I was listening to a cool audiobook called Rework by Jason Fried this week. He speaks to how true creativity is doing something useful with whatever you happen to have. Fried points out that therefore the most creative people are often those who have very little … like prisoners. It might be a…
I spoke with a handful of School Leaders on the restorative journey last week who had a similar tale to tell. They said they’ve been delighted with the progress their school has made this year but that “There’s still a lot to do before they can call theirs a restorative school”. I disagree. …
I like weddings for the food options – that being that there are usually only two. Restaurants are far more stressful for me. I can spend hours scouring the choices trying to avoid the dreaded “plate of regret”. In some ways, this odd personality quirk has impeded my ability to work restoratively at school. …
While driving, I’ve been listening to a powerful audiobook called “The Dreaming Path” by Paul Callaghan and Uncle Paul Gordon. I highly recommend. The book warns about what they call “when then” thinking. It calls out a misguided western thinking pattern about happiness and its dependence on certain events occurring first. Examples include: “When I…
My family and I are currently on a long-planned holiday to Greece, a land where my wife, Anthea, has some significant family heritage. We’re extraordinarily lucky to have this opportunity. This week we visited the mighty Greek National Archeological Museum, and my son found a book of quotes by the philosopher Epictetus. One quote got…
In our Partner Schools, we talk about making every square inch of the school restorative. It’s a clear determination that there not be places where Restorative Practices don’t apply or are optional. One of the places where this can be hardest is in the yard. Let’s be honest, if we didn’t do yard duty to…
I meet a lot of school leaders, specifically those who are implementing Restorative Practices. Many of these leaders have discussed phenomena with me regarding experienced teachers who are wed to older crime/punishment/blame-based models of improving student behaviour … and how they’re struggling to budge these teachers. Their experience with these teachers is frustration and exasperation,…
One of the five types of circles we teach educators to deploy in their classrooms is Response Circles. The others are Check-in, Check-Out, Preparation and Learning Circles. I remember my very first Response Circle. I’d only just read a few initial pieces about practicing restoratively and was intrigued enough to try it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t…
Our judicial system has been the most leaned-on method of controlling the community’s behaviour for centuries. That system isn’t perfect, and that’s why we need more than one tool for encouraging the right behaviours and curbing the troubling ones. For this reason, options like Restorative Justice have gained prominence in recent decades because of the…
Last week, a story from the US caught my attention for all of the usual depressing reasons. It’s the story of a teen who took her own life following horrendous violence and bullying. I read the story and then watched the public commentary on social media. I was saddened to read that the most common…