Troublemakers
Carla Shalaby
Embedded Files
"Exclusion does not build community - it destroys it. The problem with weeds is that when you pull up one, many more sprout with a vengeance. It isn't the behavior of the children that threatens community; it is the response to that behavior, the use of exclusion, that threatens community." Carly Shalaby
"Exclusion does not build community - it destroys it. The problem with weeds is that when you pull up one, many more sprout with a vengeance. It isn't the behavior of the children that threatens community; it is the response to that behavior, the use of exclusion, that threatens community." Carly Shalaby
All Y'all Social Justice Conference
In June 2019, Bria Wright and I had the opportunity to present at the All Y'all conference. Our presentation centered on the work our staff did with Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby during the 2018-2019 school year. We used Shalaby's work to change beliefs and rewrite policies and procedures on how we respond when trouble is being made at Hortons Creek.
The Power of Beliefs
The Power of Beliefs
During our All Y'all presentation, we asked participants to sort the beliefs listed into "productive" and "unproductive" columns. Then teachers reflected on the question below.
Do behavior policies reflect productive or unproductive beliefs about student behavior?
After reading Troublemakers and participating in #CleartheAir Twitter chats hosted by Val Brown @ValeriaBrownEdu, we knew we wanted to engage our entire staff in a book study of this work. Staff who had read the book signed up to facilitate sessions on each vignette. Some sessions turned into Twitter Chats due to time constraints and weather cancellations. The Twitter Chats turned out to be the most powerful dialogues.
As an assistant principal, I struggled with my role in the school. Excluding students from their school community did not feel good. Suspensions did not "fix" students. It did not restore broken relationships. It did not heal the community. It did not solve any problems the troublemaking created. I did not know how to "do it different" until reading Troublemakers.
I am dedicated to creating a culture at our school that sees students as making trouble rather than through the traditional lense of troublemakers. I believe "schools engender trouble by using systems of reward and punishment to create a certain kind of person - "a good student" - a person suited for the culture of schooling" (Carla Shalaby). In the 2017-2018 school year Hortons Creek chose to be a part of the positivity project, rather than a PBIS school, for this reason. In the 2018-2019 school year, we are dedicated to finding ways to restore communities when trouble is made that do not involve excluding the students who are making trouble. It is proving to be a difficult journey with more questions than answers but I am so proud to be a part of a staff that is dedicated to doing school differently for the sake of our smallest humans.
See below for some of the ideas we are working on.
HCES Philosophy on Building and Repairing Connections
A Work in Progress
Hortons Creek will respond differently when trouble is made in our school.
Ideas are taken from Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School by Carla Shalaby
Beliefs on Building Connections
- We believe all people desire to be in good relationship and we must support one another in developing and maintaining connections
- When people care about the relationships they have with others, they work to keep those relationships healthy and to repair any damage to them.
- We believe in relationships over rules and restoration and restitution over punishment.
- We believe all children are complex and beautiful human beings.
- We believe the regular integration of circles into our classrooms will build strong communities. Once those communities are developed, the restorative approach will be more effective.
Beliefs on Troublemaking
- We believe troublemaking is a verb not a noun.
- We believe children do not need to be fixed.
- We believe students are not troublemakers, schools create trouble through systemic oppression that values children who conform to our societal norms.
- We value inclusion over exclusion. Belonging is a basic human right that is ensured for every child, not just those who comply to our system’s expectations. We believe excluding children from their community creates outcasts and punishes children for refusing to conform. Exclusion does not build connections, it destroys them.
- We believe when we publicly reprimand students, we push them further outside our community, telling them and all members of the community that they do not belong.
- We believe trouble is made when we undervalue, misunderstand, and unwelcome children who do not conform to our system’s idea of a “good” person.
- We believe accountability does not equal punishment. We want students who act out to develop the skills of remorse and repair.
Classroom Culture: How might a classroom that values all children be set up/look
What might a teacher do when trouble is made?
- Get to know the child beyond “student.”
- Meet with the parent.
- Have lunch with the child.
- Create a journal for the child to communicate with you - allowing both you and the child to get to know each other on a human level.
- Questions to ask yourself:
- Could this behavior have been a response to something in the child's life at school or at home?
- Are there things people need that they aren’t getting in our classroom?
- What kinds of feelings might be behind these behaviors?
- Questions to ask your students (recommended to do this in circle):
- Some of us seem to be feeling _____. Are there things happening that are making some of you feel _____ even if you’re showing your anger in the same ways?
- Is there something going wrong in the way we are treating one another?
- How might we work to heal any harms in our community?
We are beginning to develop beliefs statements that we will post throughout our school building in order to share and spread this mindset throughout our Hortons Creek community. See below.
HAWK Beliefs Posters
We believe all children are complex and beautiful human beings.
Relationships Matter. All people want to have positive relationships. We must support one another in developing and maintaining connections.
Positive relationships are the cornerstone of health, happiness, and resilience…and jobs of the future.
We will use our character strengths and recognize the strengths in others to develop and maintain connections.
When people care about the relationships they have with others, they work to keep those relationships healthy and to repair any damage to them.
We believe in relationships over rules and restoration and restitution over punishment.
We believe the regular integration of circles into our classrooms will build strong classroom communities that all members will work to maintain.
What are we doing differently when trouble is made?
- Restorative circles in the classroom. These occur in a small group or with the entire class depending on who was effected by the trouble. See Circle Processes tab.
- Restorative circles involving families, teachers, administrators, and the student who made trouble.
- Asking ourselves, how does trouble get made as this child interacts with school? Is there a harm this child is suffering to which this behavior might be a response? These questions helps us move away from "fixing" children and towards addressing the harm our school community is causing.
- Asking students
- What effect did this have on you?
- What effect did it have on others?
- What do you think needs to happen to make it right?
- Rather than removing the child for a private conversation, we have a conversation in circle with all people who were effected by the behavior. The goal is to call out the unacceptable behavior and ask all members of the community to be involved in the response. We aim to model a response that "values inclusion over exclusion and that understands behavior as a social problem rather than just an indiviudlal one" (Carla Shalaby). We are not calling out the behavior to place blame or shame the child. Rather, we want the whole community to be involved in recognizing and thinking critically about any problems that might be occuring in the community. What might be happening in our class that is making some of us angry or sad? See Circle Processes for more information.
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