Implementation of Restorative Circles in a Second Grade Classroom

The purpose of this qualitative action research project was to determine how the implementation of restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom could contribute to the class community. The project also sought to determine in what ways the use of restorative circles in conjunction with explicit Social and Emotional Learning lessons could impact the Social and Emotional development of the Second Graders in my classroom. This project was conducted in a Title I public Elementary school in the intermountain west. I implemented this project with all 20 of my students but chose a small group of six students to interview and observe more closely for the purpose of in-depth analysis. The data collection methods included video recording of each restorative circle, field journal notes, researcher journal notes, and four rounds of one-on-one student interviews with six of my Second Grade students. Upon analyzing the data collected, findings demonstrated that many of my students expressed an appreciation for the community building benefits included in the restorative circle process. They enjoyed being able to learn more about and from their peers and gain a sense of being known by their classmates. Data also showed that students benefited from the explicit Social and Emotional Learning lessons that were included in the restorative circles, especially in the areas of social awareness and relationship skills and that the restorative circles aided in instilling a sense of ownership over class practices.

Running head: IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES Implementation of Restorative Circles in a Second Grade Classroom by Rachel Salik A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Education Westminster College Salt Lake City, Utah May, 2021 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 2 Abstract The purpose of this qualitative action research project was to determine how the implementation of restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom could contribute to the class community. The project also sought to determine in what ways the use of restorative circles in conjunction with explicit Social and Emotional Learning lessons could impact the Social and Emotional development of the Second Graders in my classroom. This project was conducted in a Title I public Elementary school in the intermountain west. I implemented this project with all 20 of my students but chose a small group of six students to interview and observe more closely for the purpose of in-depth analysis. The data collection methods included video recording of each restorative circle, field journal notes, researcher journal notes, and four rounds of one-on-one student interviews with six of my Second Grade students. Upon analyzing the data collected, findings demonstrated that many of my students expressed an appreciation for the community building benefits included in the restorative circle process. They enjoyed being able to learn more about and from their peers and gain a sense of being known by their classmates. Data also showed that students benefited from the explicit Social and Emotional Learning lessons that were included in the restorative circles, especially in the areas of social awareness and relationship skills and that the restorative circles aided in instilling a sense of ownership over class practices. Keywords: Social and Emotional Learning, SEL, restorative circles, restorative practices IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 3 Table of Contents Chapter I: Introduction .................................................................................................................... 6 Statement of Topic ...................................................................................................................... 6 Significance ................................................................................................................................. 8 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 8 Limitations .................................................................................................................................. 9 Statement of Researcher ............................................................................................................ 10 Chapter II: Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 13 Restorative Circles and Their Role in Restorative Practices ........................................................ 14 Proactive Circles ....................................................................................................................... 16 Responsive Circles .................................................................................................................... 19 Benefits and Challenges of Restorative Circles ........................................................................ 20 Social and Emotional Competence ........................................................................................... 23 Social and Emotional Learning Theory .................................................................................... 26 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter III: Methods ..................................................................................................................... 33 Methodological Approach and Rationale .................................................................................. 34 Setting........................................................................................................................................ 35 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 4 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 36 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 41 Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................................... 43 Ethical Considerations............................................................................................................... 45 Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 46 Chapter IV: Findings..................................................................................................................... 47 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 47 Fostering a Sense of Community .............................................................................................. 47 Community Building.................................................................................................................. 48 Social awareness and relationship skills .................................................................................. 49 Structure and Environment........................................................................................................ 52 Structure .................................................................................................................................... 53 Environment .............................................................................................................................. 56 Open Appreciation of Explicit Social and Emotional instruction ............................................. 61 Ownership Over Class Practices ............................................................................................... 64 Chapter V: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..72 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................ 71 Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 72 Implications for future Research ............................................................................................... 