Metta Center note: Restorative Solutions is holding a training on restorative practices in schools in mid-June. The training will be held over 3–5 days in Arizona. Applications due by June 8. Learn more and apply. As I wrote previously, Restorative practices (RPS) are increasingly employed in schools to address discipline in ways that keep students… read more
In this week’s Education Corner, I’d like to share with you this interview with Colman McCarthy on C-SPAN2’s After Words program, which has given me great inspiration in my own teaching this month. As we approach the summer months, it’s a perfect time for us educators to reflect on our own teaching practice, and this interview provides… read more
As I write this, several of my students are completing the AP Literature and Language Exam. Recently I assisted one of my students with answering questions over a poem from a released practice test. Now, I am a teacher who loves poetry. One of my favorite explanations of the power of poetry is from a… read more
May 6: “We want healers of souls rather than of bodies.” –Gandhi (Young India 9-29-1927, p. 327) There is no better time to plant the healing seeds of nonviolence than during early childhood. Children need examples of how to transform their frustration into words and other creative channels, and they are looking to us… read more
Numerous schools have found that when they use zero-tolerance and exclusionary discipline practices, students miss vital instruction time, develop greater disconnection from school, and engage in detrimental behavior. Restorative practices (RPS) emerged to address discipline in a way that keeps students engaged in learning by reinforcing problem-solving skills, managing emotions, building relationships, and changing the… read more
Aware that much suffering is caused by war and conflict, we are determined to cultivate nonviolence, compassion, and the insight of interbeing in our daily lives and promote peace education, mindful mediation, and reconciliation within families, communities, ethnic and religious groups, nations and the world. We are committed not to kill and not to let… read more
Photos: Professor Boaz and me; me presenting at the conference I have been learning under Metta Center board member Professor Cynthia Boaz since December 2014, working on research about the implications of media frames on nonviolent struggle—specifically the ongoing nonviolent struggles against occupation in Palestine. This past week, I presented my findings to faculty and… read more
April 16 “I have noticed it in my own experience that, if we would approach children in humility and in innocence, we would learn wisdom from them.” –Gandhi (Young India, 11-19-1931) I recently made the decision to fill up the bulk of my “free time” by becoming a preschool teacher in a Montessori classroom of… read more
