Restorative Practices

It’s INSANE how much the world of education has changed since I last shared a blog post. I posted my last blog on November 23, 2019. That was more than two years ago (I’ve been busy…)! So much has happened since then! By “so much,” I MOSTLY mean that a global pandemic upended the way we operate. If you think about it, since March 13, 2020, the world of education hasn’t been and will never be the same again.

Since that day, in the field of education, we initiated Remote Learning/E-Learning/Virtual Learning (whatever you’d like to call it). We’ve had virtual meetings and digital professional developments. We’ve filmed ourselves teaching countless lessons and reading a plethora of books to our students. We’ve conducted school-wide drive-by parades and other events to help build connections between school and the community. We’ve even hosted graduation ceremonies via Zoom. We’ve done a lot to ensure students are still learning socially AND academically while at home during a pandemic.

Since that day, students and families have obviously experienced a lot as well. Students and families have faced unprecedented levels of uncertainty and financial stress stemming from unexpected job loss/unemployment. As a result of the pandemic and subsequent unemployment/financial stress, they’ve contended with increased mobility. They’ve dealt with unforeseen deaths in the family and sickness/health concerns. They’ve grappled with increased levels of depression as a result of extended isolation. Students, in particular, have experienced elevated levels of anxiety to the point where many medical professionals are now recommending anxiety screenings for ALL students by the age of eight!

I think it’s safe to say that EVERYONE in the field of education has experienced a lot during this pandemic. Unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped there. We continue to adapt to these changes and experiences, even as we emerge from the pandemic. While planning to bring ALL students back to in-person learning for the 2021-2022 school year, it was obvious there would be lingering issues and effects from the pandemic. I knew that one of those issues would be heavily multifaceted; the serious lack of social interactions. The facets of that SINGLE issue are as follows (not an exhaustive list):

Students not knowing how to properly and safely interact with one another
Diminished problem-solving skills, especially in social settings
A decrease in communication skills
Increased levels of social anxiety and a loss of coping strategies
Increased instances of trauma resulting in elevated levels of anxiety and other issues

In August, we welcomed students back to full, in-person schooling. These students have gaps in BOTH academic AND social learning. Personally, I was and still am more concerned with the gaps in social learning. That’s not to say that I’m unconcerned with their academic learning loss since the onset of the pandemic. I am. However, I firmly believe that, unless we FIRST address the social learning loss and the lingering effects from social learning loss, we will have a harder time addressing the academic learning loss.

At Kennedy School, members of my special education department and I decided to focus particularly on trauma and anxiety resulting from the pandemic and isolation. One way we’re helping students process their anxiety and trauma is through the opening and implementation of our “Kennedy Korner.” Essentially, the Kennedy Korner is a calming space where students can go to de-escalate, refocus, and re-center. It’s a place in our school where students go when they feel stressed/anxious/scared/nervous/tired/frustrated/etc. The Kennedy Korner is full of resources such as fidgets, breathing balls, social stories, zones of regulation visuals, yoga mats and instructions, informational brochures, special lighting, calming music, a trampoline, and a crash pad. When students enter the Kennedy Korner, a dedicated educator assists them with processing their feelings and using the resources in the room. So far, it’s been a hit! Students AND staff love this room! I use this room REGULARLY to help alleviate some of my own anxiety!

Moving forward, I’m excited to continue providing students with resources and supports they need to process their anxiety and other emotions. I think these are important steps as we educate students post-pandemic. What kind of innovative things are you doing to support students post-pandemic? Like, comment, share away!

This year, I transitioned from a more traditional disciplinary approach to Restorative Practices. As a side note, when I first started this transition, I referred to the approach as Restorative Discipline/Restorative Justice. But, I recently attended a conference on Restorative Practices where the speaker explained that Restorative Practices focus more on relationships/relationship building, as opposed to rules, discipline, and consequences. Therefore, we should refer to them as “practices”, rather than some set of disciplinary procedures to follow.

Initially, I think this is what interested me most about Restorative Practices. I was drawn to the notion that, sure, rules, expectations, consequences, and traditional disciplinary measures help. In fact, I’ve worked with students for whom a detention and a parent phone call home suffice and are the only disciplinary measures necessary. However, as I continue in my career in education and meet more and more students, I’ve noticed that traditional disciplinary approaches and consequences are only a band-aid. Traditional disciplinary measures don’t seek to understand the underlying causes of behavioral issues. In order for me to truly understand my students and the underlying causes for their behaviors, I have to build relationships with them. After all, it’s not the right rules that make a classroom or a school an amazing place to be for kids; it’s the right relationships (Maynard and Weinstein, 2019).

Anyways, things started off slowly with the transition to Restorative Practices. By no means are restorative practices time-efficient. Truthfully, Restorative Practices require more time, patience, and energy as opposed to more traditional disciplinary measures. What is more, the transition is often confusing for both teachers and students. I recall working through an issue with a student in my office who proclaimed, “I don’t want to do another circle. Just give me the stupid detention so I can get out of here.” To be honest, a few students shared this sentiment. Nevertheless, I kept at it throughout the year.

At the end of the year, I received a pleasant surprise from one of the students who so eloquently expressed her disdain for Restorative Practices, particularly Restorative Circles. She’d been in my office multiple times throughout the year. She had difficulty understanding emotions (hers and other students’ emotions) and seeing things through other students’ eyes. At first, I remember her being dead silent during a circle I was facilitating with her and another student. Yet, as we worked through her issues in circles throughout the year, she really started to come out of her shell and express herself. I used different circle techniques and questions to get her to think about her actions from other perspectives. I encouraged her to dialogue with me and her peers about how her actions harmed herself, her friends/classmates, and the school community. In our circles, we analyzed the harm of our actions, discussed ways to repair the harm, and dialogued about how we could prevent future harm. Eventually, she became a leader in some of our circles. Going from not saying anything to actually helping to facilitate our conversations was eye opening for me. She truly began to understand the importance of relationships and their importance to herself and the school community.

On the last day of school, she gave me a card (see the image above). There wasn’t much to the card. However, like I said before, we started out in a pretty rocky relationship. She didn’t like me and she didn’t want to work through her issues in our circles. She saw traditional disciplinary measures as a way to get out of talking and working through her problems with others. But, as we talked and built relationships, she really began to blossom. She built relationships, started to see how her actions impacted others, and began to empathize with her classmates. For me, that’s a big win for the relationship building power of Restorative Practices!

The “Kennedy Korner!”

Restorative Practices for the Win!