73 Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 74 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 5 References ..................................................................................................................................... 76 Appendix A: IRB Form F ............................................................................................................. 79 Appendix B: IRB Form D ............................................................................................................. 80 Appendix C: IRB Form E ............................................................................................................. 82 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 6 Chapter I: Introduction I was just finishing up preparing for our Math lesson, when the recess bell rang. As I opened the door to welcome my students back into our classroom, eager to watch their minds at work- to see them collaborating and problem solving together- I was met with a distressed, high pitched tone, I knew all too well. “Miss Salik! Miss Salik!” the breathless, desperate cries began, “He wouldn’t let me play and I don’t know why!” “I was trying to tell her a story and she ignored me!” “She doesn’t want to be my friend anymore.” The several confused and disappointed students I met at the door, grasping for my attention and advice, were not worried about becoming mathematical thinkers. They were worried about making sense of the social issues around them, yearning for a peaceful, fair environment, and not able to understand why it didn’t exist outside at recess. I know this story must sound very familiar to any individual tasked with teaching young elementary students. I believe, after developing an accurate understanding of the relationship between a child’s social and emotional well-being and their understanding of themselves and others, these common problems that distress many young children and agonize the adults in charge of them, can be very successfully solved. My goal throughout this project was to discover if and how this can be done through purposeful attention to the development of each student’s self- concept, self-awareness, and relational capacity. This research study was designed to discover if and how one research-based practice can play a significant role in the social and emotional development of young elementary students. Statement of Topic My research study addressed the following main questions: IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 7 1. How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom impact the class community? 2. How can the implementation of restorative circles contribute to the Social and Emotional development of the Second Graders in my classroom? A restorative circle is one component of restorative practices, a systematic approach to cultivating and strengthening peer to peer and student to adult relationships, in an attempt to foster a respectful, equitable social environment (Wang & Lee, 2019). This process works to prevent disciplinary concerns and relational issues through the building of a strong classroom community and proactively manage disagreements and misunderstandings through dignified, structured conversations designed to restore relationships and trust between the individuals involved (Wang & Lee, 2019). In this research study, I sought to discover the impacts of restorative circles. I was open to all findings gleaned from observations and reflections during this study, not just those directly related to students’ relationships and abilities to resolve social issues. I completed the study as an action research project in my own classroom. All of my students were involved in the restorative circles and the observations I conducted involved all of my students. However, I also chose a small group of students to observe closely and conduct one-on-one interviews with. One criterion used to choose members for this small group of students was a hesitancy to contribute to group conversations or participate in class discussions. Another way I chose my six students was based on students who attended class consistently as I wanted to ensure that I have rich, detailed data. Because there is limited research on students’ input and experiences, I focused on integrating student interviews, observations of peer-to-peer interactions, and reflections in order to gather data on students’ opinions regarding the impact of the circles. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 8 Significance Recent research has increasingly pointed to a correlation between effectively implemented restorative practices, including restorative circles, and positive benefits including decreased behavior referrals, (Gregory et al., 2013; Mirsky, 2015) relational capacity of students, (Gregory et al., 2013; High, 2017; Mirsky, 2015; Wachtel 2016), and a strong sense of community (Wachtel, 2016; Wang and Lee, 2017). The purpose of my research was to examine how restorative circles can impact the classroom community in my Second Grade classroom. I took a specific interest in discovering the impacts of these restorative circles on the social and emotional competence of my Second Grade students. While there is growing research on the benefits of restorative practices in high schools, there are limited studies regarding their effect on elementary students, specifically the impact restorative circles have on preventing and intervening with interpersonal issues and other behavior problems. Researchers dedicated to this topic, such as Wang & Lee (2019), Gregory et. al (2013), and Ingraham et. al (2015), all state that there is a lack of research related both to restorative circles in the elementary setting, and on students’ experiences and perceptions of these circles. I hoped to contribute valuable research that describes effective implementation of proactive and responsive circles in a Second -Grade classroom and explains the impact these circles have on individual students and the general class climate. Theoretical Framework As I conducted this study, I operated under the theoretical framework of Social Emotional Learning theory. Social Emotional Learning theory was developed by the Collaborative for Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization well renowned and respected for their IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES theoretical framework centered around the social and emotional development of students. Social and Emotional Learning theory is defined as the process in which individuals gain and effectively execute the understanding, skills, and attitudes essential to understand and manage emotions, create and accomplish positive goals, internalize and demonstrate empathy for others, form and sustain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. (Dusenbury & Weissberg, et. al., 2017). Within the theory of Social and Emotional Learning, CASEL outlines five core competencies. These competencies are self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness, and social interaction skills. (Domitrovich et al., 2017). As I approached my study through the lens of this framework, I took special interest in the ways in which my students are developing their social and emotional competence, specifically in relation to the five core competencies established by CASEL. The use of this framework helped to guide the ways in which I facilitated my specific implementation of restorative circle practices and the ways in which I reflected on and coded the resulting data. Through the theoretical framework, I intentionally chose topics of conversation and explicit teaching of restorative circle structures in a way that best empowered students to grow in their social- emotional intelligence. I reflected on the observations and interview results gathered, through the lens of the Social and Emotional Learning