Sarah Sanders, Victoria Shek, Yuanyuan Xu
As graduate students in the Art+Education Initial Certification program at New York University, we entered the Spring 2020 semester with a transition into secondary student teaching where we were introduced to the concept of Restorative Justice (RJ) – a practice which seeks to proactively and reactively repair harm, relationships, and trust to strengthen community (Morningside Center 2019, New York Peace Institute 2018). Curious to understand more about this practice, we centered our research on discovering the relationship between the practice of Restorative Justice and the presence of community within and outside of the secondary school classroom in New York City. As March rolled around, the classroom learning structure was drastically altered from in-person teaching to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we shifted our focus to the online community, posing the question “How can teachers share ideas through artistic practices and work to rebuild the school community through online learning?”
We created surveys which were sent to teachers and students within secondary schools in New York City. Responses indicated that there were feelings of isolation and hopelessness among students and teachers as well as a desire for increased communication among all parties and more opportunities for creative collaboration for students. Therefore, we sought to design strategies and workshops organized into an accessible online platform in accordance with the concept of Restorative Justice providing collaborative and visually stimulating activities for the virtual classroom and advisory sessions.
Our Rebuilding School through Origami Folding workshop offers prompts for remembering and reflecting on the nature and experiences of the school community. The Morning Marks and Mandala Making strategy provides space for daily check-in with students as well as an opportunity to understand teachers and peers at a deeper level. Our Remaking the Classroom Workshop provides a time for considering the relationship between space and community through imaginative annotation. These, along with additional workshops and strategies, can be found on our website. This collection of materials is grounded in the importance of (re)constructing community during challenging times and is driven by the desire to inspire creative collaboration among educators and students throughout NYC schools.
Remaking the Classroom Workshop, before
Remaking the Classroom Workshop, after
References
Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. 2019. What are Restorative Practices?
https://www.morningsidecenter.org/what-are-restorative-practices
New York Peace Institute. 2018. Restorative Justice. https://nypeace.org/restorative-justice/