Circle Forum

Circle Forum

By Stan BakerEducation
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Circle Forum episodes

  • How restorative practices helped student attendance

    Circle conversations are essential student attendance and engagement and need to involve everyone impacted by student absenteeism. Looking for patterns in student tardiness can help address student engagement by simply asking the students.

    Restorative practices suggestions:

    1. When in doubt about student engagement, have a circle and ask the students themselves.
    2. Is the lack of student engagement due to a difference in what is valued?
    3. Be open to the possibility that students perceive things differently than the adults.

      4. Order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices

      Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices

      Music - Scott Holmes Music - Upbeat Party

      27 min
    4. Challenging power dynamics in restorative practices

      The article below by Lyubansky & Shpungin really challenged us in our practices. It’s not an easy read nor is the topic comfortable. It is important to reflect on the power dynamics in our classrooms, meeting rooms and school districts.

      Restorative practices suggestions:

      1. Reflect on your practice by asking who has been impacted and invite them in.
      2. Prepare for every restorative conversation by considering the power dynamics.
      3. Ask the same question to everyone in a circle in classrooms, staffroom or boardroom.

        4. Of course, we recommend that you order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices

        Read the article Challenging Power Dynamics in Restorative Justice by Mikhail Lyubansky and Elaine Shpungin University of Illinois

        Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices

        Music - Scott Holmes Music - Upbeat Party

        32 min
      4. Daily circles improved student attendance for students with special needs

        Season 2 Restorative Practice conversations about student attendance and engagement

        Teaching students with developmental delays and mild intellectual disabilities, Soukaine Berri, a teacher in Windsor, Ontario, uses daily circles to engage her class. In our podcast this week she says that before circles there were “lots of instances where they were getting in trouble . When we started this (daily circle), the attendance on a daily basis we almost had perfect attendance almost on a regular basis, because they were invested in our classroom.”

        Restorative practice suggestions:

        1. Start small with circles and don’t give up.
        2. Reflect on what worked or not.
        3. Teach the skills needed to be in a circle.
        4. Invite other staff into your circle.

          5. Soukaine referenced 2 books that we’d also highly recommend:

          Hacking School Discipline: 9 Ways to Create a Culture of Empathy and Responsibility Using Restorative Justice

          Restorative Circles in Schools: A Practical Guide for Educators - Second Edition

          Of course, we recommend that you order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices

          Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices

          Music - Scott Holmes Music - Upbeat Party

          30 min
        5. Use circles to make space for BIPOC students’ voices

          Season 2 Restorative Practice conversations about student attendance and engagement

          As a teacher of English as a Second Language in Windsor, Ontario, Amina Abdulle views the needs of newcomer students holistically. It’s vital for educators to create a safe space for students to be themselves, to help students build connections and to empower them to make mistakes in learning a new language. As educators who know how to learn, many will need to unlearn things which marginalize and stereotype BIPOC communities which may unintentionally be pushing students out of school.

          Restorative practice suggestions:

          1. Embed restorative circles into the curriculum so that it doesn’t become a sidebar to instruction.
          2. Don’t expect perfection of student or yourself in circles.
          3. Use circles to understand the needs of BIPOC students in your class.
          4. Live with and in the discomfort that come with conversations about make space for BIPOC student voices.

            5. Order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices

            Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices

            Music - Scott Holmes Music - Upbeat Party

            39 min
          5. Season 1 Finale: Marginalized students’ attendance rates dropping in the pandemic

            BIPOC students are absent from school at higher rates than white students. As one high school student recounted “I feel like a ghost at school. I don’t even know if the teacher knows my name.” (Shelley) According to Attendance Works (see link below), “it requires

            1. nurturing feelings of belonging to school in the spring for current and prospective students,
            2. building bridges to school in the summer, and
            3. creating a welcoming, restorative community at school in the fall.”

              4. When re-engaging students in the fall, restorative practices provides the HOW of building relationships that are often missing from activities in the first weeks of school as we discuss in an Edutopia article.

              Three takeaways from our discussion of these 2 articles are:

              1. be intentional in your approach to the attendance of marginalized students.
              2. take the time to re-establish connections with kids and their families
              3. look at your attendance data in order to address students’ needs

                4. Attendance Works Pathway to Engagement: A toolkit for Covid-19 recovery through attendance

                Edutopia Rekindling a Sense of Connection in the New School Year

                Order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices

                Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices

                29 min
              4. BIPOC students don’t receive informal mentoring at school

                The problem presented in the Education Week article (see link below) is that white teachers don’t set up informal mentoring with black or Latino students. BIPOC students are missing out on trusted caring adult relationships. “It isn’t that you have to have all the answers. It was the fact that they (students) trusted that they could ask questions.” (Shelley) In this podcast, we discuss specific and practical suggestions including the importance of being intentional in setting up informal mentoring with marginalized students.

                Education Week article “When Teachers and School Counselors Become Informal Mentors, Students Thrive”

                Order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices

                Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices

                22 min
              5. Gallup finds the silver bullet: Coach me once per week

                In a recent Gallup article, Jim Clifton writes that based on over 100 million employee interviews, the most engaged teams find the difference is “just the manager.” In school terms, we talk about how principals as managers can make a difference by being a restorative coach with weekly coaching conversations.  It takes an intentional casual approach to conversations, connections and relationships with each employee. Practical restorative practice suggestions keep on coming. It’s about:

                1. working from strengths
                2. building relationships
                3. making connections

                  4. Link to the article Gallup finds the silver bullet:  Coach me once per week

                  30 min
                4. Practical tips for a restorative classroom

                  Our guest, Sue Howard, discusses what she’s learned from using a whole school approach. Practical suggestions include:

                  1. listen to the teacher’s issues and concerns for the classroom,
                  2. be patient with the restorative process, it takes some time
                  3. be consistent
                  4. look for your own support network to keep up your practice
                    5. 26 min
                  5. Snowballs and cupcakes: problems and solutions

                    Yes, we’re talking about snow in the summertime. Steve’s Story Time has a cupcake solution to a snow throwing situation which illustrates the potential of restorative practices to build relationships within our broader community and within a classroom community. A change in the traditional more punitive approach can be helped by support from senior leadership. And just when should you have a restorative conversation with a person who’s caused harm and a person who’s been harmed? It depends. The timing of the conversation should be led by the needs of the person harmed. It can include the need for safety, a person who is sitting beside or just an opportunity for someone else to listen to the stories about the impact of actions.

                    30 min
                  6. Three settlers having a conversation about reconciliation and Indigenous Peoples

                    Conversations in schools are a key to reconciliation with First Peoples. As Hon. Justice Murray Sinclair said "Education has gotten us into this mess, and education will get us out” in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. What role can restorative practices have? Listen in to this conversation with Shelley, Steve and Stan that contains some simple things that can be done to work towards reconciliation. The scenario discussed this week focusses on an adult to adult conflict in which the power dynamics plays a role. Restorative conversations require safety when addressing the person who is our boss and presents the opportunity to grow the relationship.

                    42 min

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                  Leading a school in today’s educational landscape is both rewarding and complex. This podcast equips elementary and secondary school principals with proven strategies to tackle challenges they face…