A review by kb_208
Better Than Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management by Dominique Smith, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher

3.0

During my grad program we learned a bit about restorative justice ideas and practices. This book has a lot of great information and examples on the topic. My main problem with this isn't with the book or the information, but more on implementing it. It seems like you could, with a lot of work with you classes, implement many of these ideas within your classroom, but if your school and school district uses traditional punitive practices, it's going to be very difficult to uphold this system and to see an improvement in student behavior. Currently I am a substitute teacher, so I can't imagine too much of this happening very well for me, especially in schools where not much of these ideas are used.
The book does do a good job at laying out the steps to follow for each type of situation you may run in to as a teacher. It shows you the way to do classroom circles, offender-defender dialogue, and some of the more serious stuff that may involve law enforcement or social workers. It's great stuff, but you really need the support of the whole school, and I would say the whole school district. If kids can become acquainted with this method in elementary school, it would be a great benefit to them as they get older.