Today is my last day at Brauer College, and I am a little sad to leave. Delia has been an amazing mentor and I have loved seeing all the different ways things are done here compared to back home. This morning in particular was an interesting experience - it was my first time attending one of their whole school assemblies.
First of all, I was very impressed with the commitment to whole-school gatherings. They have these assemblies once every other week for at least 20 minutes in the morning. Because it is done so regularly, these assemblies are EXTREMELY well organized. The students all have regular places where they sit as a class and they don't even need to be asked where to go. The students are also quiet and respectful through nearly the entire time. I didn't see a single student on their phone until the assembly ended and they were headed back to their room.
During the assembly, they mentioned a few incidents that had occurred over the past few weeks, including an instance of bullying that had occurred. I was surprised to find out that they had not only suspended the students who were "bullying" (no details were offered), but they also suspended students who had stood by and witnessed the act, as well as those who tried to film it. They made an explicit point that students are responsible for trying to stop these acts, and they can't claim innocence just because they weren't directly involved. I was VERY impressed with this, and would love to see this in Canada as well. It's often said that men need to directly call out sexism and harassment performed by other men, or that white people need to call out racism. The same should be true of bullying in schools, and teaching them that they are responsible for their INaction is as important as teaching them responsibility for their actions.
The same was true of students who were caught smoking. Those who were with them and did not call them out for smoking were also held responsible.
I am also thoroughly impressed that they have a wellness office here that offers help to students who want to quit smoking - they can even give students the patch or counselling to get them off of cigarettes, without judgement. This is a GREAT service to offer and I would love to see this in Canada as well.
One response to behavioral issues that I'm not sure how I feel about yet is the immense amount of detentions offered. Detentions for being late to class. Detentions for arriving late at assemblies. Detentions for not handing in homework. I don't know enough about the effectiveness of detention, or even the point of it, to know how I feel about this. In many cases, it is considered a time for them to talk to their teacher, reflect on their action, or to complete unfinished work. In other cases, they are just meant to sit there for a given amount of time. Why? What is the benefit other than punishment? I don't like the idea of taking up their time as punishment, but that is clearly how the students see it. Does it work? How does it work? What is it meant to achieve?
This school seems really forward-thinking when it comes to restorative practices. They have a set process for students to think about their actions and how they affected others. It emphasizes talking about what was done, who was affected, and how to make it better. I saw a conversation where two students were talked to and decided of their own accord to go and apologize to the teacher whose class they disrupted. I don’t know how much of it was their own idea and how much of it was them used to having to go through these motions, but they came up with the idea and went to do it themselves, with the supervision of their year coordinator, of course.
Does this work? I feel like the culture of the school involves a lot more reflection about student actions, and the teachers seem to think that the students are more respectful and calm in classes. I have always loved the idea of restorative practice, but didn't see it in action too much. I want to know more.
First of all, I was very impressed with the commitment to whole-school gatherings. They have these assemblies once every other week for at least 20 minutes in the morning. Because it is done so regularly, these assemblies are EXTREMELY well organized. The students all have regular places where they sit as a class and they don't even need to be asked where to go. The students are also quiet and respectful through nearly the entire time. I didn't see a single student on their phone until the assembly ended and they were headed back to their room.
During the assembly, they mentioned a few incidents that had occurred over the past few weeks, including an instance of bullying that had occurred. I was surprised to find out that they had not only suspended the students who were "bullying" (no details were offered), but they also suspended students who had stood by and witnessed the act, as well as those who tried to film it. They made an explicit point that students are responsible for trying to stop these acts, and they can't claim innocence just because they weren't directly involved. I was VERY impressed with this, and would love to see this in Canada as well. It's often said that men need to directly call out sexism and harassment performed by other men, or that white people need to call out racism. The same should be true of bullying in schools, and teaching them that they are responsible for their INaction is as important as teaching them responsibility for their actions.
The same was true of students who were caught smoking. Those who were with them and did not call them out for smoking were also held responsible.
I am also thoroughly impressed that they have a wellness office here that offers help to students who want to quit smoking - they can even give students the patch or counselling to get them off of cigarettes, without judgement. This is a GREAT service to offer and I would love to see this in Canada as well.
One response to behavioral issues that I'm not sure how I feel about yet is the immense amount of detentions offered. Detentions for being late to class. Detentions for arriving late at assemblies. Detentions for not handing in homework. I don't know enough about the effectiveness of detention, or even the point of it, to know how I feel about this. In many cases, it is considered a time for them to talk to their teacher, reflect on their action, or to complete unfinished work. In other cases, they are just meant to sit there for a given amount of time. Why? What is the benefit other than punishment? I don't like the idea of taking up their time as punishment, but that is clearly how the students see it. Does it work? How does it work? What is it meant to achieve?
This school seems really forward-thinking when it comes to restorative practices. They have a set process for students to think about their actions and how they affected others. It emphasizes talking about what was done, who was affected, and how to make it better. I saw a conversation where two students were talked to and decided of their own accord to go and apologize to the teacher whose class they disrupted. I don’t know how much of it was their own idea and how much of it was them used to having to go through these motions, but they came up with the idea and went to do it themselves, with the supervision of their year coordinator, of course.
Does this work? I feel like the culture of the school involves a lot more reflection about student actions, and the teachers seem to think that the students are more respectful and calm in classes. I have always loved the idea of restorative practice, but didn't see it in action too much. I want to know more.
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