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t’s important to implement restorative practices so that students and faculty can learn to work together. These practices help build a strong community and encourage accountability by acknowledging actions. In the TED Talk video, I loved that she emphasizes teaching instead of punishing. Taking a moment to teach rather than punish can lead students to grow and do better in the future.

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Restorative practices help to build community and build connections. They also help to humanize student experiences, because they are able to connect and reflect with each other. Additionally, in the podcast Restorative Justice and Practices in School, the speakers shared Restorative practices are important because they ensure everyone's voice is heard in the classroom. Something else they shared that stood out to me was that teachers have to be brave enough to have these conversations in the classroom and set the example. While it may be uncomfortable in the beginning to be the only teacher implementing these practices (if that is the case), you will be able to see how restorative practices help your students in the long run.

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I feel that restorative practices are important because they work for you and for your students but it’s also something that helps long-term to build community. In my own schooling experiences, the traditional way of disciplining sometimes made school feel like something I did not look forward to/intimidating—especially in middle school. Therefore, I would like to create that type of learning environment in which students look forward to going. —Priscila

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Implementing Restorative Practices in the Classroom

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Implementing Restorative Practices in the Classroom

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When reading the article A Blueprint for Restorative Conversations by Jorge Valenzuela, which breaks down how to implement restorative practices in the classroom into different steps, the one that stood out the most to me was Step 3 titled Gain individual perspective sharing and empathy building, I think that this step is essential because you're allowing students to share their emotions with you instead of assuming what is wrong. An easy way to do this is the sentence stem " I feel _______ when _______ because ________." This is something that I can see myself implementing in my future classroom to better understand students and allow them to share how they are feeling-it is important to create spaces for this in the classroom.

Diana Pérez

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I think the quote I am leaving class with today that hit me the most and helped me see what restorative practices are is "Don't punish, teach them the skills they need instead". I liked this because I feel that this is what restorative practice is; instead of punishing or dismissing the students for behavior or other reasons, it teaches them the right way. After all, they have different experiences, and we being dismissive can impact them negatively and not be as helpful.

Knapp, L. (2020, March 18). Restorative practices in schools have power to transform communities | Liz Knapp | TEDxMcMinnville [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKa7C-wxZk

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The importance of implementing Restorative Practices in schools is to allow students to not only build relationships with the teacher, but also their peers. The students are able to see the different experiences which allows community building. These practices also foster an open and caring environment where both the faculty and students can feel seen and valued which promotes a better learning for students.

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I've learned that restorative practices are extremely important; it allow us to create an environment where students feel valued and listened to. I really thought the podcast was powerful because it not only tells us a first-hand experience but also how, by being brave and implementing these practices, you'll see the positive impact it has on your students.

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Restorative practices are very important to implement in our classroom to ensure students are learning from one another and learning from any mistakes they may have made. Building relationships with students beyond just getting to know their names is also crucial so students feel valued and like they are an important part of our community... because we ALL make up our own classroom community! :)

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I believe that implementing restorative practices is important because it allows teachers and students to build relationships with one another, and it is important as a teacher to know your students. In readings, we read that it mentions the different ways in which we can have restorative practices by going to support students outside of school and talking to them about their interests. It is important to know that restorative practices don't only happen in the classroom, but they can happen in the community. -Ashley

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Restorative practices are valuable not only while students are in school, but what they've learned stays with them long term. They learn to understand, listen, and respect their peers at a young age, which can help them in their future as professionals. If teachers at every grade level can use restorative practices in some way, they can be a consistent part of a child's education and continue to evolve with them as they grow and transition through upper grades.

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Restorative practices are important to implement in schools because disciplines shape students to have the wrong idea about school. For example, in the video I watched with my group, a student's idea of school was to get into fights. He had this idea because his initial idea of school was where he got bullied, then got into trouble for fighting his bullies. It wasn't until he participated in restorative practices that his point of view changed, and he began to see the potential he had and began working hard again toward a bigger goal. I think it is important for teachers and staff to model restorative behavior because then I can see it being another way to control students.

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Implementing restorative practices is essential to creating a classroom environment where faculty and students feel valued, trusted, and seen. The triangle video referenced the student who saw school as a time to get into fights, but due to restorative practice, he was able to find a trusted adult and find a solution to get him back on track to graduate high school. Therefore, as future educators, we need to value creating community circles and making them a constant routine. If we create community circles, students have a space to feel heard and share any experience inside and outside of school.

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Restorative practices prioritize community building and harm reduction, staple skills for well rounded adults, which is what we want our students to become!