Teaching often feels like playing a video game where the difficulty keeps ramping up. You dodge flying pencils like arrows, navigate hallway gossip like trap-filled dungeons, and occasionally wonder if your classroom is just one big glitch.
But what if I told you there’s an ‘expert mode’ hidden in the settings? It’s called restorative teaching, and it turns conflict resolution from a boss battle into an actual conversation.
Survival Mode is Exhausting
Early in my career, success meant making it to Friday without a major incident. My strategy? The classic “ignore, glare, or send to the office” trilogy. It worked, sort of. Like button-smashing through a Zelda fight, I survived, but I wasn’t winning.
Then I tried restorative practices. Instead of demanding, “Why did you do that?” I started asking, “How can we fix this?” Suddenly, kids who’d never apologised were owning their mistakes. One student even admitted, “Yeah, I shouldn’t have thrown that lighter at you miss.” Yes, a lighter… straight at me!
The Power of the “Sorry” Spell
Restorative teaching isn’t about being soft, it’s about being strategic. When two students argued, I put away my yellow and red cards and stopped playing referee. I became a guide. “What happened? How did that make you feel? What do you need to move forward?” Simple questions, but like unlocking a new ability, they changed everything.
The magic happens when students realise conflict isn’t about winning. It’s about understanding. That’s when detention and time off the playground get replaced with genuine “my bad” moments, “I’m sorry how can I fix this?”
Why Bother? Because Kids Remember
The best part? These skills stick. Years later, I now teach restorative practices and I’ve seen many students handle complex and situations and disagreements with the tools I have taught the wider school community. That’s the real win, witnessing teachers move from survival mode to expert.
So, if you’re tired of playing teacher on “hard mode,” try restorative practices. It won’t make teaching easy, but it will feel less like a battle, and the best bit is, you get to restart every day if it does not always work perfectly!
Check out other articles Sheila has written here.