Restorative Practices

Our students do circles once a week on our special Friday schedule. I haven't run any of them because I am teaching at that time. I've seen them done very well, but in some circles students simply cannot be managed. We also have "responsibility time," when we can request to speak with a child after...

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...