What is the intention and purpose of our education system? How well does it meet that purpose? One of the more challenging aspects of education is a discipline system that dehumanizes students, one that banishes them from the classroom and inadvertently fuels what’s known as the school to prison pipeline.
Trevor Gardner, a lifelong educator, recognized the need to change that narrative. He began to explore alternative ways of discipline, a practice we call Restorative Justice, a theory of justice that focuses on mediation and agreement rather than punishment. One that builds on the relationships created with students to extend opportunities to learn beyond the texts and lectures that happen in the classroom. He calls this pedagogy, “The Wisdom of the Why”, the power of educators to have a deep sense of purpose in this work and the skill and power of communicating that to students.
Trevor Gardner is currently the Director of Teaching and Learning at ARISE High School in East Oakland. He is the author of Discipline Over Punishment: Successes and Struggles with Restorative Justice in Schools and the editor of Leading in the Belly of the Beast: School Leadership in a System Designed to Fail.
You can listen to his episode here.