1. What stood out to you the most while watching the video? 

2. How might you incorporate a practice like this in your own classroom? What impact do you think it would have? 

A quality the teacher in the video inherited that I would need to incorporate into my own classroom is vulnerability. The teacher understood that her students would mimic her behavior. If she wanted them to be comfortable and open up, the teacher had to do the same. Even if I do not employ the circles exactly as shown, I can work on being more vulnerable with my students, explaining my emotions and difficulties. Subsequently, as much as the teacher was open, she was also good at stepping back and letting the space be one for the students, not for her. Often times, I find myself speaking for my students, trying to control their socio-emotional learning,. However, I know the students will acquire significantly more meaning if they arrive at realizations themselves and see the classmates as a “family” rather than students they are forced to work with. Ultimately, taking any of the steps displayed in the community circle can go a long way in my class towards developing student agency, inter-student respect, and creating a school environment that students feel comfortable stepping into. 

I might incorporate this practice firstly as a means of having students reflect on everyday actions and think about positive actions that can contribute to a more supportive and respectful environment. I can have students think and share about how their choices might affect others, how some choices have affected them positively and negatively, and what actions might they take to attract better results.

This will push students to reflect on their actions, consider the needs of others and their own needs, and develop ways of doing that are supportive.

The students in the video highlighted the value they see in the advisory program.  Specifically, one student stated that he has dealt with police brutality and other issues in his personal life, yet this advisory program offers him an outlet to deal with his emotions in a small group setting. 

Similarly, I noticed that the advisory circles were small groups and what looked like part of a class and this, to me, seems crucial. I co-teach advisory with my middle schoolers and my co-teachers and I always point out that it is not the most effective advisory setup because our advisory is 25 plus students. In a perfect world we could have it so homerooms were split up into small groups. Perhaps, a short term solution is to do some parallel teaching in advisory, every so often so that students are getting similar advisory benefits as the students in the video. 

I think that if we could implement small groups next year it would help with the student culture at my school. This is because as a teacher it is easier to cultivate a healthy environment and manage a smaller number of students to help make everyone feel heard. In turn, these small groups would help offer every student a safe space at my school who they could look to for support about home or school life.  

My school has a practice very similar to this which we call "seminar." At least once or twice a month, the staff are divided into small groups of 6. We are given 20 minutes to journal on a prompt, and then sit in a circle to read what we wrote. Then, the rest of the group responds to the journal and provides feedback, and the person sharing is not allowed to respond. I have had deep discussions with my co-workers about our experiences with race, immigration, self-esteem, mental health, family struggles, goals, and more through these seminars. They have helped us find a common ground, and I've often been surprised at how much I have in common with others. I have been placed in groups with not just other teachers, but also staff on the support team, and even with my supervisors and the school directors, which removes the fear of "work and performance" and brings us down to remember that we are all still humans with our individual lives. We are able to practice sympathy and empathy for those who we may have not expected to. We also hold these seminar style meetings with parents and families, and a separate one with students once every other week (which is made to be age appropriate depending on the grade level). This is a wonderful practice and I feel lucky to be in a school that embraces honesty. It teaches students, parents, and teachers that their emotions are valid and that they should advocate for their needs or fears.

1. While watching this video, I was most struck by how vulnerable these teenagers were able to be with each other. This quality is so difficult to demonstrate for people of any age, but especially for high schoolers. Despite perhaps having some initial difficulty or discomfort - they also really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Much of the positive experience may have come from the teacher modeling an important and vulnerable share. Striking a balance between serious and light is hard but so important for making this a continuous, productive practice.

2. Something I'd like to implement more in my classroom is, like this teacher, being more vulnerable with my students and sharing more lessons from my own life with them. However I also admire how much the teacher in the video is able to step back to make space for the students to lead this circle. This shows trust and high expectations, and these students clearly rise to the occasion. I am always looking for ways to make our class discussions more student-led and I think something personal like this is a great opportunity.

What stood out most while watching the video was how vulnerable and open these students were while sharing. One of the 9th grade co-facilitators, Kaliyah, shared what sounded like a poem. It sounded honest and raw, which is difficult for students at this age to feel comfortable doing with their peers. I am very impressed with how the community-building circles have obviously progressed as students become more comfortable with each other. I also loved that there is such a large student-led aspect of this group, through student facilitators.

2. How might you incorporate a practice like this in your own classroom? What impact do you think it would have?

I would love to incorporate more circle time into my classroom. In elementary school, there often are many times when students are in a circle throughout the week. I find sometimes in older elementary grades, such as grades 3-5, the circles begin to lessen in occurrence. After seeing how important this circle is for students even older than that, I would love to continue circles into the older elementary grades.