theory. Limitations This study was qualitative in nature and involved a considerably small sample size. Because of this, findings from my study cannot be generalized. Any data gathered as a result of this study is not intended to be prescriptive or to provide objective findings to represent how 9 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 10 restorative circles will affect all school and classroom communities. In addition, this study was conducted during the COVID-19 global pandemic. As a result, instead of conducting the restorative circles in a physical classroom setting with all students sitting in a circle formation as they were designed, the practice was first implemented using an online conference streaming service. Statement of Researcher As a Second-Grade teacher of a group of culturally and linguistically diverse students and of many students living in poverty, I have witnessed the social and emotional struggles several of my students experience, that impact their academic success and the way they view themselves and others. Whether it be the student who cannot figure out why they can’t make or keep friends, the student who is faced with disciplinary action far too often, or the student who struggles with controlling their emotions or working together as a collaborative group, these social and emotional obstacles are a daily occurrence. As Social Emotional learning is a primary focus in our school district, I have seen the positive impacts of implementing research-based Social Emotional practices focused on building students’ relational capacity and self-awareness. However, it is hard not to feel as though these practices are simply being cut and pasted into instructional routines without an established framework in which we as educational professionals can track progress and reflect on results. My goal was to use the research I have conducted regarding restorative circles to focus deeply on one restorative practice, restorative circles, that encompasses the goals of Social Emotional learning, and is implemented in a structured, systematic way that allowed me as a researcher to IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 11 gain significant data regarding the effects this practice has on a Second Grade learning community. My personal paradigm played a role in my research and the way it was interpreted. I operate from a descriptive Interpretivism paradigm. Researchers who hold this paradigm seek to understand society and individuals in society as they are, with an interest in the individual’s subjective perspective and experience (Rossman & Rallis, 2017). As a result of this paradigm, much of my research was focused on personal face-to face interviews and conversations with the participants of my study in order to come to a deep understanding of their viewpoint, beliefs, and lived experiences. I placed a particular emphasis on how the individuals in my study responded and reacted. Based on my personal paradigm and my personal experiences, I hold specific biases regarding my research. I myself, as a learner, struggle at times with freely sharing my ideas and beliefs and collaborating with others in a group without an established relational environment based on consistent and intentional practices developed by the instructor. I have noticed a significant difference between classes in which instructors have incorporated social-emotional related practices and those who have not. When I have been involved in classes in which instructors implement practices such as a shared code of conduct, structured ways of sharing group work and providing feedback, and opportunities for students to establish relationships with each other in the context of the classroom environment, my engagement in the course, connection with my peers, and self-confidence is noticeably heightened. Because of these personal experiences, I could not hide the assumption that my students would be impacted in a similar way. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 12 First, when approaching this project, I held the assumption that English Language Learners in my classroom who struggle with accessing the vocabulary they need to deal with conflict or express their ideas, would directly benefit from the practice implemented in this study. Similarly, I expected that students who struggle with relating with peers and collaborating with them, would gain the explicit instruction and practice they need through the restorative circles. I also expected that when peer to peer conflict occurred, the number of instances in which students require adult assistance to resolve the conflict will decrease throughout the study. As a result of this study, I also hoped that behavior referrals and classroom interruptions due to behavior would decrease. Despite these biases, I was dedicated to producing accurate, consistent, and reliable data throughout the study. Because my study did not focus on behavior referral prevention or the use of restorative circles for the purpose of aiding English Language Learners in vocabulary building, the findings of my study do not provide many explicit examples regarding if or how the circles have helped in these areas. The findings do however, provide many examples of instances in which students used problem solving and communication skills taught and practiced through the circles in order to solve problems. These findings are described in detail in Chapter IV of this paper. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 13 Chapter II: Literature Review Over the last decade, a rich, varied body of research has been conducted, leading to data that suggests that the punitive, authoritative style of disciplinary action implemented in many schools across the nation is ineffective and frequently counterintuitive (Gregory et al., 2013; Manassah et al., 2015; Mirsky,2015). Traditional disciplinary procedures such as detention, suspension, and expulsion, often lead to harmful results such as lowering a student’s likelihood of graduating school by 20% (Gregory et al., 2013), disproportionately overrepresenting African Americans in school infractions (Gregory et al., 2013), and contributing to an increased enrollment in juvenile detention centers (Mannasah et al., 2015). In an attempt to establish a more equitable, positive, and effective system, many school leaders have adopted systemic programs that are centered around restorative practices (Ingraham et al., 2015). Significant and growing research studies point to the advantages of using restorative practices as a tool for prevention and intervention for disruptive behavior in schools (Gregory et al., 2015, Ingraham et. al, 2015, Mirsky, 2015). Although the concept of restorative practices was developed primarily to address disciplinary concerns, studies show that they have many other significant benefits that contribute to students’ overall social and emotional well- being (High, 2017, Mirsky,2015, Wachtel, 2016). The purpose of this literature review is to explain and analyze findings gleaned from previous research studies regarding how restorative circles, a key component of restorative practices, can effectively promote a positive classroom community and climate. I used these research findings to inform the following research questions guiding my study: How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom impact the class community? How will restorative circles impact my students’ social and emotional growth? IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 14 This chapter will discuss current literature regarding the impacts of restorative circles, research-based methods on the implementation of these practices, and the importance of social and emotional competencies. It will also include a description of the theoretical