Discussion of the Book by Esmail
Chapter Two
Schools should be more responsive to diverse students’ educational needs, which should be the case since minority people in the community contribute to a significant population. Statistics Canada estimates that one in five people is a member of a visible minority. Schools failing to be more interesting, engaging, and responsive to ethnically diverse students can be seen as a form of discrimination since many students do not have their interests being considered in their learning institutions. Educational leaders need to employ active actions to ensure that ethnically diverse students in their institutions are accounted for when coming up with policies.
According to (Gay, 2002), the quality of education for diverse students can be improved when instructional programs that consider their cultural heritage are implemented in schools, which means that the students’ diverse cultural heritages should be executed in schools to be more inclusive to diverse students. Teachers who are responsive to their students’ educational needs and implement culturally responsive teaching are likely to address their diverse students’ needs, which effectively improve their teaching skills and help them get through to their students (Bonner et al., 2018). It is therefore clear that it is necessary for schools to be reactive to students’ educational needs to foster adequate learning environments.
Chapter Three
Roy Sprague Jr. is my school district leader. Mr. Sprague should learn all he can learn about the school policies before implementing school-wide restorative justice and relational pedagogy. He should learn all he can about restorative justice and ensure that other related stakeholders are involved in the process to be implemented effectively. It is necessary for school management, teachers, coaches, counselors, and other key personnel to be involved in the restorative justice process to be integrated. To do this, Mr. Sprague can organize a seminar on restorative justice and relational pedagogy and ensure that the different stakeholders are well informed and enthusiastic about adopting restorative justice in education.
Mr. Sprague should seek ways to start with small changes before embarking on school-wide restorative justice and relational pedagogy. This encourages the gradual introduction of the culture and makes it more likely to be successful since it will reduce internal rebellions. An example of how this can be achieved is the change of policies regarding in-school suspension programs through discussion with students to obtain feedback on implementing it. Mr. Sprague should model restorative and relational pedagogies. He should do this by acting consistently with the principles of restorative and relational pedagogy. This is necessary since it makes others feel engaged in the process and make them more willing to participate in the changes. An example of how this can be achieved is by personally sitting down with teachers and students and listening to their views.
References
Gay, G. (2002). Culturally responsive teaching in special education for ethnically diverse students: Setting the stage. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(6), 613-629.
Bonner, P. J., Warren, S. R., & Jiang, Y. H. (2018). Voices from urban classrooms: Teachers’ perceptions of instructing diverse students and using culturally responsive teaching. Education and Urban Society, 50(8), 697-726.