What stood out most to me after watching the video is when Kaliyah, the student who was facilitating the meeting talked about real life issues that affect her and her peers, like stress from home, being preoccupied with school work, not focusing on their feelings, which is really powerful because this meeting is concerned with each student as a complex human being and it invites students to be fully themselves at a time when, like another person says, the instinct is to hide what’s happening, which can lead to poor choices and behaviors. I think having a circle like this can air out a lot of concerns and fears, make students feel cared for and supported, like they have a voice and a community, and can bring them back to what’s ultimately their goal, which is to contribute and strive toward the next part of their lives, whether that’s a career or a college education. 

In my school, our advisory culture block is scripted for us and often focused on learning about cultural holidays and they can feel quite academic rather than supportive of Social Emotional Learning.  Recently we were talking about why hard work is important. The students weren’t engaging much, so I went off-script, and talked to them seriously about the power they have to achieve what they want, and how middle school affects high school placement as well as their choices later on. As I was lecturing, which I don’t do often because time is often spent on the lesson,, I thought to myself, they’re ten years old. Maybe this isn’t the right time for this discussion. Later that day, as we were getting ready for dismissal, a group of my students came up to me and one of them said, “Ms. Anif. I never saw you look so serious before. It inspired me. It made me feel like you care. It made me want to work harder.” I was stunned as the rest of the kids nodded along that they appreciated hearing me push them to meet higher expectations, not for me, but for their own future success.. It gave me something to reflect on; that when you speak to students from a genuine place, it reaches them. I think sometimes I can assume because of their young age, that I need to be soft to make sure I never scare or leave my students with trauma, but I think becoming a more stern teacher, who holds higher expectations is something I can strive for as well. It’s about finding that balance. I’m realizing that students are searching for real meaning and real conversations and these kinds of circles lend well to that. 

Part 2.

I’ve been talking to my dean about incorporating more community activities into our school and more restorative practices because while the 5th graders I teach are innocent, rule-following, and pleasant, I have met the 6th and 7th graders who rebel against our school’s systems. I believe the school is too hard on behavior and doesn’t do enough to build community. As my school is fairly new and still figuring their systems out, they are open to trying new things. I keep making suggestions to my dean who has a background in social work and she takes notes so it’s my hope that Advisory Culture Block will become more geared towards giving students space to have more SEL and that we can incorporate more holistic practices to help students come back from poor behaviors and reintegrate into the school community as well as building more community in general. I think taking time to do these circles with students where I sit down and speak from the heart while allowing them the time and space to share from their hearts would be a great practice for us all and could lead to a more positive impact. We’re pushed to move so fast, to meet deadlines, and get kids ready for exams so schools can get the funding they need to keep running. There needs to be balance because I think if students were more supported overall, then naturally they would be able to focus on academics as well. 

In my classroom, I can see how something like this might make a big difference. We often have a few minutes at the end of the day as students are packing up that would be perfect for this sort of activity. I think that if my coteacher and I were to provide our students space to be their authentic selves, it might limit some of the issues that we have seen in class. For example, there is often a lot of fighting between the girls, but if they were able to truly relate to one another and break down their walls, these issues may lessen overtime. I’ve realized some of the girls seem to have misconceptions about each other and in the moments where they have been able to see each other who who they truly are, their relationships became stronger.

I also think forming these connections between students, and between teacher and student, can help foster an overall environment of comfort and understanding. As teachers, it is easy to be swept up in all of the issues in the classroom, and to be reactive rather than responsive. Giving students time to show us as educators who they really are can help us address student needs in order to cultivate a healthier classroom.

Although I teach 3rd grade, I could definitely incorporate a practice like this in my own classroom. These restorative circles remind me of our morning circles, during which we discuss feelings and emotions. However, we typically do not have time for full explanations beyond a few words. In order to give students more time to share their feelings, I could incorporate circle time during our Friday SEL blocks. Not only would it build a stronger sense of community in our classroom, but it would also make our SEL lessons more interactive.

I would like to incorporate a practice like this in my own classroom to help students get to know each other better, and to help me develop stronger relationships with my students. Unfortunately, my school does not have homeroom or advisory, so it is often difficult to talk to students in a group setting outside of s strictly academic classroom setting; but I would like to explore the possibility of holding a community-building circle once or twice a week during lunch with a small group of students. I think having a circle group activity would be invaluable for students to share their thoughts and feelings with each other in a safe and productive way so that students know that they may not be alone with those feelings and find comfort and community knowing that someone else may share those feelings too.