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:

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

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:

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

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:

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

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:

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

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

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:

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

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

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:

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

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

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.

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.