We hold weekly circles to build relationships and to provide students and staff with time to check in and share about themselves and get to know one another. When we hold weekly circles, we can also then use circles when we experience national or local tragedies. Restorative justice practitioners recommend against only using circles to discuss difficult things, so this is one of the reasons why it is important to establish a weekly circle practice. When a national tragedy happens - such as the violent treatment of Haitian migrants in Texas - you have to decide how aware your students are of the event and how to proceed. For example, secondary students who have access to social media are often more aware than younger elementary students of events reported in the news. Also, students who are Haitian immigrants or who have family members in Haiti are more likely to be aware of the recent violence against migrants. Witnessing this violence is likely to be upsetting to all students and especially to students who are Haitian-American and other students whose families have immigrated here. For a national tragedy, you can decide to use questions in every classroom circle or you can provide circles led by social workers or other support staff that students can choose to attend. I wrote a circle plan that you can adapt to support your students and colleagues. I encourage you to also hold a "To Immigrants with Love" circle sometime this year. Photo Credit: AFP Photo

From Facing History and Ourselves: "Hispanic American Heritage Month each September and October offers a valuable opportunity to evaluate the kinds of reading materials we are sharing with young people throughout the year, and to consider how the experiences of Latinx people can have a greater presence in classrooms. We know that it can be challenging to sift through the large body of reading material, pinpoint texts written at an appropriate reading level, and that speak to key themes in ways that are relatable to adolescent readers so we have curated some rich new titles for educators seeking to expand their pool of resources." 

We are all so busy, but we also know that if we invest a small amount of time now in thinking through our systems, we can be more organized and efficient than past years. In this 14-minute video from last spring,  I explain how we can apply the concepts of mise en place, switchtasking, and friction to streamline our workflow and get our work done quickly and efficiently so we can focus on what matters most: supporting our teachers’ growth so they can support our students’ growth.