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This site provides links to many articles and resources regarding restorative justice, and many of the principles can be applied in the classroom. This is a good site for those interested in adopting this philosophy in their classroom.

This is a link to a free web tutorial on school discipline and classroom management. You can view it as a Powerpoint, as a Word document, or go through the site itself. Read it all, or select the topic of your choice (links on left hand side)! There is information on various strategies (such as Reality Therapy, Positive Approach, Assertive Discipline, etc), how to lay the foundation for a well managed class, and preventitive practices. The information and tips provided all seem manageable and realistic to implement. The great thing is we can save the files provided through the links, for later reference (when we might have some "spare" time to read).

Consistency, consistency, consistency! This article outlines some great tips on how to create a classroom environment that is under control, but also equally engaged. There is an emphasis on the need for consistency in terms of addressing behaviour, right from the start of the school year. "If other students see that you are serious about enforcing your rules, they will be less likely to test your limits. And test they will." Consistency in this case does not only refer to when you address negative behaviour, but also HOW. Students should feel that you're targeting the behaviour and not them. The article also provides some insight into how classroom set-up can affect behaviour (and how changing things around can better it), how using a variety of teaching strategies can help in managing your class, and how it is okay to ask for help in dealing with students with recurring problematic behaviours.

The Friends program is used across Canada and the world to help children & youth (8-16 years of age) cope with feelings of fear, worry and sadness. I thought that this would be something that could be used in conjunction with a restorative justice approach. Clearly, the whole community needs to do something to deal with escalating bullying.

This handy tool helps you save time and energy by creating a classroom floor plan online. Be prepared to set up your classroom when you arrive by adding and moving around furniture on this web site and then printing off your floor plan and bringing it to school. Use what you have learned about classroom management to help set up your ideal classroom.

Part 4 of this free online resourse dealves deeper into the need for students to feel empowered and using praise and encouragement to help meet this need and in turn prevent classroom management issues. It offers specific strategies to improve praise including how to structure it and when it is appropriate.

How to get your students on board with how you want your classroom run. The checklist is a list of things that you should cover in the first day (e.g. washroom policy) and addition procedures, routines, and strategies.

The article by Gary Maclean discusses the importance of management in the classroom. He defines management as "designed to bring students to their ultimate objective". Gary briefly outlines five elements of classroom management: organization, simplify, cleaning, standardize and sustain. Most of the article was fairly self explanatory, but the one element I found interesting and very useful that I had not thought of before was cleaning. A busy classroom gets messy, therefore cleaning should be a daily activity. This is not an occasional activity and should be done at the end of the school day. In conclusion, Gary presents us with a great article on classroom management and includes five important elements.

For those who did not sign up for the ELL elective, this video is a little introduction to some effective ways of teaching ESL students. The video identifies some struggles students have through testimonials from actual ESL students and then shows some strategies to use in the classroom. It shows clips from classrooms using these strategies. The following games are previewed in the video: grammar races, "What is it?", mock newscasts, misordered sentences, "What am I?", simulating real world conversations, and sing-a-longs (with hand gestures). The video is only 7 minutes long and worth the watch.

This article provides suggestions on classroom management techniques for children with ODD. It starts out with a description of the behaviour and best practice techniques. It also provides a variety of links to suggestion behaviour management techniques that are proven effective in the classroom. The article also provides links for having a proactive classroom and behaviour contracts.

This post contains 9 insights about teaching and classroom management that this blogger has learned over the course of her career. Some of her ideas may be fresh and some may not, but it's always good to hear from the voice of experience. Take a look at the rest of her blog too -- lots of good stuff about teaching and classroom practices.

This is a resource which is currently being used within my PDS classroom. It provides strategies and solutions for developing the whole student, classroom community, etc. I really like how this resource focuses the development of the child (character, etc) with a specific emphasis classroom management. Check out the table of contents for highlights of the book and see if you're interested.

After yesterday's class I was unsure of how to incorporate restorative justice into my own classroom. This was the reason why I decided to do the remainder of my posts for this class on the theme of restorative justice. I was able to find 3 different lesson plans and one article that a teacher might use in his/her classroom in order to build a community focused on restorative justice. I hope that these links are as much interest to you as they are to me. This first lesson plan comes from two educators in Alberta. The lesson is called the community web. In the community web students learn about different roles in the community and how each of these roles aid in the process of restorative justice. Students each take different roles (eg. teacher, principal, victim, offender etc.). Then, using a ball of yarn the students create a web of strings by passing the yarn around the circle to other participants. Students soon see how interconnected all participants are in the process. This lesson is a great way to show students that there are more people involved in the justice process than simply the victim and offender.

Why stay inside? Taking your students outside can actually improve classroom management and reduce behavioural problems by getting students interested and moving! This article lists reasons to take your class outside, tips for teaching a lesson outside and supplies you may want to take along with you! Happy exploring!

In part 3 of this free online resource the need for empowerment for students is featured. Offering authentic praise and encouragment is a proven way to encourage students to work hard and repeat appropriate behaviours. Tips on offering authentic and appropriate praise are offered in this section.

Part 2 of this free online resourse focuses again on the need of students to belong but this time explores building strong and positive staff/student relationships to prevent classroom management issues. It even includes a link to a fun "get to know you" survey you can have your students complete! Knowing your students (their likes, dislikes and triggers) and establishing postive relationships is perhaps the most important step in preventing classroom management issues.

I came across this incredible free resource online. It is a mini-course about classroom management that takes a "needs focused" approach to prevent classroom managment issues and to deal with them effectively when/if they do arise. Part one focuses on the need of students to "belong" and contains strategies to build a "classroom community" including student meetings and team building activities.

You cannot ignore bad behaviour or it will just get worse. Here are some basic rules to dealing with bad behaviour: 1-bad behavior, not bad person 2-act but do not react 3-analyze, then respond 4-be consistent and fair The article continues to discuss other issues like inattention, side conversations, heckling, threatening and fighting. In the extreme case of students fighting one another, you should never put yourself between the fighters unless you are certain you can end it with little harm to anyone. The article is from changingminds.org and contains many other great articles.

This website has different categories for stages in a teaching career. There are links for beginning teachers, substitute teachers, mentor teachers and students. They have teaching tips, articles, and blogs and you can also join an email discussion list. I like that you can connect to different aspects of education from one location.

Emotional intelligence in my eyes is related to the restorative justice, but concentrates on the skills needed to use restorative justice. It is more of an awareness of their own emotions, their peers emotions and being able to manges emotions and not lash out at peers.