It doesn’t take long to realize you’re in the presence of a passionate educator. That’s exactly how I felt when I met Orly Mondell, my guest for this Ask Sarah. Her story is powerful and her commitment to young people, compelling. Here’s the snack-size version of our recent FB Live chat on social-emotional learning and restorative justice practices. Also, for the first time, I’m compiling “Show Notes” so you can quickly grab the resources we mentioned (and some we didn’t). You can also catch the show in it’s entirety, along with all of the discussion from teachers in the comments, on the Teacher2Teacher Facebook page.
SHOW NOTES
I’ve quickly learned one of best parts of having one of these Ask Sarah LIVE conversations with someone else is the resources we end up talking about and accumulate throughout the chat. So, to that end, here’s a collection of our references. We hope these are useful and keep you talking!
Things We Mentioned
- Kids Deserve It, by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome. Orly’s “go-to” book for keeping students at the center.
- Restorative Practices: A Guide for Educators, Schott Foundation. Among other resources, there’s a fantastic infographic here that tightly aligns with (and informed) how I explained restorative justice in the chat.
- “Triggers & Levers: What Physical Therapy Taught Me About Teaching.” I mentioned how my physical therapist taught me quite a bit about teaching the whole child. Here’s that blog.
Things We Didn’t Mention (but might be helpful)
- Youth Court,Teaching Channel. If you want to see restorative justice in action you should check out this video. Reading about it is one thing, but seeing it is always another.
- If it’s resources you need, this is your link: Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools, Edutopia. Click. Read. Scroll. Repeat. You’ll find all kinds of help from this piece.
- Maybe you’re interested in stories of how this is working in schools. Here are a few:
And if you’re still curious and wanting more, try out this piece: “8 Tips for Schools Interested in Restorative Justice,” Edutopia.
We started our discussion hearing Orly’s story and how she became a champion for social-emotional learning. I loved learning about her own journey that intersected with her students’.
We jumped into a question from Andrea who asked: “What’s something you do to create a peaceful school culture?”
Alisha wondered: “How can teachers take care of themselves to make sure they can support students’ social-emotional learning?”
Before we jumped into our last question, Orly and I worked on giving an overview/background on restorative justice practices in the classroom.
We ended with Danielle’s question: “What are some resources and suggestions for using restorative practices in the classroom? I want to know how I can start doing this in my classroom tomorrow!” She got us thinking about what’s underneath these restorative practices: de-escalating shame and fear.
Also, be sure to check out the show notes for links to some just-in-time resources.
Teach openly,

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