Part 2: Collective Awe During “A Day in the Life of a Scholar Who is a Part of a Restorative Community”

A quick review of the collective awe from Part 1. “The room is momentarily silent as each participant contemplates the powerful impact of Restorative Practices in Schools for themselves, scholars, and staff.”

I’m also in awe.

I ask participants a set of “What if…” rhetorical questions, using a healthy pause between each one. While you read each one ask yourself, “What if I …?”

What if …

• I welcome scholars “just as they are” without judgment?
• I’m not the only one who can meet scholars’ needs?
• I create community with my scholars.
• I teach my scholars how to build relationships with their peers?
• The classroom community learns to take care of each other.

The Small Group Activity

These five thought-provoking questions introduce the section’s main content. Then educators select one of the six concepts and create graphic organizers using key words and images to represent and explain one of the six concepts to the large group. Unfortunately, there were not enough participants for concepts seven and eight.

Instruction Prompt

Here’s the prompt educators are depicting in three parts on their 24” x 36” chart paper.

If your school site is fully intentional implementing Restorative Practices while building restorative relationships, what would you, staff, scholars, and visitors… SEE? HEAR? and FEEL? on campus?

Participants gather around titled charts hung around walls in the room with markers available on the floor. Each group brainstorms and identifies on the chart paper what they would See? Hear? and Feel? on campus if their school site was intentionally creating restorative relationships with both staff and scholars.

Small Group Rotation Incorporates Everyone’s Ideas

What I love most about this strategy is that the small group rotations offer an opportunity for everyone’s voice and engagement. After completing the first chart, a timer is set for 90 seconds. Participants add their ideas to the chart’s existing See? Hear? and Feel? When time is up, they move to the next chart. This continues until participants return to their original chart.

If you were doing this activity thinking about your campus or District office, share what scholars, staff, and visitors would See? Hear? and Feel? What would you say or write?

Oh wait. The ending. Discover the ending to a Day in the Life of a Scholar in Part 3.

Image Sources:

1. 2025. A Day in the Life of… Kimberly Eddy at Websites over Coffee.
2. Bigstock-Question-Mark-114454214 [debatechamber]
3. Bureaucracy (small) [commons.wikimedia.org]  
4. Scott Maxwell Working Together Team Creative Commons [Flickr.com]
5. Dave Gandy 2015 Eye_open_font_awesome_green [commons.wikimedia.org]
6. ear-listen-hear-gossip-sound-whispering [Pixabay.com]
7. heart-2886333_1280 [needpix.com]