Restorative Practice Model
Concept map depicting my Restorative Model (click on image for larger view)
In my quest for specific models utilized in schools that emphasize student reflection and self-regulation, I was introduced to Shannon Stanford. Stanford is currently a communications teacher and adviser at Eastern University Academy Charter School (EUACS) who along with a group of her colleagues are currently seeking new ways to improve restorative practices for their students.
EUACS’s has a unique curriculum that provides individual attention, support, and education plans for each student while encouraging a communal sense of commitment to progress and success. EUACS’s philosophy is to develop the student holistically and to produce self-driven and self-aware students. Thus student reflection and self-regulation are highly incorporated into the curriculum and very much a part of the school’s culture.
Building on those activities suggested by Stanford, I constructed the following comprehensive restorative model that would nurture the opportunities for reflection that I sought for my students:
1. My Ideal Environment: student written responses to prompt- What characteristics of the teacher, students, and administrators do you think are needed in order to have a positive classroom environment?
2. Opening up the Conversation: student interview that serve as a segue into the restorative approach
3. Circle: students sit in a circle and discuss thoughts in response to specific prompts
4. Restoring My Character: students write about an aspect of their character they would like to restore and/or improve, providing a specific action plan
5. Apology Letters: students write a letter in the voice of someone who they would like to apologize to them and then a letter to someone they would like to apologize to
6. Final Reflections: students share concluding thoughts on their overall experience
My inquiry revolves around the journey that my students and I took together through this model.
EUACS’s has a unique curriculum that provides individual attention, support, and education plans for each student while encouraging a communal sense of commitment to progress and success. EUACS’s philosophy is to develop the student holistically and to produce self-driven and self-aware students. Thus student reflection and self-regulation are highly incorporated into the curriculum and very much a part of the school’s culture.
Building on those activities suggested by Stanford, I constructed the following comprehensive restorative model that would nurture the opportunities for reflection that I sought for my students:
1. My Ideal Environment: student written responses to prompt- What characteristics of the teacher, students, and administrators do you think are needed in order to have a positive classroom environment?
2. Opening up the Conversation: student interview that serve as a segue into the restorative approach
3. Circle: students sit in a circle and discuss thoughts in response to specific prompts
4. Restoring My Character: students write about an aspect of their character they would like to restore and/or improve, providing a specific action plan
5. Apology Letters: students write a letter in the voice of someone who they would like to apologize to them and then a letter to someone they would like to apologize to
6. Final Reflections: students share concluding thoughts on their overall experience
My inquiry revolves around the journey that my students and I took together through this model.