Community Building
The 2016 election has caused anxiety among many students, as well as a surge in bullying and harassment in many schools. We provide suggestions for supporting students and strengthening your classroom community in these challenging times.
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...
Many educators come to our Restore360 trainings interested in new ways to handle disciplinary issues in school. They may have found the punitive approach doesn’t work particularly well and want to limit suspensions, which can be harmful to our young people. They’ve been told that restorative circles...
In the closing days of 2015, some of the highest flood waters ever recorded hit the Mississippi River valley. This activity encourages students to empathize with flood victims, and to consider how we as individuals and as a community can best respond to floods and other climate change-related...
This classroom activity helps build community in your classroom at the start of the school year, and encourages students to reflect on some of the big issues in the news over the summer. It can be a stand-alone circle, or it can be used to jumpstart a longer term project in advisory, social studies...
Students read and reflect on a poem and on their experiences over the past year, and consider things they've learned or goals they want to set for the coming year.
Students consider a wide range of statements in response to the killing of NYC police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. In guided discussion, students consider the statements, what the speaker intended to achieve, and whether they feel the statement was helpful.
After a siege in a Sydney, Australia cafe by a self-described Islamic cleric, Australian Muslims feared a backlash. But Australians of all backgrounds responded instead with an act of solidarity through Twitter. Students learn about the news and the response, and consider how they might stand up...
This circle activity invites students to share their feelings about gratitude and to express gratitude for things large and small.
Scientists are getting more specific about the pace of climate change, warning that we have very little time left to stop it. Activists are pursuing divestment movements and boycotts. In this activity, students read about these efforts and plan their own climate-saving action.