Professional Learning Alert! Use your tuition reimbursement to take a course through VHEC.

Traditional Discipline Meets Restorative Practice 

A Two Part Hybrid Workshop Series
with T. Elijah Hawkes

Click here to register. 

Series Overview: People appropriately critique traditional school discipline because it can result in devaluing and excluding marginalized students. Restorative justice is often framed as the opposing alternative. But these two systems of responding to harm or infractions of norms don’t need to be seen in opposition. This series will combine theory, practice, and reflection among peers with common visions for how restorative practice can inform both our daily work and our intensive responses to harm.  Part 1: Keeping Order While Creating Belonging This 2-day series is for educators with beginning understanding in how restorative values can intertwine with traditional school practices to help reduce and repair harm, contributing to school cultures characterized by mutual understanding and belonging. Participants will learn how to bring restorative values into traditional disciplinary interventions, such as suspensions, and how such values can live in our classrooms.  Prior to the first workshop, participants will be asked to complete a needs assessment that will inform tailoring the workshop to meet the needs and goals of participants.   Part 2: Problems of Practice and Signs of Success This 2-day series offers participants opportunities to share problems of practice, network with each other, and learn from examples of what the work looks like in various settings. Participants should be actively working to strengthen restorative values in their settings.  Prior to the first workshop, participants will be asked to complete a needs assessment that will inform tailoring the workshop to meet the needs and goals of participants.

Series 1: Jan 18 & Feb 15, 2024 Series 2: Mar 14 & Apr 11, 2024 8:30–3:30 $410 / 12 Professional Learning Hours / Series Attend virtually or in-person at Delta Hotel in S. Burlington

T. Elijah Hawkes, M.S.Ed, is the Director of School Leadership Programs at the Upper Valley Educators Institute (UVEI). He is an advisor to the Polarization and Extremism Research Lab at American University, and a contributing editor with the University of Chicago Press “Schools: Studies in Education.” Prior to joining UVEI, Elijah was a middle/high school principal for 16 years, including ten years at Randolph Union Middle/ High School in Vermont. He has written for Rethinking Schools and Learning for Justice and is the author of two books on school reform.

 

Free Professional Learning Alert- Elementary Math!

The All Learners Network is offering more than a dozen workshops and conferences focused on K-8 mathematics. The offerings are listed here https://alllearnersnetwork.corsizio.com/. 

Any events that list "VT AOE" in the title are free of charge to all Vermont educators. There are a couple of events without this tag, and those do have a cost.

Culturally Responsive Teaching Puts Rigor at the Center

My anti-racist instruction goal for this year is to better understand and support culturally responsive teaching.  As part of this learning journey, I started with what culturally responsive teaching is and isn't.  One helpful resource was this cartoon of the misconceptions of culturally responsive teaching  (I'm choosing not to include a screenshot, and instead linking to Zaretta Hammond's website, in order to honor her intellectual property). 

And I highly recommend the Q and A with Zaretta Hammond that was published by Learning Forward, a professional development resource for educators, linked below. It helped me to think about rigor as an anchor for culturally responsive, anti-racist instruction.

Here's that quick read: Culturally Responsive Teaching Puts Rigor at the Center

Looking for more? 

- Ask your principal or instructional coach to borrow a copy  of Zaretta Hammond's 2014 book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. This was a BSD book club read a couple of years ago. 

- Check out the Anti-Racist Instruction resources at the BSD Teaching and Learning Playbook.