Publication Date
3-2024
Abstract
Restrictive instruction and punitive discipline often run parallel in schools, prompting a continued need to provide authentic learning opportunities that value children’s literacy strengths in an inclusive community. Restorative justice has been identified as a pedagogical stance in addressing harmful policies in schools, and it is most often examined in secondary contexts and specifically in relation to discipline—rarely in relation to young children’s literacies and learning. This multisite case study explored the intersections of restorative practices and literacy learning in elementary classrooms (K–3) across three schools in the same large public school district in the United States. Using relational literacies and languaging as theoretical frames, the talk, reading, and writing practices were analyzed through actions and thoughts of the teachers and students. Findings indicate that children and teachers engaged in relational literacies to build collective meaning-making that honored individual strengths and capacities in, with, and for texts and one another. The findings demonstrate a blurring of storied and lived worlds and how children work with, in, and alongside texts collaboratively. The findings indicate a need for viewing literacy and community-building practices holistically and the importance of centering how young children build meaning relationally.
Recommended Citation
Holyoke, E. (2024). Relational Literacies and Restorative Justice: “We’re Part of Something Bigger and as Big as the Collective”. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 63 (1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol63/iss1/4
