In the Circle
Our senior trainer Marieke van Woerkom shares her insights on circles and other restorative practices.
Students learn about and discuss the remarkable success of an organization of farmworkers that is fighting abuse and demanding dignity on the job. The activity includes two short videos, discussion, and a reading.
The news of the police shootings in Dallas on July 6 was still unfolding Friday morning, as I was getting ready to co-facilitate a restorative circle with colleagues at Morningside Center. The circle was to prepare us for the 5-day professional development training we'd be doing with educators over...
"Everyone is needed for what they bring" is one of the seven core assumptions of restorative circles. We all have stories, perspectives and ideas to enrich each other's lives. In circles, we are all teachers and we are all learners.
The circle process is powerful, transformative at times, but it can also be challenging and time-consuming. For teachers, sharing of themselves in a circle with students can be uncomfortable. Many also worry that the circle process will open up upsetting personal issues students are facing—issues...