Junior Circle Keeper Academy
Now that we’re a couple months into the school year we really wanted to put a spotlight on one of our core Restorative Justice programs– Junior Circle Keeper Academy (JCKA)! Last month’s blog feature on our newest team member, Beth Girma, touched on work happening in JCKA at John Muir Elementary, and we’re so excited to share about the work RJ Coordinators do to facilitate JCKA in our partner schools.
Junior Circle Keeper Academy happens at a magical intersection of WA-BLOC’s core passions and expertise: community building, restorative collaboration, and student leadership/empowerment.
Over the course of 8 weeks, JCKA students learn about and practice Circle keeping with the goal of sharing the practice with their broader school community, especially younger students. Along the way they get to know each other more deeply, support each other in restorative conversations, and work together to generate ideas for student leadership initiatives.
We wanted to give you a glimpse at the moments that make up JCKA through the eyes of our RJ coordinators and the incredible growth they’re witnessing with students:
“My favorite memory and my favorite week of the program is the week where they get to do their dream schools, because the kids get to make and draw and create what they would want from a dream school and they're always really intentional about the things that they decide to put into their dream schools… This year, there was a student who included a barn as a part of the dream school because she thought it would be really cool for people to be able to have animals around at school and get to be with animals. Last year two of the students were really creative in making sure that schools were accessible for students with disabilities.” - Anab
“Another moment that was one of my favorites is when we were playing this game, and all the kids were screaming, but one of the kids was covering his ears. Because he was like, ‘It's so loud guys’. And then when we were done with the game, one of the other Circle keepers went up to him and he was like, ‘Hey, are you okay? Do you have sensitive ears?’, and then he showed us, ‘Yeah I do,’ and then they see, and another kid comes up to him and says, ‘I have sensitive years too…I know it's hard, so yeah, I'm sorry we were being loud,’ and I was just like, proud dad in front of the group. I was like guys, this is what it means to be a Circle keeper! We check on each other. And we share when we have some experiences, and then we apologize and it's okay. We make adjustments to make sure that everybody feels good. And I don't know, little moments, but really, really sweet and really special.” - Mari
“A vivid memory we had was a group of three 5th graders, Liya, Khadija and G’onno, sitting in a 1st grade class, and nervously opening their circle with the game “Quack-diddly-oso.” As the excitement grew during the game, the small first graders kept looking at their keepers with so much admiration and joy. Natural chatterboxes, the students were able to practice sharing the talking piece when it came to their turn. When the keepers closed circle, they immediately skipped out into the hallway, shoulder bumped each other, and exclaimed, “THOSE KIDS TALKED TOO MUCH, BUT THAT WAS A 7 OUTTA 10 EXPERIENCE!” with the biggest grins on their faces. Witnessing themselves witness their own power and sharing joy in partnership with their community demonstrated the impact of this program, specifically within students as circlekeepers in their schools.” - Lena
Through all iterations of JCKA we see themes of belonging and collective care, and it just goes to show the ways students will show up for one another when given the space and the tools to do so in school. We’re so proud of the ways in which students are making Circle practice their own and can’t wait to share more about our JCKA graduates’ accomplishments!