framework I used to guide my research study and reflect on and analyze data. The chapter will conclude with an explanation of how my research extended and expanded prior research. Restorative Circles and Their Role in Restorative Practices Restorative practices were derived from restorative justice, which is the act of looking at criminal justice through a lens that focuses on repairing damage done to people and relationships as opposed to only punishing the offenders (Mirsky2014; Wachtel, 2013). Wachtel makes a distinction between restorative justice and restorative practice by explaining that restorative practices are the overarching set of formal and informal processes that come before the need to react to wrong-doing. They build community and the strong relationships that work to prevent the need for restorative justice (Wachtel, 2013). Restorative practices in schools are rooted in the belief that all individuals deserve to be respected and acknowledged as valuable members of a community. It is as an approach to the creation of a positive climate, often in an attempt to create a whole-school change in the way members of the community relate with each other and solve conflict (High, 2017; Ingraham, et. al; Mirsky, 2014; Wachtel 2013; Wang & Lee, 2017). Wachtel, the founder of iirp (International Institute for Restorative Practice), uses the term social capital, to describe the core function of restorative practices. He explains that when social capital, a strong foundation of relationships and personal connections, is already formed, it is much easier and more effective to respond appropriately to wrongdoing and restore relationships and trust (Wachtel, 2013). This core foundation of restorative practices is also similarly relayed in research conducted by High, in which she claims that the key to working together IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 15 cooperatively and solving problems is the creation and maintenance of dignity. High describes this notion of dignity as the ability for an individual to recognize his or her inherent worth and, in turn, respect and uphold the dignity of others (High, 2017). One key strategy used in restorative practice systems are restorative circles. There are three main types of circles, all conducted in a structured, methodical way, seeking to improve school climate through community building and supporting conflict resolution, ultimately addressing two major purposes of restorative practice: prevention and intervention (Wang & Lee, 2017). These circles allow students valuable opportunities to learn how to expect and ask for respect from others and show that same level of respect to them in return. They also provide them with the opportunity to develop understanding of others’ differences and unique backgrounds and view each individual as a valuable, worthy human being (Mirsky, 2014). Wang & Lee describe the two core circles used as strategies in the greater restorative practice framework. The first, proactive circles, are those that are preventative in nature, focused on facilitating discussions that build community and strengthen relationships. Responsive circles are implemented to address incidents that have occurred in the classroom or school setting (Wang &Lee, 2017). These restorative circles are based on the important belief that when individuals are treated with dignity, recognizing and appreciating the intrinsic worth of each person, they have more of an appreciation and respect for themselves and their identity, and an increased genuine desire to cooperate and work harmoniously with others (High, 2017). A more formal method of applying restorative practice through the use of circles is the restorative conference. A restorative conference is initiated when a serious incident has occurred. In this type of conference, all individuals who were affected by the incident come IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 16 together to participate in the circle and explore the nature of the incident, discuss and hear from those who were affected, and determine what actions to take in order to make things right. (Mirsky, 2011; Wachtel 2016). The conference is led by a trained facilitator, unaffected by the incident, who asks the participants a series of scripted questions that guides them to a greater understanding of the points of view, feelings, and perspectives of all affected individuals. (Mirsky, 2014). Throughout my research study I focused primarily on proactive circles. Proactive Circles Proactive circles, designed to build community and foster strong relationships, contain several core features, but are also versatile both in potential benefits and in procedure. Regardless of the structure and procedure used to conduct the circle, the ultimate purpose is to provide and instill a respectful, equitable atmosphere which promotes the reflective speaking and listening between all members of the class community (Bucci, Cannon, & Ramkarran, 2017; High, 2017; Mirsky,2014; Wachtel, 2013). There are several key features of proactive circles. One of these features is the use of a talking piece. The talking piece is a tangible object such as a stone or a feather that can be passed around from person to person. The talking piece serves as a symbol of respect and of order. When a classmate is holding it, it signals to the rest of the class that he/she is deserving of all members’ full attention. As long as a person is holding the talking piece, he/she can speak without interruption (Bucci, Cannon, & Ramkarran, 2017; Wachtel, 2013). Another key feature of proactive circles is the use of agreed upon norms. Although the specific guidelines and expectations can vary depending on the developmental level of the students, the four core components of proactive circle expectations are that students speak from IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 17 the heart, listen from the heart, speak succinctly, and respect the privacy of their classmates (Bucci, Cannon, & Ramkarran, 2017; High,2017). There is agreement among researchers on the topic of restorative practice, that students should never be forced to share in the circle if they do not feel comfortable (Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2010; Wachtel, 2013). Delivering a mandate that all students must participate is often counterintuitive. Instead, teachers should set the tone that participating is strongly encouraged even when it takes some extra bravery. The understanding that every person has something valuable to share with others should be consistently conveyed. Some strategies that can be used to increase a student’s willingness is to provide wait time, ask them if they would like another peer to help them think of something to share, or allowing them to choose the option of “Pass and come back” (Wachtel, 2013). There are many ways to structure a sharing circle depending on the specific purposes and topic of conversation. Most circle structures follow two main formats described as sequential and non-sequential (Bucci, Cannon, & Ramkarran, 2017; Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2010; Wachtel, 2013). In the sequential format, one individual speaks at a time and passes the talking piece to the person seated next to him/her upon completing the thought or idea. Only the person holding the talking piece is permitted to speak. If classmates have a question or comment regarding the idea that was shared, they must wait until all members have finished sharing (Wachtel, 2013). The strong benefit of this format of circle is that it gives power to students who are often hesitant to speak or who are at times overshadowed by more assertive peers. Because back and forth dialogue is prohibited in this format, it encourages active listening and creates a sense of value and importance in the perspectives of the individual who has the talking piece. