Restorative Justice in Elementary Schools: Building a Sense of Community

Restorative Justice Practices (RJP) are an ever growing implementation in schools across America. RJP are in response to ineffective punitive practices that involve stigmatizing and a me vs you mindset in schools. RJP in schools focus on the web of relationships that affect students' academic and personal life. These practices promote a holistic community approach that includes student voice in responsive and proactive community circles (Morrison & Ahmed, 2006). This classroom research analyzes literature pertaining to RPJ in conjunction with a self study including 22 fourth graders in a public school in Chicago I collected anecdotal notes, audio recordings, students post-survey, and classroom artifacts to answer these research questions: What happens when I incorporate restorative justice practices into my classroom's daily routine? How does the implementation of community circle affect my 4th grade students' sense of community? In this research, I stress how schools have a responsibility to help the child grow as a person, not just as an academic scholar. I argue that providing students with restorative skills such as self-regulation, responsible-decision making, relationship skills, and social skills helps build up students into people that help add to an upstanding community.