Teachers

Many teachers have had good experiences with the implementation of restorative practices in their classrooms. These resources both discuss such experiences and provide insights for including restorative principles and values into the classroom.

Restorative justice workshop report

 

My Classroom's Journey with Restorative Practices

From the 7 January 2010 Restorative Practices E-Forum by Deanna L. Webb: When I graduated from college with a degree in special education, I was prepared to offer students specially designed instruction, program modifications and a variety of teaching techniques to match their individual learning styles, as well as tools and techniques they could use to be successful with academics. What I was not prepared for, however, was the need to fill in the blanks in their lives that were not a part of the typical academic school environment. This became especially evident when I began teaching in the emotional support setting. My students all lacked a sense of community, and consequently they also lacked a sense of accountability. During my first few years as a teacher in this setting, I struggled to connect with students and to keep them engaged in the school environment. Some students did very well, but I was unable to reach others. The tools I acquired in IIRP classes and then used in my classroom allowed me to build community and teach accountability and respect to a very challenging population of students.

Dignity in Schools Campaign releasing national resolution for ending school pushout

from the Restorative Practices eForum: Over 180 organizations from across the country, including the International Institute for Restorative Practices, have signed on to support the Dignity in Schools Campaign National Resolution for Ending School Pushout, a call to action for our school systems to end harsh discipline policies and law enforcement tactics that push too many young people out of school each year. The resolution calls for schools to implement positive alternatives that protect the human rights of young people and keep students in school, including "evidence-based discipline policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative practices.”

Implementing restorative justice: A guide for schools

Recently, the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority released the guide Implementing Restorative Justice: A guide for Schools as part of a series of resources created to help with the statewide implementation of restorative justice for working with young offenders.

Angela's tears - A presentation on the São Paulo RJ projects in Rio de Janeiro

From the post at the Restorative Circles Blog Yesterday was the first formal presentation of the São Paulo RJ project, 'Justiça e educação', to the justice and education communities in Rio de Janeiro. Most of those who have made these projects possible - in São Caetano do Sul, in Guarulhos, in Heliopolis, in Campinas and elsewhere - spoke, and even though the city was under the second day of torrential rain and it was the friday before a holiday weekend, there wasn't a free seat and many stood until the end.

A handful of school resources, addressing harm in schools, restoratively

from Kris Miner's entry on Restorative Justice and Circles: Using Restorative Justice or Restorative Practices in schools is a great way to address and prevent harm. There are many great programs and initiatives supporting our students. For today’s post, I’m gathering a few of the ones I’m aware of and the ones that I’ve found support or supply a lot of crossover with Restorative Justice.

New graphic novel on restorative practices in school

From Matt K.'s entry in Life Skoolz: Bully is Life Skoolz’s first graphic novel. The book is designed to teach relationship building skills and restorative practice rituals to Middle School aged children. It will be complete later this month and available for purchase by the middle of September.

Cowie, Helen and Myers, Carrie Anne and Hutson, Nicola and Myers, Carrie Anne and Jennifer, Dawn and Hutson, Nicola. Taking Stock of Violence in U.K. Schools: Risk, Regulation, and Responsibility.

This article documents the important issues of school violence and bullying in the United Kingdom. The authors provide examples of effective interventions for preventing violence and describe some methods, grounded in a restorative and emotional intelligence framework, that have been successfully adopted in U.K. schools. The authors conclude that if violence is to be addressed, a whole school approach embedded in the wider community is required. (authors' abstract)

Wachtel, Ted and Wachtel, Joshua and Costello, Bob and Wachtel, Ted. The Restorative Practices Handbook for Teachers, Disciplinarians and Administrators.

The Restorative Practices Handbook is a practical guide for educators interested in implementing restorative practices, an approach that proactively builds positive school communities while dramatically reducing discipline referrals, suspensions and expulsions. The handbook discusses the spectrum of restorative techniques, offers implementation guidelines, explains how and why the processes work, and relates real-world stories of restorative practices in action. (publisher's description)

Claassen, Ron. An Introduction to 'Discipline that Restores'

Ron Claassen describes a restorative disciplinary program used in a school in California. The program, "Discipline that Restores" (DTR), was developed by Ron Claassen and his wife, Roxanne, to apply restorative justice principles in a school setting. A teacher in the school, Roxanne uses the program in her class of eighth graders, and they provide training for other teachers in the school. In this paper, Ron Claassen explains the principles of "Discipline that Restores," sketches a model he developed to illustrate four options for handling conflict, and recounts how another teacher uses a modification of victim-offender reconciliation to deal with conflicts between students and teachers.

Hadhazi, Livia. Application of the conflict management technique "Face to face" in the Zöld Kakas Líceum Secondary School.

The Family, Child, Youth Priority Non-Profit Association contacted our school in 2000 through MᲩa Herczog, one of their co-workers. She had been looking for a good place (institution) to try out a new method of conflict managing system. She chose our school, because there are and have always been "drop-out" students. Drop-out students - with behaviour problems mainly. The basic principles of my school are as follows: Humanistic approach, Managing conflicts in an open way, Treating students as equal co-workers. All the teachers were ready to accept, to study and to apply this new system, so the Association organised a training for us to become facilitators. From the year after we started to build in this restorative view in a progressive way into the education of our first year students. At the same time, we started to apply the method in real conflicts, to manage real cases. I thought that students would rather turn to somebody else for help at their age, rather than to a teacher. Therefore I organised a "face to face" SIG [special interest group] and started to train students with strong motivation to become peer facilitators. (excerpt)

Porter, Abbey J. Restorative Practices at Queanbeyan South, an Australian Primary School

Restorative practices have proved a success at a primary school in Australia, where teachers have discovered that discipline works much better when the children themselves take part in the process. A few years ago, Queanbeyan South Public School, in New South Wales, just outside the Australian capital of Canberra, was struggling with persistent problems of bullying, violence and absenteeism among its pupils. Conventional punishments like detentions and suspensions didn't seem to help. "We were just chasing our tails," recalled teacher Elizabeth Harley, who said that disrespect for authority and low self-esteem were common among the students. (excerpt)

Egan, Meredith. A Story of Restorative Justice Values and Principles in a School Setting

This paper consists of a resource tool for students, parents, and school staff to explore restorative justice values and principles in a school setting. It was used in a workshop for high school students in Mission, British Columbia, to wrestle with conflict, friendship, and authority. In the paper Meredith Egan presents a fictitious scenario concerning two students on a date to the school prom and a teacher/chaperone when the young couple arrive at the dance. Though the school board had enacted a "zero tolerance" policy to inhibit the use of alcohol by students, the two students had drunk some alcohol just before coming to the dance. The teacher/chaperone and the students must deal with the problem arising from the school board policy, the students' actions, and the relationships between the teacher, the students, and even the students' families.