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HOPE Initiative: Holistic Ongoing Personal/Professional Experiences

by df-admin

Are you an educator who is experiencing initiative fatigue in addition to compassion fatigue?  Are you looking for professional learning that can also uplift your spirits? There is HOPE! The Virtues Project is a restorative practices framework which addresses the needs of the Whole Child/Whole Adult.  It has SEL and character development as its foundation […]

Why Mindfulness and How to Get Started

by df-admin

This work is personal.  If we can give ourselves the gift of being present and the ability to respond rather than react, this is one of main strategies we can use to de-escalate students and create a calm peaceful classroom environment. What the research is showing is that mindfulness is one strategy that can be […]

Utilizing Morning Circles to Help Strengthen Classroom Communities

by df-admin

I was so inspired by a post written by Jeff Hogan, one of the principals I have the honor of working with in Baltimore County Public Schools, that I asked him if I could re-post it on my blog. Being a generous and enthusiastic servant leader, of course he said, “Yes.”  It has been powerful […]

Virtues from “A” to “Z”

by df-admin

Did you ever wonder how to describe/define the different nuances when comparing virtues such as kindness, caring, compassion, empathy and friendliness or how about determination, steadfastness, strength, perseverance and resilience?  Well wonder no more! My dear friend, Scott Feraco, founder and creative director for The “V” Channel has shared the definition of 52 of the […]

Getting Started with Relationship Building Circles

by df-admin

As this new school year begins, I have been discerning resources I can share that will empower you to get started with circles, that include not only sample circle questions, but also the “what”, “why” and “how”.  “Teaching Restorative Practices with Classroom Circles“, by Amos Clifford, developed for San Francisco Unified School District, I feel […]

Virtues Response Circles

by df-admin

Over the past several years I have had the honor of working with thousands of committed educators from all around the world!  I have learned a great deal from these educators, as well as their students! As a result, I have developed a protocol in response to a scenario that I have found comes up […]

Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance

by df-admin

Zero Tolerance is not the magic bullet for creating safer schools, Restorative Practices is the way to go! Initially, Zero Tolerance policies were created as a way of consistently enforcing suspension and expulsion policies in response to weapons, drugs and violent acts in the school setting.  Over time, the policies moved beyond the originally identified […]