Penobscot Middle School Students Explore Restorative Practices

In the fall of 2020, Healthy Acadia’s Youth Engagement Coordinator Corrie Hunkler partnered with Penobscot Elementary School to provide Maine Youth Action Network’s Restorative Practices curriculum for their middle school students. Hunkler was invited to social studies and science teacher Chandra Bisberg’s outdoor classroom to work with her students through interactive skill-building lessons focused on listening, reflecting, being curious, responding, and connecting the work of relationships to our communities.

Restorative models are increasingly being explored by criminal justice and education institutions as an alternative to existing punitive systems. In school communities, these models are being used to create effective and appropriate responses to harmful behavior. A formal model is one way that schools can incorporate restorative principles.

The restorative practice model can be an effective and appropriate response to unacceptable behavior within school communities. Much like any process that engages those individuals directly impacted in a decision-making role, student-led processes foster individual and group ownership in ways that rarely materialize in more adult-directed forums. Restorative practices are an equally useful approach for schools and communities in advance of potential conflicts or unacceptable behaviors. 

Healthy Acadia, in partnership with Downeast Restorative Justice and Maine Youth Action Network, offers facilitated learning sessions focused on restorative practices for student communities. The goal of this training curriculum is to 1) guide student participants through the work of re-establishing relationships with one another and to their (school) community; and 2) support those students in their work as peer ambassadors to promote inclusive changes or enhancements within their (school) community.

For more information email Corrie Hunkler at Corrie.Hunkler@healthyacadia.org.