From an article from Edmonton, Canada about how restorative practices are being applied in a middle school:
When Spencer Cummings' peers at school started saying "stupid things" and insulting him, the 13-year-old sat in a circle alongside those students and the school principal to explain how the situation made him feel.
It gave Spencer the chance to articulate his hurt feelings and help resolve the conflict. He said the method was more empowering than the traditional approach of having the principal or teacher handle the discipline.
"I could explain to the kids why I thought that was wrong, even though they might know it was wrong," said Spencer, a student at Fultonvale Elementary Junior High School in Sherwood Park.
"Then we talked about what we could do in the future to resolve this issue. I didn't have many issues at all after that....
"I felt really good about it. We just talked out our issues as a group and I didn't find it intimidating because we were just really calm about it. We talked to each other about how we really felt about it and what we thought we all could have done better."
Read "Students form sharing circles rather than play blame game" by Andrea Sands for the Edmonton Journal.
