No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain
but has her death in it.
The silence of her dying sounds through
the carousel of language, it's a web
on which laughter stitches itself. How can my hand
clasp another's when between them
is that thick death, that intolerable distance?
(Extract from Memorial by Norman MacCaig)
For a while now, the term 'Restorative Practice' has been banded around. It is mostly by people who have no clue what it is to be fully restorative. I was/am one of those people who thought I was restorative but really was verging on the permissive side. The rigmarole of sending a pupil out to the corridor to have the 'Why have I sent you out? Who have you affected? How can we change this?' conversation has become a mere speck of chalk dust on the board of restorative practice.
Recently, I started a course in the Restorative Approach within the classroom and realised that, while my intentions were pure, I am not a restorative practitioner. This is a point of interest and is something that I am going to be updating on over the next few posts. During the first two parts of the course, I have learned that it is important to make my classroom a restorative environment before I can make my practice restorative. For example, greeting pupils by name as they come in the door, positive appraisal rather than picking up on negative behaviours and incorporating a class circle time to allow pupils to vent their feelings on what they want and expect from each other.
The effects of this on my practice so far are noticeable; much happier classes and a much happier me!
This week, I gained partial responsibility for an S4 class which has meant that I now get the great pleasure of teaching Macbeth! This is something that I am super happy about as it is one of my favourite Shakespeare texts. Having said that, I have neither read, taught nor studied it in about 10 years. So I am getting stuck in with re-reading it and making copious notes on it too.
Overall, a very positive week this week. Having said that, bring on the October break!
Miss.
