Restorative Practices
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Leading with Youth
My biggest take away from these readings was the
chart below.
x
x
I really like how this spectrum describes youth roles of leadership. I never
considered Youth as clients and noticed that a lot of the work I do in my organization
is with Youth as Clients. This session of my after-school clubs I have tried to
move more into the youth participation/involvement without knowing it. This
chart really put into perspective the different categories of youth
participation. I want to have a program that is more youth driven. I wish this is
a chart I would have learned about before. As someone who is a visual learner
seeing this spectrum drawn out helps me see the path of becoming a youth led program.
Youth Work/Development is about working with youth as their allies. Most
programs have youth as clients and I never noticed the distinction. As people
youth or otherwise, we become more invested in something if we have stake in
it. The more youth are involved, the more they become invested in what is going
on. Giving youth a chance to have input makes a big difference. Last weeks
readings about Ethnic Studies was proof of how important and impactful it is
when youth are driven. Providence students advocated for themselves with adult
allies and were able to get a curriculum that offers them what they want to
learn about. Youth with adult allies can do amazing things.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Ethnic Studies
I chose this topic in class because it is always an issue that has always bothered me. I hate that I had to wait until college, in which I chose a class specifically about world history to learn about anything outside of the US. Even in High school we would get "world history" class and we would learn about world wars and not actually about other countries. We constantly tell students that the more they learn the better they will become but limit them to the history written only in these books. These books however are not accurate and sugar coat the history of this land. These textbooks talk about the natives that helped settlers plant corn and not about the natives that were displaced into reservations. The history books dont mention the Japanese Interment camps, and so much more. Like one of the students in providence said African American history in the US only starts and ends at slavery. Hearing about banning books was really upsetting. This mentality that anything that isn't this "white" america somehow means it is not american? America was to be the place of freedom and has become what it is today because of all the amazing races, ethnicity and cultures that have made this place home.
I've seen a lot of students come from their native countries and come to the US lost and confused. All they see is a language and culture they dont feel connected to at all. Many students say they dont want to learn English because they just want to go back home. However, many students find joy when they see other students from their home, and teachers that speak their language. When they get to show others and teach about their culture they find excitement and pride, but to think people are trying to take that away because "this is america" is just sad.
As someone born in the US I never had a big connection to my parents native land. I love visiting and going to museums while we are there, and I love to see the natives dressed in traditional clothing. In elementary and middle school I enjoyed projects that let me talk about the amazing food from Guatemala and the bird on the flag. However, as I got into my middle school years I found myself wanting to learn more. Not just about Guatemala but I began to want to learn about Asia. Everything about Asia, specifically Japan, was so different than US and Guatemala that it drew my attention. In class all we learned about Japan's role in the war but we didn't learn about the Shogun Era or the Samurai, we didn't learn about their bomb in production or how their Emperor was just a guy that got to dress up and had no real power over the country.
It is important to know our history and see ourselves included in the stories of our history but it is also important to learn about others. By learning about other peoples history, culture, belief and religion we can shape people to be much more open about someone seen as "different" and more accepting to those differences.
I've seen a lot of students come from their native countries and come to the US lost and confused. All they see is a language and culture they dont feel connected to at all. Many students say they dont want to learn English because they just want to go back home. However, many students find joy when they see other students from their home, and teachers that speak their language. When they get to show others and teach about their culture they find excitement and pride, but to think people are trying to take that away because "this is america" is just sad.
As someone born in the US I never had a big connection to my parents native land. I love visiting and going to museums while we are there, and I love to see the natives dressed in traditional clothing. In elementary and middle school I enjoyed projects that let me talk about the amazing food from Guatemala and the bird on the flag. However, as I got into my middle school years I found myself wanting to learn more. Not just about Guatemala but I began to want to learn about Asia. Everything about Asia, specifically Japan, was so different than US and Guatemala that it drew my attention. In class all we learned about Japan's role in the war but we didn't learn about the Shogun Era or the Samurai, we didn't learn about their bomb in production or how their Emperor was just a guy that got to dress up and had no real power over the country.
It is important to know our history and see ourselves included in the stories of our history but it is also important to learn about others. By learning about other peoples history, culture, belief and religion we can shape people to be much more open about someone seen as "different" and more accepting to those differences.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
PLAY !
Shall We
Play: Part 1
[Blog post] (Henry Jenkins)
Children
at Play : An American History (Howard Chudacoff)
Forum
Theatre: A Tool for Social Change [Blog post] (Naomi Joseph)
Theater of the
Oppressed New York [5-minute video]
In
Youth Development we often hear about play. Purposeful play is one of the first
things that I learned while working in an after-school program although I didn’t
know I was doing it. However, after going through the readings I realized that
play doesn’t necessarily need to be purposeful. Play is many things and has many
benefits but as adults we tend to look at things too rationally and dissect the
concept of play. With play children can build on their social skills,
imagination and much more. But play is a time to let loose and not really think.
This made me think a lot about youth and kids and how we don’t give them enough
credit for not over thinking or analyzing. An example of this is when conservative
parents’ worry about their children seeing a same sex couple. They argue “how
will I tell my kids” and if you do tell kids their response is along the lines
of “Okay” and they quickly dismiss it and move on with their day which in my
opinion is a much better response than many adults have.
While
reading these articles I also found the concept of gamification. While reading
the definition given in Henry Jenkin’s Blog, I realized that this is something
I have been doing in my own after school programs. I try to create lessons that
will be fun and engaging but still based on learning. Although I do this, I
also make sure to always leave a few minuets of free time at the end. I do this
unconsciously without any thought than a break for the students and myself. Looking
back at the Youth study we did I realized that it was during this free time
that my very quiet and shy student joined a conversation about a k-pop group.
