Restorative Practices

What are they?

In today’s schools, care for the person/s harmed through misbehavior is rarely addressed in intentional ways. Misbehavior is punished leaving the student to feel disconnected from school and at times also feeling like a victim. When misbehavior is not addressed in a restorative manner the focus of academic learning is broke. Working through Restorative Practices, misbehaving students deal with the harm they have caused to individuals and to the school community. An understanding of the harm done and a restoring of safety or relationships starts to happen and the emphasis of learning in a caring environment can resume. The goals of Restorative Practices apply not only to those involved in or affected by misbehavior, but to the larger educational community as well. 

Key Goals of Restorative Practice:

• To understand the harm and develop empathy for both the harmed and the harmer
• To listen and respond to the needs of the person harmed and the person who harmed
• To encourage accountability and responsibility through personal reflection within a collaborative planning process
• To reintegrate the harmer (and, if necessary, the harmed) into the community as valuable, contributing members
• To create caring climates to support healthy communities
• To change the system and why it contributes to the harm

Watch how Restorative Circles are impacting this Oakland high school community.

More About Circling

The videos posted here give you a glimpse of what different circles can look like. You can see the process is much the same. For the sake of time, some things were cut from the videos to show you some different aspects of the circling process. We thank the brave teachers and students who volunteered to be in these videos. They were a little nervous but passionate about getting the idea out there, that circles are an important and preferred part of the school day and are easy to implement with success.

Video Links to Wisconsin Examples

• High School-Brief Orientation of a New Student to the Circle Process (2:37)
• High School-Developing Circle Agreements (6:33)
• High School-A Content Circle (7:17)
• Elementary-A Content Circle (5:36)
• Elementary-Community Building Using Circles (2:09)

The two supplement resources linked here are an Overview of the Circle Process (download) and a Circle Planning Guide (download) to help you develop your own circle. Circles are powerful tools that over time become the heart of your educational day. Give them a try, you can't go wrong. For more support on circling contact one of the Regional Coordinators at the Wisconsin Safe and Healthy Schools Center.

Resources

Books: 

The Little Book of Restorative Justice
Howard Zehr 
Format: Book, Easy Read, 70 pages 
Purchase Price: $4.95

The Little Book of Family Group Conferences 
New Zealand Style - A hopeful approach when youth cause harm 
Allan MacRae & Howard Zehr
Format: Book, Easy Read, approx. 70 pages 
Purchase Price: $4.95

The Little Book of Circle Processes 
Kay Pranis 
Format: Book, Easy Read, approx. 70 pages 
Purchase Price: $4.95

The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools 
Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Judy H. Mullet 
Format: Book, Easy Read, approx. 70 pages 
Purchase Price: $4.95 

For the entire "Little Books of Justice & Peace Building" Series go to: 
www.qoodbks.com

Peacemaking Circles, From Crime to Community 
Kay Pranis, Barry Stuart, Mark Wedge 
Format: Book, 260 pages 
Purchase Price: $15.00

Just Schools, A Whole School Approach to Restorative Justice 
Belinda Hopkins 
Format: Book, 202 pages 
Purchase Price: $39.95

Touching Spirit Bear
Ben Mikaelsen 
Format: Novel, 241 pages, Ages 10-up 
This book talks about Native American Circle Processes and how they are used in restorative justice by telling the story of a young boy's journey from self-destructive anger to forgiveness. 
Purchase Price: $6.99

Websites: 

Safer Saner Schools - New York: http://www.safersanerschools.org/
International Institute of Restorative Practices: http://www.iirp.org/
Restorative Practice E-Forum Articles: http://www.restorativepractices.org/library/index.html
Barron County (Wisconsin) Restorative Justice: http://www.bcrjp.org/