Dear Friends,
If you or any of your staff are interested in registering for our Summer Institute in Restorative Practices, please have them do so soon, as registration closes on Monday, May 22nd to give us enough time to compile and mail materials to folks. It's one of the best ways to train folks who need to catch up with the implementation efforts at your school--or to start something and excite others!
And, if you are a Principal or on the Implementation Team for your school, we encourage you to attend our Active Implementation & Evaluation section of the Summer Institute on June 12-13. We have been told by other principals that this was perhaps the most important training for them and is what helped them see the big picture and understand how to develop a realistic 3 year plan.
2023 SUMMER TRAINING INSTITUTE: JUNE 5-13
We are now in our 12th year of the Summer Institute and we hope you or your colleagues might join us for any or all of it. It continues to be very successful and we are always excited to welcome participants from a variety of countries, states, schools, and locations. Please spread the word in your school and District communities! Schools with 3 or more attendees are eligible for a 10% discount. 
Please note: we will again be holding the trainings on the Zoom platform.
This six day Institute (2, 4, or 6 day options) in Restorative Practices is facilitated by the main trainers behind Restorative Solutions (Randy Compton, Catherine Childs and Kevin Pugh) See our About Us page for details of our training staff.
Restorative Practices in Schools: June 5-6 ($350)
Restorative Mediation and Conferencing: June 8-9 ($350)
Active Implementation and Evaluation: June 12-13 ($375)
TO REGISTER click HERE.
(To download the 2023 flyer, click here: (Summer Institute 2023 Flyer)
YEAR END REFLECTION CIRCLES
The end of the school year is a good time for teachers--and staff--to hold Year End Reflection Circles. Year End Reflection Circles allow students--and staff--to share their thoughts and feelings at the end of the year, highlighting what impacted them the most, what they learned about being in the classroom community, and what they learned in class that was hard at first.
Here is an example of a staff Year End Reflection Circle:
- Opening Welcome and Purpose
- Mindfulness Activity
- Reading from Circle Forward
- Circle Prompts Overview
- What have you learned this year from implementing RP, like Circles and Restorative Conversations?
- What has been a success story for you, personally or with your students or colleagues?
- Reading from the Surgeon General’s Advisory on loneliness to set the stage of the Circle (1 or 2 adults reported experiences of loneliness and that was before COVID; loneliness has higher risk factor than smoking, alcohol or obesity)
- Circle
- Thank everyone for sharing
- Small Group Circles of 4-5 (numbered off, choose someone to report out for the group)
- What do you want to do more of next year?
- How can we make our school more restorative next year?
- Report outs from each group
- Energizer: I Like My Neighbor
- Closing Comments
EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS AND THE HEALING EFFECTS OF SOCIAL CONNECTION
Well, one of our leaders finally said it. We have an epidemic of loneliness and isolation in our country. The leader is the Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and he has just released an 82 page Advisory on the subject saying we have a problem and we can heal it. Here are a few of his words from his opening letter:
"Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.
Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis. This Surgeon General’s Advisory shows us how to build more connected lives and a more connected society."
Well, those of us holding Connection Circles in our classrooms and our staff meetings, already are doing this good work. And we now have powerful evidence that we need to keep doing it. If you want to read his letter in its entirety or the whole report, you can check it out HERE.
TRAINING OF TRAINERS WORKSHOP
Just a quick note to say that we had a very successful Training of Trainers Workshop with 23 people from across the US, including Colorado, California, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Our goal is to build internal capacity within schools and districts so if you would like to see your school or district get a person or team trained, let us know. Our next workshop will be in April 2024 but we can always come to you to train a larger team. Our model for implementing Restorative Practices in large school districts is based on a scaffolded approach which includes training experienced practitioners to be school and district trainers. Flagstaff Unified School District is an example of this approach.
Enjoy Spring and Keep Building Community!
All the best,
Randy Compton Catherine Childs
President and Co-founder Principal, Lead Trainer
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