Part One: Restorative Practices and the Skills of Circle Keeping

Restorative Practices build community and can help set things right when the integrity of the community is challenged by harmful behaviors. When people come together for restorative interactions they sit in circles. Circle dialogue is a fundamental element of restorative dialogue. Classroom circles support the two main goals of restorative practices: building community; and responding to harms through dialogue that sets things right. 

Restorative Community in the Classroom

Restorative practices cultivate a culture in which everyone feels like they belong. They build a particular sense of community in which every member--students, teacher, parent volunteers, aides--feel that they are seen, heard, and respected.

The activities in this resource are sequenced to support steady growth in the understandings and skills needed to support authentic dialogue and problem solving. They emphasize fairness through understanding, and including everyone who is immediately affected by challenging circumstances in discovering the solutions. 

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“We have learned a way of having a dialogue that we as a culture did not have. The ability to take real life experiences on our campus and in our community and have a forum to work with them in a way that is transformative in the school is rare. The response to this process has been overwhelmingly positive.”
--A charter school Director

Goals for Students

1. Students will learn to value and regularly use pro-active, positive ways to build and maintain a peaceful classroom community.
   
2. Students will develop and enhance positive and supportive connections with peers.
   
3. Students will develop an understanding of the principles and vocabulary of restorative justice.
   
4. Students will learn how to participate in circle dialogues, including the four circle guidelines.
   
5. Students will learn to use and respect a talking piece.
   
6. Students will learn how to use restorative questions to support conflict resolution and other types of communication.
   
7. Students will learn to identify who is affected by misbehaviors, and how.
   
8. Students will contribute to developing appropriate ideas for how to make things right when harms have occurred.
   
9. Students will learn how and when to ask for a restorative circle.
   
10. Students will learn to communicate how they are affected by given situations using affective statements and restorative questions.
    

Goals for Teachers

1. Teachers will understand the core principles of restorative justice and restorative practices and how they differ from traditional or punitive approaches.
   
2. Teachers will know how to use restorative practices in many situations where punitive discipline approaches might have been used in the past.
   
3. Teachers will know how to introduce and lead circle dialogues.
   
4. Teachers will know how to transition into and out of “circle time” and can switch roles between circle keeper and teacher effectively.
   
5. Teachers will have an understanding of the principle of “connection before content” as it applies to restorative circles.
   
6. Teachers will know how to sequence activities to build trust among students so they become more willing to communicate authentically.
   
7. Teachers will know restorative questions and how to use them.
   
8. Teachers will understand affective communication and will experience how it supports classroom discipline and community building.
   

Goals for Classroom Community

1. The classroom community will have established agreements about how to participate in circle.
   
2. Community members will share a sense of responsibility for maintaining agreements and many members will do so proactively during circle time and at other times, including out-of-classroom time.
   
3. The classroom community will identify specific issues to address and will have honest, authentic discussions about these issues.
   
4. Procedures will be established for calling attention to issues and conflicts and for requesting help.
   
5. Procedures will be established for engaging in restorative dialogues around issues and conflicts.
   
6. It will be emotionally, psychologically, and physically safe for students to share concerns about conflicts, issues, and behaviors that are affecting them.
   
7. There will be high participation by students in circle dialogues, with little or no passing.