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 18 This circle format caters well to circles that are designed around topics or questions posed by the facilitator of the circle. Non-sequential circles function in a more free-form manner. They are designed to facilitate problem solving or brainstorming sessions and allow for a back and forth style conversation. (Wachtel, 2013). This format lends itself well to collaboration and fosters the important skill of building off each other’s ideas. The disadvantage of the non-sequential format is that not every student is guaranteed the opportunity to share. Teachers can utilize a few simple strategies that can serve to encourage all students to share in some manner. These strategies are to mention that you would like to hear from all students, and to end the circle with a closing question that allows students to share what they learned from the conversation. This closing question may elicit new responses and provide additional complexity to the discussion. (Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2010). Proactive circles can serve many purposes and the topic of conversation can vary depending on the need of the specific classroom. Mirsky (2014), suggests starting proactive circles with light, low-risk topics such as sharing favorite activities and foods, sharing facts about themselves, and discussing likes and dislikes. Costello, Wachtel, and Wachtel (2010) agree, explaining that when students are eased into the process and are given the opportunity to understand, learn, and practice the procedures and expectations of a sharing circle in a comfortable context, eventual deeper discussions and collaborations will be more fruitful. High (2017) discusses the importance of balancing the procedure of restorative circles with the need for substantial learning. She explains that restorative circles can be used in academic contexts in order to share new learning or be used to problem solve a decision that should be made by the IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 19 whole class. She argues that restorative circles are more productive and meaningful when they are used in the context of realistic, daily issues and discussions (High, 2017). Responsive Circles Responsive circles are conducted when there are specific relational conflicts or issues that need to be addressed. These conflicts could be peer to peer, peer to adult, or a whole group responsive circle to address a conflict occurring in the classroom environment that is hindering the relationship of the class community (Mirsky, 2014; Wachtel, 2013; Wang & Lee, 2019). Affective statements are at the heart of a successful responsive circle (Mirsky, 2011; Wachtel, 2013; Wang &Lee, 2019). Wachtel explains the importance of the psychology of affect by explaining that human relationships are the most healthy and satisfactory when there is free expression of emotion, or affect (Wachtel, 2013). Mirsky explains how the psychology of affect is transferred into affective statements. Affective statements occur when individuals voice their honest emotions in relation to either a positive or negative behavior from another person (Mirsky, 2011). When teachers and students use affective statements, they humanize themselves and allow the other person to truly experience and understand how a certain behavior affects them (Mirsky, 2011). The simple integration of affective statements has the potential to improve communications, develop and strengthen relationships, and foster respect among members of a school community (Mirsky, 2011; Wachtel, 2013). Researchers on the topic of restorative circles agree that the reason why responsive circles work and have been so effective in the past is because of the change in the dynamics of student- IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 20 teacher relationships (Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel,2010; Mirsky, 2011; Wachtel, 2016). When authority figures do things with people, whether proactively, or reactively, individuals are more likely to trust and cooperate within the shared culture of the community (Wachtel, 2016). When adults take on the position of working together with students to problem solve and find solutions for issues instead of delivering punitive punishments, students are more likely to feel as though adults genuinely care about them (Mirsky, 2014). Benefits and Challenges of Restorative Circles There have been studies throughout the last several years that suggest common benefits and challenges of implementing restorative circles. Gregory, et. al, implemented a study that was published in 2013, with the purpose of exploring whether restorative practices could effectively address the fact that minority students were disproportionally overrepresented in school discipline. The desire to begin this study was largely based on data from the Texas Public school system that showed that African American students were 26.2% more likely to be faced with out-of-school suspension as a result of misconduct compared with Latinos (18%) and White students (9.9%) (Gregory, et. al, 2013). This two-year study was implemented in two large and diverse high schools in a small city on the East coast of the United States. The two schools both took part in a two-year whole-school restorative practice program called safer saner schools. This program was led by trainers from the International Institute for Restorative Practices (iirp), who taught and modeled restorative circle procedures in a two-day workshop with teachers, administrators, and staff and completed several observations and feedback sessions with teachers throughout the course of the program. Throughout this program, proactive and responsive circles were implemented and practiced in an attempt to create a more positive school climate by changing how students and adults interact with each other. Although participation across the two IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 21 schools was significantly imbalanced, with 55 participants from one school, and 357 from the other, the goal of the study was adequately met, as the group of participants formed an ethnically and racially diverse sample with students self-reporting as 44% white, 21% Latino, 3% American Indian, 2% Asian, 5% African American, and 25% mixed race. The triangulation of data used to measure results was strong as well, with methods such as student and teacher surveys, behavior referral data and school discipline records, and observation and reflection of implementation. One factor that may have contributed to a small amount of unreliability is the lack of uniform implementation. The authors of the study stated that across the schools, there was a wide range of levels of implementation from classroom to classroom, mostly due to fundamental ideological differences regarding the nature of teacher-adult relationships. The variation of implementation may also be a strength, as it was able to create a clear picture of the difference between classrooms with a high level of implementation and those who showed some resistance. The results of the study pointed toward a strong connection between improved student- teacher relationships and decreased behavior referrals and strong implementation of the restorative practice program. One finding was that on student reports, a higher implementation and fidelity to the restorative practice model was associated with student perception of the teachers as respectful. Another finding was that although all 29 classrooms participated in the program, the classrooms with significantly higher fidelity of implementation reported a decrease in behavior referrals. The last key finding is that among the 29 classrooms across the two schools, those with teachers who practiced higher restorative practice implementation narrowed the racial discipline gap but did not erase it according to their referral patterns. