Circle
September 13, 2015
I haven’t mentioned something that is very important to me yet, and that is the use of Circles in our school. This is a daily opportunity for all of us to connect with each other, be truly heard and be able to truly listen. We have a Community Circle every morning that serves as a check in. If a conflict is brewing, this is a way it can be addressed before it gets bigger. And everyone gets to learn more about each other. The kids have already gotten very familiar with the way circle works, and we even called one in the middle of the day this week to address a conflict that had gotten too big. This is called a Peace Circle and can be called by anyone at any time when trying to work things out on their own is not enough. I was surprised at how much more at ease everyone was after that circle.
The Circle is at the heart of our school and is a large part of our conflict resolution process. This coming week we will also be creating our Civics Board, which will handle more of the rule breaking matters that happen, such as too many kids on the trampoline or not cleaning up after yourself. I think this process will give us all more direction with what to do when we witness a rule being broken.
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