Learning in Circles: The Power of a Humanizing Dialogic Practice

There is an increasing sense of urgency to reconnect to the basic notion of a humanizing dialogic practice. A practice that prioritizes lived experiences and recognizes students and teacher as active, knowledgeable and insightful participants of the school community. Given the emphasis placed on test scores, assessments and other accountability measures, students and teacher voices are often omitted from the national dialogue on what is working and what needs to change in order to foster caring schools and responsive classrooms. Yet their voices are precisely the ones we need to hear from as any kind of educational reform efforts will directly impact them. Drawing on critical pedagogical theories, this article conceptually explores the power of a humanizing dialogic practice grounded on circle practice. Circle practice is a simple structured process of communication that helps participants re-connect with a joyous appreciation of themselves and others while making meaningful connections to both context and content

StudyCircle: Promoting a Restorative Student Community

This essay presents a model of teaching and learning conceptualized as the StudyCircle Model of Restorative Communication. It was co-developed among second year communication students at the University of Sassari (Italy) in 2014-2015 with the purpose of facilitating active learning, promoting a culture of peace and well-being/life skills among students and faculty, and creating robust mechanisms for integrating marginalized students to the university community; thus potentially preventing school detachment among vulnerable student populations. Drawing on Peace Circles as a holistic methodology for promoting a restorative student community, this article presents the constructivist theoretical framework underpinning the StudyCircle Model, describes the paradigm in practice and discusses student outcomes which include active learning, conflict transformation and community building

StudyCircle: Promoting a Restorative Student Community

This essay presents a model of teaching and learning conceptualized as the StudyCircle Model of Restorative Communication. It was co-developed among second year communication students at the University of Sassari (Italy) in 2014-2015 with the purpose of facilitating active learning, promoting a culture of peace and well-being/life skills among students and faculty, and creating robust mechanisms for integrating marginalized students to the university community; thus potentially preventing school detachment among vulnerable student populations. Drawing on Peace Circles as a holistic methodology for promoting a restorative student community, this article presents the constructivist theoretical framework underpinning the StudyCircle Model, describes the paradigm in practice and discusses student outcomes which include active learning, conflict transformation and community building

Reconceptualizing organizational change in the Comprehensive Gang Model

Organizational change and development is one of the cornerstones of successful crime prevention and intervention efforts, yet it has received little empirical attention in the areas of crime and justice. This lack of empirical attention extends to the national Comprehensive Gang Model, which explicitly states that organizational change and development is a key strategy. Borrowing concepts from the management field, the authors argue that the Comprehensive Gang Model should be reconceptualized so that organizational change and development is the foundation upon which other strategies are built. Application of this re-specified model is demonstrated through a case study in central Massachusetts utilizing learning communities as a vehicle to obtain sustainable change. Assessment of the organizational change and development is also discussed.