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 22 Another study developed by Wang & Lee (2017), was focused on responsive circles in four diverse schools in a large urban school district. Two of the schools were elementary schools, one was a middle school, and one was a high school. The student population in the district was comprised mostly of African American students with one-third of the students identifying as white, and just about 10% of students identifying with races other than African American or white. Knowing the importance of teacher and school leader commitment and “buy in” when implementing a new program, the authors of the study chose schools with school administrators who expressed a strong belief that implementing a restorative practice program could greatly benefit their school (Wang & Lee, 2017). The authors of the study sought to explore how responsive circles are used in schools and what factors can lead to effective or ineffective facilitation of restorative circles. One main way the authors conducted data for their study was by using a restorative practice observation tool to track the presence of certain key components of responsive circles. Throughout the study, the data collectors used the observation tool to evaluate 22 responsive circles led by 13 different teachers across the four schools. The authors of the study discovered that most of the responsive circles used in schools were used during in-school suspension to address the behaviors that contributed to the suspension. The other circles occurred in the actual classroom. Four were designed to respond to disruptive behavior, two were studentconflict circles, and two were student-teacher conflict circles. The Responsive practice tool designed to uncover the quality of responsive circles, showed that the components of responsive circles that were most evident in the observations were meaningful discussions and adult and student respect. Based on the researchers’ interview and observation data (Wang & Lee, 2017), several factors appeared to contribute to the facilitation of responsive circles. One factor was a pre-existing relationship of trust and respect IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 23 between the teacher and her students. Another condition that led to successful facilitation was the ability of the teacher to create an environment that supports students in taking ownership of the circle or taking on a leadership role. One of the factors that inhibited or created challenges in the facilitation of effective circles was the significant investment of time as perceived by several teachers in the study. Many felt as though investing the necessary amount of time took away from important academic work. Another inhibitor was a lack of self- confidence in facilitating the circles especially when attempting to create deeper-level discussions and conversations with students without making individuals uncomfortable or defensive. Although the study could have benefited from the addition of surveys, interviews, or observations that specifically reflect the student’s point of view regarding the benefits and effectiveness of restorative circles, the authors did use thorough, varied methods, including consistent teacher interviews, data from the observation tool, surveys, and observation reflection notes to provide helpful insight into what factors contribute to and inhibit successful facilitation of responsive circles as well as in what contexts responsive circles have proven to be useful. Social and Emotional Competence Social and emotional competence is defined as an individual’s ability to relate well with others and understand and regulate his or her emotions. Included in this broad definition are skills such as setting and achieving positive goals, feeling and showing empathy for others, controlling one’s emotions, creating and maintaining positive relationships, and making responsible decisions (Alzahrani, et al., 2019; Domitrovich et al., 2017; Sapra, 2019). There is a strong body of research providing evidence that individuals with a high level of social and emotional competence are more likely to achieve academically, engage in positive IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 24 relationships, and avoid high risk behavior (Alzahrani, et al., 2019; Domitrovich, et al., 2017; Sapra, 2019; Reid & Webster-Stratton, 2004). Children who are described as aggressive, disruptive, and often disliked or rejected by peers are at risk for low academic achievement, dropping out of school, and mental health issues (Reid & Webster-Stratton, 2004; Sapra, 2019). Many longitudinal research studies have made connections between individuals with social and emotional deficits and problems in adulthood with substance abuse, aggression, and delinquency (Domitrovich et al., 2017). According to recent studies, unless a child has achieved a minimal degree of social competence by the age of six, they will have a high probability of experiencing adverse symptoms in adulthood. (Sapra, 2019). Similarly, research shows that students who were described as adequately emotionally and socially competent in Kindergarten were more likely than their less competent peers to be steadily employed at the age of 25 (Domitrovich et al., 2017). There is also research specifically addressing the benefits of social and emotional competence for individuals living in poverty or those who have experienced trauma (Domitrovich et al., 2017; Lafavor, 2016; Sapra, 2019). Lafavor’s study examining the effects of social and emotional competence on early adolescent children living in an emergency homeless shelter, yielded significant evidence that emotional regulation, emotional control, and social skills provide important benefits for students living in poverty. This study, focusing on the academic progress of 86 homeless children, ages nine to eleven, demonstrated that emotional control and social competence contribute to academic achievement. Data from the study shows that social problems and emotional control were predictors of reading and math ability. In children whose Executive functioning was low, emotional control was able to moderate it in order to enhance performance (Lafavor, 2016). Based on the results of her research, the author suggests that school interventions for at-risk IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 25 students must include a focus on social and emotional control in order to produce the strongest outcomes (Lafavor, 2016). Due to the overwhelming amount of research that proves a correlation between social and emotional competence and long lasting academic, behavioral, and personal benefits, research has been conducted in order to seek the most effective ways to instill these skills in children. A recent meta-analysis of 28 studies of elementary school-based interventions designed to enhance social and emotional competence used a coding process in which programs were separated by whether or not they were active (hands on, interactive) or passive (a direct instruction format) (Domitrovich et al., 2017). This coding process revealed that programs that utilized passive approaches had an overall effect of.12 while programs using active approaches had an overall effect of .37 (Domitrovich et al., 2017). While many school-based interventions are diverse in regard to how they promote students’ social and emotional competence, there is a common understanding among developers and facilitators of social and emotional programs, that the interventions should focus on enhancing competence through direct, explicit teaching of social and emotional competencies (Alzahrani et al., 2019; Sapra, 2017). As my research study focuses on exploring how restorative circles can contribute to students’ social and emotional growth, this research regarding social and emotional competence in providing purpose and reasoning behind the implementation of explicit lessons that address social and emotional competence. This research will guide the way in which I implement Social and Emotional learning lessons. In the following section, I will address how the concepts included in the definition of social and emotional competence are detailed through the Social and Emotional Theory, the theoretical framework I will use to guide my study and the analysis of the study results. