Recent Posts
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In Most Restorative Programs, the Adults Are Getting All the Practice
A dean who runs two hundred mediations a year becomes extraordinarily fluent in repair. The students in those mediations get mediated once. Fluency goes to whoever holds the practice, and in most schools that is an adult who already had...
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In Most Restorative Programs, the Adults Are Getting All the Practice
A dean who runs two hundred mediations a year becomes extraordinarily fluent in repair. The students in those mediations get mediated once. Fluency goes to whoever holds the practice, and in most schools that is an adult who already had...
Read more → -
The Hammer of Defiance: Why a Student's ‘No’ Is a Tool, Not a Problem
When a student says 'No,' they aren't broken. They're using the only tool they have to protect their autonomy. The adult's job is to offer a better one.
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The Tool We Forget: Listening Before Lecturing
The bell rings and Marcus slides into his seat ten minutes late, the third time this week. Ms. Alvarez stops her lesson mid-sentence. She has asked Marcus about his lateness before, previous conversations haven't yielded solutions, and she feels she's...
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Jasmine Was Using the Best Tool She Had
She had beaten up two girls on the last day of school, at the same time. We spent the summer teaching her tools, not lessons about why fighting is wrong. The difference between those two approaches is the difference between...
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When the Only Tool a Student Has Is a Shove
In a seventh-grade classroom, Marcus was trying to get to his seat, and Elijah had his bag sprawled across the aisle. Marcus asked twice, politely at first, then with the edge that builds when nobody responds. Elijah didn't move. So...
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When the Only Tool Left Is Defiance: Why Listening Comes Before Responding
The pencil tapping started soft. In Ms. Alvarez's 7th grade math class, Marcus sat in the back row, the tip of his pencil hitting the desk in a steady, nervous rhythm. I know what you're thinking, you've seen this before....
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The Detention That Didn't Have to Happen: A Lesson in Toolbox Thinking
When a student walks in late for the third time, the default response is detention. But what if curiosity is actually the tool that helps the student?
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