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The great Restorative imperative.

The great Restorative imperative.

People often ask me why I advocate so strongly for Restorative Practices.  I find that the question is usually posed without the expectation of a genuine, rational answer.  It’s almost rhetorical.  The truth is that there are far too many Teachers our there who’ve had a negative experience of Restorative Practices – whether it be the training, the application, the time it required or some misconception that it’s too soft.

Above the list of singular reasons that I can’t help but begin peeling off for why Restorative Practices works and why each and every school should be reaping the benefits of it is that it isn’t targeted at early childhood kids, adolescents, adults or any other age-defined demographic.

It’s embedded in people – all people.  It pays respect to the rules and patterns by which our brains learn to behave.  It taps into the deep limbic needs we have as people and shows us the capacities to connect with others that have been evolving within us for thousands of years.

 That’s why I love the above picture.  In the first week of the 2017 school year we’ve taken Real Schools Restorative Practices training to three Partner Schools catering for the full gamut of learning phases:

  • Top – Narrabundah Early Childhood School
  • Middle – Richardson Primary School
  • Bottom – Yarra Hills Secondary College

And in each context, the key principles stand true and strong.  The best Teachers make commitments to be both Firm and Fair.  They transition students in conflict from Past to Present to Future – instead of letting negative feelings fester in the past.  They strategise to send kids on a positive trajectory in their lives beyond their direct influence.

That’s pretty much why I love Restorative Practices.

Free WEBINAR – Unlocking Student Motivation

It’s a very real question that far too many Teachers are posing for it to be a myth. “What happened to Student Motivation?”

While it’s always been a challenge to harness the attention of students who’d rather be outside having fun, they now have a plethora of distractions to keep them from the critical task of learning.

Register here for this “don’t miss and completely FREE” opportunity on Thursday 16th February at 3.30pm AEDT

The online world, issues with peers, physiological conditions, family circumstances, resilience and self-esteem all contribute in their own ways to make the task of improving motivation one that is complex and ever-changing.For that reason, it stands to reason that some of the old methods of getting in an entertaining speaker or running a “team building” event are letting us down. 

In this webinar, we’ll be matching very real, practical and implementable strategies to the challenges of:

  • increasing engagement and on-task behaviour.
  • capturing the attention of today’s distracted students.
  • elevating and rewarding higher levels of effort.
  • choosing instructional modes that are productively preventative … in preference to “putting out spotfires”.

This Real Schools Webinar is aimed at Teachers, School Leaders and Administrators of all phases of learning.