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 26 Social and Emotional Learning Theory Although the core concepts of Social and Emotional Learning and the idea of educating the whole child is not a new concept in the field of education, it was ultimately given a name and developed into an educational theory by the CASEL organization. In response to the knowledge of the significant benefits of social and emotional competence in young children and the adverse effects of social and emotional deficits, the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), was founded. The members of this organization, formed in 1994, developed the theory of Social and Emotional Learning, and is currently the most well-respected and renowned source on essential, research-based practices relating to social and emotional competence (Dusenbury & Weissberg, et. al., 2017). CASEL defines Social and Emotional learning theory as the process in which individuals gain and effectively execute the understanding, skills, and attitudes essential to understand and manage emotions, create and accomplish positive goals, internalize and demonstrate empathy for others, form and sustain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (Domitrovic,et. al., 2017). Practitioners of this theory guide students to develop their social and emotional competence through explicitly modeling, fostering, and teaching, the five core competencies outlined in the CASEL framework. These competencies are self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills. Throughout my research study, I used research and curriculum guides to provide students with explicit social and emotional learning lessons aligned with these five competencies. The following table illustrates how these five competencies are defined, which key concepts can be taught through explicit lessons, and how they align with each competency. The concepts highlighted are those that I taught in my Social and Emotional Learning lessons through morning meeting and the concepts IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 27 we addressed through our restorative circles. These definitions reflect those created by CASEL and can be found on www.casel.org Competency definition Self-awareness The ability to understand • Identifying emotions your own feelings and • Identifying the Social awareness Key lesson concepts thoughts and how they cause of your contribute to your feelings behaviors. • Self-confidence The ability to understand • Respecting others and empathize with the • Appreciating others’ perspectives of others. This differences includes those from diverse • Empathy cultures and backgrounds. • Kindness • Recognizing other’s strengths • Showing gratitude • Identifying social norms including those that are unjust IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES Relationship skills 28 The ability to create and • Friendship sustain healthy and • Teamwork successful relationships • Active listening • Cultural competency • Collaborative problem-solving • Resisting negative peer pressure • Responsible decision The ability to make making productive and thoughtful choices about personal • Leadership skills Identifying problems • decisions and behaviors Solving problems and be able to evaluate, • reflect on, and adjust these • behaviors and decisions Self-reflecting Critical thinking skills • Responsibilities/role s at school and at home IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES Self-management 29 The ability to control your • Emotional regulation own thoughts, feelings and • Goal setting behaviors in order to • Growth mindset achieve your goals and • Organizational skills maintain relationships. • Stress management • Self-motivation I used this theoretical framework of Social and Emotional learning to guide my research and reflect on the results. This theoretical framework closely aligns with my research in that the core of restorative practices is centered around developing a strong classroom community built on mutual respect and understanding in which individuals recognize their inherent value and are willing to share their ideas and opinions with peers. These goals are major components of the core competencies of social and emotional learning. Using restorative circles, both proactive and responsive, has the potential to act as a powerful structure to develop and nurture students’ social and emotional competencies. This theoretical framework also served as a guide for the conversations and topics I chose for proactive circles. Throughout my research study, I integrated the five core competencies of Social Emotional Learning into the class restorative circle conversations. As I reflected on the data collected from my study, I used the Social and Emotional Learning theory to understand and analyze the results. Observations, reflections, surveys, and interviews were evaluated from the lens of the Social and Emotional Learning framework. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 30 A recent study sought to discover how teachers’ personal interpretations of the Social and Emotional learning model can lead to instances in which students’ cultural values and behaviors can be marginalized and problematized (Wood, 2020). The premise of this study was based on research and theories regarding social power structures in education. As Freire writes, “Education can enlighten, but also oppress” (Wood, 2020, p. 14). The author’s purpose was to determine whether or not there are instances in which education can become a form of disciplinary power and a method of social and cultural reproduction. He did this by examining how teachers’ interpretations of Social and Emotional learning dictate the way they implement the Social and Emotional curriculum. The author’s study took place in four different schools, all implementing Social Emotional curriculum based on CASEL’s Social and Emotional learning theory. The results of this study revealed that many teachers viewed emotional intelligence as the most important component of social and emotional competence and viewed it specifically as the capability to manage one’s emotions. This led to many teachers neglecting the other components of Social and Emotional learning and using the idea of developing a child’s emotional intelligence as a behavior management tool. Many students were targeted based on the way teachers perceived the child’s level of emotional control. Various instances were found in which teachers undermined students’ cultural values and norms based on the specific teacher’s misconceived notion of what all children needed in order to be emotionally intelligent and which students were in the most need of developing this skill. After many teacher interviews, the author found that several teachers described the students needing emotional intelligence as those who came from low socio-economic backgrounds, students who are dressed poorly, and who are deprived nutritionally (Wood, 