This allowed me to see a different side of her I have not seen during any
lessons previously.
The
more I think of play and how play is associated as a waste of time in the adult
world the more I think of the definition from the Tom Sawyer books in the
Children at Play: An American History article “Work consists of whatever a body
is obligated to do… Play consists of whatever a body is not obligated to do…”.
I began to look back on this month and wondered if I had participated in on
play. I began drawing again recently for fun, not to improve my skills or for a
project, just because its fun. Due to work and class I have not been able to do
that these past two weeks and noticed just how much my mood has changed, however,
if I did take the time to draw I would have regretted it as well because it
would have been a “waste of time” if I choose to draw instead of do my work.
There was a lot more to play than I realized and it connects to a lot of the
work I do, the students I service and myself.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
WHAT’S CARE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
While
reading this week’s readings I noticed myself stopping many times and self-reflecting.
While reading Corinne McKamey’s Restoring “Caring” in Education, I began to
read and ask myself the same questions she was asking the students she
interviewed. I began to answer them myself and came to the same realization
that every answer I had came with an accompanying story that would help me
define what this caring or lack there of was. One story that really resonated
with me was the narrative of Ruby. Ruby was trying to legitimize her knowledge
of a word that she knew but no one else understood. She searched for teachers,
family and other adults to help her show that she knew what she was talking
about. In the end she had the dictionary in class to prove her knowledge to the
rest of the class. I can recall the feelings of insecurity I’ve had when saying
the “wrong” answer in class and how it made me feel. I can imagine what Ruby must
have felt in that moment considering she had the right answer but because the
majority did not know it, she was made to feel wrong. There are different types
of English in the world and sometimes its just a difference in vocabulary, but
because of the way’s schools are structured to have on language and that one
language be “American English” any other form of speaking is out the window.
This idea
of only one way of doing things made me look at ‘Caution, we have power’. This
article talks about the way the systems of schools and society make it difficult
for undocumented students to continue their education. Because of the way
standards in schools are set, there is one “correct” way of doing something and
if you cant do it that way then you are seen as less than even if you have an
alternative that works just as well. This systematic failure creates that pipeline
of “school-to-sweatshop” pipeline. Students that are undocumented can not
continue their dreams and goals of continuing their education. DACA the
Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals has helped many children brought to the
United States undocumented by family is one resource that due to the xenophobic
culture of our Government is struggling to keep its doors open, without this
many young people could face leaving the only home they have ever known. I can
recall classmates in High School that were brought to the United States as infants,
never knowing their parent’s native countries, fearing that they would one day might
have to forced out. I remember the disappointment of classmates who could not afford
tuition and had to hold off of school and work “sweatshop” jobs to earn money
to afford a semesters worth of tuition. I did not have to go through those
fears because I was “privileged” to be born in this country. I think back to
these classmates and I don’t feel like I “deserved” this any more or less than
they did. My mother just gave birth to be on this side of the border. Nothing
else makes me any more worthy of being able to apply for financial aid than
this and it angers me that my classmates deserving of high educations had to
take a step back and do a job they didn’t want just because of where they were
born.
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Locating Yourself
I
found this week’s articles relatable to my work. I always make it a point to identify
myself to my students and their families. In my experience being open and telling
my students and families that I am Hispanic has really helped create an
immediate bond with them. Working in Central Falls, a predominantly Hispanic
community, the parents felt at ease being able to communicate with me in Spanish
and showing their kids that it is possible to go to school and get a job even
if you come from another country. I become a role model for the parents to
confide in and a friend/mentor to the students.
In
Locating Yourself for Your Students by Priya Parmar and Shirley Steinberg
on of the students in Steinberg’s class said “she had never heard a white person
say they were White” and that made me think a lot to the conversation we had
during our retreat around race. It is not often that a “white” person openly
states that they are white. In my experience peoples of other origins, races
and nationalities openly and happily express where they/their families come
from. There is a sense of pride within their culture. I can not recall a time where
a teacher told me they were “white” it was just something that was not spoken
about/ needed to be address. As if it wasn’t important.
This
spoke to Jamila Lyiscott’s videos. She speaks about how the classroom structure
limits one’s diversity. She sees herself as “tri-tounged”. I saw this as her
code switching between how she speaks around the different people in her life.
Code switching is something we all do; we speak differently to different people
depending on who we are around however as students when we hear codes that are
not “articulate” in schools it is deemed as wrong. We should celebrate this
ability but also learn from the diversity it brings into the classroom.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
YDEV Retreat
On Saturday morning we attended a retreat for our YDEV
class. I was sleepy and honestly not looking forward to being in “class” all
day. But YDEV has this magical way of creating such a safe and empowering space
that really changes what it means to be in a “classroom”. The idea to journal
our journey was an amazing place to start. It was rewarding to hear everyone
being so open and honest about their journey and story. I think it helped create
that safe space to have the types of discussions we did.
The theme for the day was race. I thought that by now I knew
what race was but when asked to define it I couldn’t put it into words. I was
most shocked with Dr. Natalia Lopez’s question on whether race was real or not.
That began the discussion of the History of race and when the word came into existence.
I was most shocked when she stated that Mexicans were considered “white” when
needed for their labor. I found it interesting that a whole peoples race
changed when it was convenient. When speaking and learning about race I had never really LEARNED the history of how it came to be and I think that it is an important piece of information that is missing from the story.
I think the pre-retreat assignment was also helped me in a self-discovery
of who I am and who my people are. I liked being asked questions that really
make me think. At first it seemed easy but the more I thought about it the more
complicated the question became.
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