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In this article, Sarah M. Fine uses portraiture to explore the undertheorized question of what it means to teach in ways that align with the values of the restorative justice framework. The piece centers around the work of Nora, a veteran teacher-leader who explored this question in the context of her own classroom and, as a result, shifted her practice in significant ways, making it more deliberate in its attention to students ' social-emotional needs, more project based in its design, and more critical in its stance. In turn, these shifts helped restore and transform students' relationships to the content under study, as well as to each other and to Nora. This portrait provides a richly textured picture of what it means to be-and become-a restorative teacher and suggests that there are powerful synergies between the restorative justice framework and the tradition of critical pedagogy.
Keywords: restorative justice, critical pedagogy, teacher-student relationships, projectbased learning, gender studies, portraiture
The first time I watch Nora teach is on an overcast morning in early March. The temperature hovers around forty degrees, and an inch of slush that fell overnight coats the mounds of snow and delays the subway. As I hurry toward the entrance of Outlook Collegiate Academy Charter School's (OCA's) uppergrades campus, I hear the security guard cheerfully greeting students in her flat New England accent. Pointing to my winter boots, she remarks, "You won't need those much longer-it feels like summah!"
Nora stands near the school's front desk. She breaks into a smile when she sees me. "You made it!" she says. She wears faded black jeans with chunky leopard-print booties and an oversized sweater. Her short brown hair is pulled into a ponytail, and her pale face is accented by dark-framed glasses. I find myself admiring her style. She has an unconventional way of dressing that is at once careful and unstudied, mature and playful.
With only a few minutes remaining until the first-period bell, there is not much time to talk. Nora hustles me back to her office to pick up some photocopies, offering a brief description of the class I am about to observe. The class-the only one that she teaches, given her role as the curriculum and instruction coordinator of OCA's...