One of our major PD focal points prior to the pandemic centered around Adverse Childhood Experiences/Trauma Informed Teaching and how that trauma and certain traumatic experiences can adversely impact brain development - those lessons learned and topics discussed apply now more than ever. We are seeing more students with inappropriate emotional and inappropriate reactions to "old fashioned" classroom discipline systems entering our schools, all over the nation especially in communities with high poverty, so CKH has paired perfectly with our leadership restorative justice philosophy.
**There is no replacement for trusting, caring relationships and providing multiple opportunities to learn from mistakes.
This edition of Friday Feedback is dedicated to revisiting my philosophy and approaches to discipline - Restorative Justice. A good principal friend of mine shared a solid Twitter suggestion with me awhile back that reminded me how so many of our students don't need another "butt chewing" or negative punishment in their life. What students often need is at least one caring adult relationship and another opportunity to be taught the right way to behave, socialize etc., and then time to reflect how their error(s) impacted others around them. The Twitter clip is at the bottom by Brian Mendler - behavior interventionist guru and a great Twitter follow.
Restorative Justice is all about restoring the relationship which was damaged by the misbehavior and making things right between the offender and the offended. Detentions and suspensions alone don't work for most people or the world would be rid of most crime by now; restoring relationships and being re-taught the proper way to behave and respond does. This approach takes a lot of time and energy, no doubt, but the payoff is huge for our students' social skills and soft skills as their brains grow and learn from these experiences and missteps in life.
In closing, David and I's goal is to make sure the student leaves my office understanding what steps they need to take to right their wrong and to restore the relationship(s). The mark of an effective discipline system can really only be measured by the decrease in or elimination of repeat offenses by that student. In other words, we don't want the kids leaving here upset - we want them leaving us having learned.
