“Education literally shapes the child’s brain and likely produces alterations that lay the foundation for all future learning, emotion regulation and social functioning” (Davidson, 2008). Restorative practices that focus on developing positive relationships are essential for learning to take place and help create the conditions for students to thrive. On the contrary, negative relationships often found in environments where there are punitive discipline systems, can impede learning substantially, literally creating changes in the brains of students, preventing them from being able to access parts of their brain that help regulate emotions, learning and memory. It is imperative that we start early by investing in quality early childhood programs in order to help students develop the social and emotional skills necessary for thriving relationships with themselves and others. Additionally, we must invest in professional development for educators, empowering them to utilize restorative practices while learning how to develop relationships with students and their colleagues. Finally, we must provide safe and meaningful opportunities for students to develop positive relationships with one another in order for them to fully engage in the learning process.

Invest in Quality Early Childhood Education Which Includes Social and Emotional Learning

According to Davidson in his 2008 talk about the neuroscience of social, emotional and academic learning “environmental factors, particularly the affective environment in early life, produce experience-dependent changes in brain structure and function.” (Davidson, 2008) Therefor, it is essential to develop positive and trusting relationships with young children and to help them develop authentic self esteem using restorative practices, which include social emotional learning and character development.  Providing young children with positive experience early on helps them to produce more serotonin… which lowers stress and helps them feel happy which makes them more open to learning, while negative experience cause students to secrete the cortisol hormone, which interferes with emotions, learning and memory.  Researcher Eric Jenson, in his book, Teaching with Poverty in Mind (2009), states that, “Young children are especially vulnerable to negatives effects of change, disruption and uncertainty.  Developing children need reliable caregivers who offer high predictability, or their brains will typically develop adverse adaptive responses.”  Therefor, quality early childhood education and prevention programs are a worthwhile investment.  Data from law enforcement shows that every one dollar invested in early education, saves $16 dollars later on (Hoffman, 2012).  Hoffman’s research shows that negative emotions, such as fear, anxiety and anger, interfere with the working memory. Brain scans actually show changes in the brain and the amount of the working memory that is affected by fear and anxiety. The more student experiences a negative emotion, the worse their memory becomes because it interferes with the functioning of the prefrontal cortex where cognition occurs.  When students learn from caring adults ways to develop social and emotional learning skills, such as mindfulness practices and self regulations skills, these skills not only help at an emotional level, they also help with cognition resulting in improved memory and academic performance.

Commit to Professional Development Focused on Restorative Practices

“Teachers learn content in teacher school, unfortunately they are not taught how their students process all of the information and what to do for students whose brains work differently”  (Hoffman, 2012). It is essential that educators have the opportunity to not only develop their craft as deliverers of content, but also as experts in developing and nurturing relationships with students, families and other staff members. With such a high poverty rate worldwide, it is imperative that today’s educators develop their own empathy and cultural understanding of what their students are going through and dealing with.  When teachers are not trained to identify and understand what is the underlying cause of a behavior a student is presenting, the teacher can actually do more harm then good, escalating the situation to a crisis level, resulting in the student being sent to the office for disciplinary action, being suspended, and even sadly, dropping out of school all together believing that no one cares about them, that they are a troublemaker, they are no good, unlovable and incapable of learning. On the other hand, when educators have an understanding of social and emotional skills, their own and that of their students’, and learn how to utilize restorative practices such as affective statements, affective questions, conferencing and fair process, healthy relationships can be developed and students can become confident, capable, trusting and resilient students and citizens.  For example, using fair process with students helps to strengthen relations and develop trust. Especially with high-risk students whose worlds are constantly changing with inconsistent boundaries often causing students to feel not only afraid, but always on the defensive.  When teachers are sensitive and use fair process whenever they can, giving students voice and choice, it helps students to learn that what they say is important and has value.  Students also learn that when they don’t get their way that it is nothing personal, that it is not because they are not liked or are being punished or that the teacher is being unfair/disrespectful.  Due to the transparent nature of fair process, students gain confidence in sharing their thoughts and feelings, knowing that they will at least be heard in a respectful way, increasing engagement and decreasing discipline problems.

Empower Student-to-Student Relationships

According to Jensen (2009) “Students who know, trust and cooperate with one another typically do better academically…Students will have a hard time bonding with their peers and doing well academically unless they feel safe, appreciated, important and supported.”  So how do restorative practices support this notion of developing student-to-student relations?  Circles help students to see things that they have in common.  They help make visible some of the challenges that individuals are going through, thus developing the empathy and compassion of their classmates.  In order to assess early on how students are feeling about their relationships with others, Jenson suggests administering a survey to discern whether students feel safe at school, whether they belong and fit in with others, if they are in good standing with others and if they feel supported.  Cooperative learning is another way that students can develop relationships with one another and learn how to work in groups, leveraging and honoring their strengths and the strengths of their classmates.

When schools commit to creating quality early childhood education programs that help students develop social and emotional skills, invest in professional development focused on developing the capacities of educators to become restorative practitioners and empower students to develop positive relationships with one another, children literally become wired for success and happiness in school and beyond.

References

Beach, C. (2014). At-risk students: Transforming student behavior. Rowman & Littlefield

Education, Lanham, MA.

Davidson, R. (2008). The Heart-brain connection: The Neuroscience of social, emotional and academic learning. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/richard-davidson-sel-brain-video

Hoffman, G.L. (2012). Brain based learning. [TEDx Chico lecture]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xgzhlm4i3g

Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Wachtel, T. (2012).  Defining Restorative.   Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices. Retrieved on August 7, 2014 from http://www.iirp.edu/what-is-restorative-practices.php#social_discipline_window