Using Student Listening Circles to Promote Self-Advocacy in Middle and High School

Restorative justice (RJ) is often misjudged as a “replacement for discipline,” but really, RJ should be about developing community within a school. Restorative practices have been adapted in schools from Indigenous customs built on strong communities so that when harm is done, the community is able to hold the doer of harm accountable in a meaningful way. For these practices to work, schools must build and maintain a solid foundational community.

Student listening circles (SLCs) are a Tier 1 restorative practice. These circles give students the opportunity to bond and share their experiences in the school community and to provide feedback to the school leadership team. At their core, SLCs are about amplifying students’ voices.

At our school, students are invited to attend SLCs monthly during their lunch period, making this a voluntary experience. Because students are giving up their lunch period, we typically buy bagels for participants—perhaps this also serves as an added incentive to attend.

The topic of each SLC is decided on by our RJ team, which is made up of students, teachers, and administrators. The team selects a topic that the school needs student voice on and then designs the lesson plan and accompanying slides and prepares all the materials for the lesson collaboratively. After the lesson design, the student members co-plan which parts of the lesson each student will lead and practice delivering the lesson to the RJ team members.

As with any RJ circle, there are essential components that need to be in place.

5 Keys for a Successful SLC

1. All participants are seated in a circle, with no obstructions between them.

2. A circle keeper facilitates the discussion. In our listening circles, these are students who are trained to lead circles. We also have a staff member on the RJ team present to ensure supervision and to support the student circle keepers.

3. A centerpiece must be in place that serves to remind participants that we are a community—at our school we use a blanket with our school’s logo on it.

4. Shared agreements ensure that everyone in the space feels comfortable to share freely. We typically place reminders of these norms or values on the centerpiece.

5. A talking piece controls the flow of the conversation. The person with the talking piece should be the only one sharing at that time. The talking piece could be an object that has meaning to the circle keeper. This helps to ensure that students respect the talking piece. Whenever I lead circles, I always use my David Wright as Captain America Funko Pop as my talking piece. Others like to use fidget toys or stress balls as their talking pieces.

Our RJ team developed a lesson plan template to use when designing SLCs. Each circle follows the same flow:

• Check-in: Students are given a prompt and whip around the circle sharing their responses—we particularly like this sheep scale. Check-ins are a quick way for the circle keepers to gauge the energy in the room.
• Guidelines for the circle: Students are reminded of the shared agreements and are asked if they have any additional norms to add before affirming their agreement to follow these guidelines.
• Opening ceremony: This icebreaker gets students acquainted, which is necessary since the participants in each SLC can change from month to month.
• Collaborative activities: This is the core of the lesson. These activities are centered around a specific topic that the school wants to hear student voice or feedback on. We have done activities around students’ general experience at the school, extracurricular activities, highlighting cultural diversity, and managing stress.
• Closing ceremony: This final activity can be used for participants to reflect on the experience or conduct an exit ticket while enjoying their bagels with their peers.

To see how this all comes together, check out this lesson plan and slides for our SLC on self-advocacy.

An example of Gathering feedback Through an SLC

The topic for our final SLC of the year was “cell phone use in school.” This came on the heels of our school deciding to implement Yondr pouches, which prohibit cell phone while phones are inside them, for the upcoming school year. During the circle, participants were given a sneak peak into the school’s reasoning for implementing the new policy. Members of the school’s administration were present to answer questions. Students were advised that their feedback, concerns, and questions would help to shape the policy that would be presented at an upcoming student town hall.

For the opening, participants calculated their daily screen time and shared the percentage of the day they were on the phones instead of living in the moment. Participants were then invited to place their phones under their seats for the remainder of the circle.

Providing Time for Reflection

Participants engaged in an individual self-reflection activity that we called “Toe the Line.” Students stood on opposite sides of a line in the middle of the room (which side didn’t matter). A series of prompts, such as “I missed out on a part of class because I was on my phone” or “I have had a conversation with someone where they were more focused on their phones than the actual conversation,” were presented. Students physically moved their body to the other side of the line if they had experienced the scenario presented. The physical movement of the activity provided a kinesthetic moment for students to see and feel their individual reflections on each prompt.

Participants were then presented with data and research to explain the school’s decision to implement this policy and asked to share their thoughts on the data presented or any questions or concerns they had—of which there were many. All responses were recorded and shared with the school administration so that they could reflect and consider when designing the policy. Students closed out the circle by whipping around the room, sharing what the last 40 minutes were like without touching their phones.

Since we implemented SLCs in our school, students have reported feeling more involved in the school’s decision-making and feel that they have a place to advocate for new initiatives they’d like to see brought to the school.