Restorative Practices

1. 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.
2. 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".
3. 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.
4. 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. 
5. 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.

Leading with Youth

My biggest take away from these readings was the chart below.
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 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.