Using Restorative Practices Proactively

I recently surveyed the educators in my school about what they think of first when they hear the term “restorative practice” (RP). I am lucky to teach in a unique K–12 multidisciplinary public school, so I received feedback from a wide variety of teachers, custodial staff, paraprofessionals, counselors, parent volunteers, and administrative staff. It was a fascinating exercise, and almost all of their answers were similar.

I heard, “Restorative practice is the way we can help students to rebuild relationships and support them moving forward after conflict.” Another educator defined restorative practices as being “all about repair and recovery and helping students find their calm after big feelings.” Another educator aptly defined restorative practices as equitable accountability for both staff and students.

In these responses, I noticed a common trend: Most responses focused narrowly on calming situations and repairing relationships after a major conflict occurred. This perception contradicts a core principle of restorative practice: It should be at least 80 percent proactive, not reactive.

Restorative Practices Are Multidimensional

Restorative practices are a proactive approach to building connection (social capital) and a reactive one for addressing wrongdoing, emphasizing collaboration, accountability, and healing. Interestingly, many of the educators I surveyed, both inside and outside my own school district, focused on the reactive restorative justice component of restorative practices rather than the proactive strategies. Most of these proactive approaches are simple, such as using affective statements and affective questions with students (both one-on-one and in small group conversations) or gathering in circles.

I recently participated in a focused, three-day training led by the International Institute for Restorative Practices. This event helped me realize that many of my classroom routines and procedures could be tweaked to be even more restorative in nature.

My two biggest takeaways were these:

1. I’m already using restorative practices in my classroom, and I can tweak them slightly to make them even more restorative.
2. I, and most educators, focus almost exclusively on the 20 percent of restorative practices that are post conflict and tend to forget that 80 percent of our practice should be proactive and informal.

When schools focus on informal or proactive restorative practices, the need for formal or reactive practices lessens. According to research provided in Annenberg’s EdExchange research paper From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice in Schools, intentional implementation of RP in Chicago Public Schools reduced out-of-school suspensions by over 17 percent. This indicates that adopting RP with a proactive approach improves students’ experiences in school.

Try using more affective statements

When working with students and staff, it’s important to be clear with your communication. Affective statements are “I” statements that express emotion and are connected to behavior. Here are some examples that you can use:

• I felt proud when I watched you complete your book talk successfully last week.
• I feel scared and uncomfortable when you throw classroom supplies.
• I am anxious about the number of staff meetings we are having every month.

Affective statements are a simple way to communicate how others have affected you with their behavior—whether positively or negatively. Using affective statements tends to lessen student defensiveness and boost emotional regulation and awareness.

Try incorporating more affective questions

In conversation, affective questions prompt students to explore, identify, and express their emotions, values, attitudes, and motivations about learning content or interpersonal experiences.

Learning content: Affective questions facilitate reflection and critical-thinking skills that are effective across every grade level and discipline. Here are a few examples:

• Who was affected by this historical event, and in what way?
• What has been the impact of this action or decision on different groups of people?
• What have you thought about since learning about this event?
• What can we learn from this, and how does it relate to our world today?
• What was the hardest part of this situation for the civilians involved?

Interpersonal experiences: The following types of questions encourage empathy, build emotional intelligence, and help repair interpersonal relationships:

• What happened?
• What were you thinking at the time?
• What have you thought about since?
• Who has been affected by what you did?
• What do you think you need to do to make things right?

Whether you use them while delivering content or helping students repair after conflict, adding some affective questions to your teaching repertoire will provide benefits.

Implement Restorative Circles

When you can gather in a circle, on the floor, standing up around the perimeter of the room, or seated in one (or two concentric) circles, you’re breaking down hierarchies and fostering safety, connectedness, and equity by placing everyone, students and staff, on equal footing. Here are some examples of activities you can try with your students.

Morning check-in circles: Stand or sit in and have students share an update or feeling word. This can happen concentrically or in a popcorn manner. Establish whether or not students can pass or not. Try questions such as, “What’s one academic goal you have for today?” or “What’s one thing you remember from yesterday’s classwork?”

Classroom content circles: Socratic seminars are an example of a content-based circle strategy. I use them consistently in my English and Social Studies classes, and my students enjoy them. Because we sit in a circle and have ample eye contact, raising hands is unnecessary. Removing that element further reduces the student-teacher hierarchy.

Creating community agreements: Doing this activity while organized in a circle allows for more student expression, connectedness, and authenticity.

Brown University’s EdResearch for Action brief Strengthening School Connectedness to Increase Student Success asserts, “Elementary and middle-level students who feel connected to school have higher attendance rates, fewer disciplinary problems, and better academic outcomes. They also go on to have better high school graduation rates and greater success in post-secondary education than their less-connected peers.” Restorative circles, whether used in an informal or formal manner, increase school connectedness.

End-of-day or -class check-out circles: Set aside two minutes at the end of class period or the day and get in a circle to share one word about what was learned or how students are feeling (positive, negative, or neutral). If a student shares a concerning word, I follow up with them individually at a different time. This closing activity provides valuable information about student engagement, understanding, and connectedness.

Class circles can address the goals of community building and academic achievement in a restorative way. Teachers can balance high accountability (clear, explicit, and firm boundaries) and high student engagement (supportive, relational, collaborative, and relevant) in order to create a positive classroom or school culture.

Restorative practices aren’t just another task; they are the framework that holds your work together.