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…
I’ve heard many teachers bemoan that Term 1’s largest challenge is getting the students back into school shape. Many seem to have forgotten certain key knowledge pieces, fundamental skills, and behavioural traits. But what about us? Is there any teaching slippage over the break that leaves you performing just below your optimum or the level…
To most Teachers, the notion that context is a primary driver of both behaviour and engagement stands to reason. If you’re reading this at home on the couch with the quiet hum of a kettle warming up in the background, you’ll likely engage with the message pretty well. And your behaviour is likely to also…
I cope with some stuff in my life that I probably shouldn’t be coping with. For instance, I have a troublesome right knee, and I live in a two-storey home. So, I cope with the stairs. On that knee’s worst days, it bloody hurts too. The truth is, I should be heading to the physio…
When you work in a highly variable environment you experience inconsistency of outcome, based on the variables in play that day. For example, as somebody who works in a school, you do completely bonkers things like plan for consistency of outcome … and then invite several hundred wild, unfinished brains to wander aimlessly into your…