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Is your school a “place of redemption”? Explain.
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My school is a “place of redemption”. We know that sin will get in the way in everything and everyone because we are all fallen. My school handles everything with prayer and with biblical understandings. We encourage spiritual growth in staff, students, and parents. We encourage spiritual accountable between each other. If you understand that we all need to be redeemed or need grace for mistakes, then you will have more Christ-like focus with your students.
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Yes, our school definitely wants us to use restorative discipline, with the goal that the student is restored to the classroom. Our school is more evangelical in its mission. So we understand we have students that need redemption. We have students that need grace. We do want to model a Christ like love toward them and their process. Learning life principles take time to process and work through. Our school encourages that process.
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Yes, we have had staff training and emphasis on Restorative Discipline Practices. We use circle time to facilitate a safe and sharing environment in the classroom where everyone respects each others time to talk. Everyone has a chance to be heard and everyone listens. Those that want to share are invited to do so, and those that do not wish to share do not have to. I initiate this with prayer requests and praise reports, sometimes we have brain teasers or would you rather questions, and sometimes we hit the hard subjects. Once the safe classroom is established and ground rules are established and they see that I have set expectations and each member of the course is held accountable for their actions during this special time, we can get to the heart of why a student is acting out in a way that is causing harm to another person or group. Where is this pain, anger, or meanness coming from. How can we help. How can we pray for God to intervene. I have seen tremendous growth in some children over the years and believe God is blessing this ministry through the practices of restorative discipline. Now, if we could have restorative discipline in some adult circles….. that would be wonderful, but I don’t think we are there yet. 🙂