2020). In some situations, it became clear that teachers’ perceptions of what is and is not appropriate behavior, are connected to their own social and IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 31 cultural contexts. Using this study as a frame of reference helped to ensure that the work I did to integrate Social and Emotional learning into restorative circles aligned with the paradigm that all students’ viewpoints and emotions are valued and respected. I was cautious to fully understand the complex components of social and emotional learning and implement the teaching of the components as intended instead of using it as a prescriptive tool. I also committed to being reflective and aware of instances in which I may have been interpreting the competencies and the way they should be implemented based on my own cultural or social context. Summary Throughout this review of literature, studies and findings have been explained and analyzed in order to demonstrate the past and current research relating to the impact of restorative circles on individual students and the whole-school community climate. Although the topic of restorative practices is still a fairly new concept in the field of education, studies have been conducted to examine the effects of restorative practices on frequency of behavior referrals, components of effective restorative circles, and the disproportionate number of minority students who receive disciplinary action. My research sought to discover and contribute new findings regarding the impact of restorative circles. There appears to be an absence of Social Emotional Learning integration in the restorative circle structure (Ingraham et al., 2015). I worked to address this in my study by implementing the five core competencies of social emotional learning into the restorative circle conversations. My research explored how the integration of the teaching and discussion of concepts and skills embedded in these competencies can enhance the purpose of restorative circles. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 32 Additionally, the majority of studies regarding the impact of restorative circles appear to be focused on middle school and high school students. There is not a considerable amount of research on the effects of restorative circles on elementary students, particularly, how they can foster problem solving and social skills in order to restore trust and repair relationship issues (Gregory et. al 2013; Ingraham et. al 2015; Wang & Lee, 2017). I hope to have contributed valuable research that will lead to informed suggestions on the impacts of proactive and restorative circles on primary students as well as effective and developmentally appropriate methods to enhance the success of these practices. Another way in which my restorative circles extended current research, is due to the environmental obligations that the global pandemic, COVID 19, delivered. As a result of the current public health crisis, a significant portion of the school year was spent online, using the video conferencing tool Zoom, as a method for whole class instruction. When many students did come back to school in-person, some students still remained learning at home, requiring the need for a hybrid format. This provided new research regarding how restorative circles can be implemented in an online environment. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 33 Chapter III: Methods My research study explored the impacts of implementing restorative circles in a Second Grade classroom. A restorative circle is one component of restorative practices, a systematic approach to cultivating and strengthening peer to peer and student to adult relationships, in an attempt to foster a respectful, equitable social environment (Wang & Lee, 2017). This process works to prevent disciplinary concerns through the building of a strong classroom community and proactively manage disagreements and misunderstandings through dignified, structured conversations designed to restore relationships and trust between the individuals involved (Wang & Lee, 2017). In this research study I focused on exploring the following two questions: 1. How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom impact the class community? 2. How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom contribute to my students’ social and emotional growth? Throughout this chapter I will explain the methodological approaches I used in my research study and the reasoning behind those approaches. The setting and participants of my study will be introduced as well as an explanation of the criteria used to determine the participants. I will provide a description of the methods in which the data in the research study was collected and the procedures that were used to analyze the data. The chapter will conclude with an overview of the approaches I took throughout the study to ensure that the research conducted and the data collected and analyzed reflected trustworthiness and credibility. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 34 Methodological Approach and Rationale I used qualitative research to conduct my study. Qualitative research is defined as a continual learning process designed to gain a better understanding of a specific issue through question or problem posing, interacting with participants in the field, collecting and reflecting on data, and sharing that data with others in the field with suggestions of how it can best be used (Rossman & Rallis, 2017). Qualitative research is based on the philosophical belief of empiricism, which describes knowledge as being accessed through direct experience, by immersing oneself in the natural world, focused on listening and watching. (Rossman & Rallis, 2017). Qualitative research is the method of choice for my study because I conducted it in a natural setting with the purpose of closely observing students’ reactions, feelings, and behaviors, and using these observations to draw conclusions related to my research, evaluate and redesign my own teaching methods, and reflect on the data in order to inform my own teaching as well as offer input to others in the field. The specific form of qualitative research I used is action research. Action research is designed to aid the researcher in gleaning insightful information that will provide them with tools to improve their practice (Sagor & Williams, 2017). Within this genre of research, practitioners study an area of their own work that has the possibility of improvement and use results from the study to adjust and better future practice. Action research perfectly relates to my research study, as my purpose was to examine a particular method that I implemented in my own classroom in order to improve the social and cultural community, as well as fostering respectful listening and communicative practices. I used my observations and reflections to inform and redesign my teaching methods. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 35 I conducted this action research by holding proactive restorative circles in my classroom a minimum of three days a week. In our class we called them sharing circles, which is the label I will be using most often in the report of the study. We held these circles in order to build community, learn more about each other and discuss important topics and ideas. As we learned how to be part of a restorative circle, students had the opportunity to learn how to listen and learn from each other, and how to express their thinking to others. In our class, we had a morning meeting each day in which we engaged in mini lessons that related to the five core competencies of Social and Emotional Learning. Many of the topics of our restorative circles were centered around what we learned in those morning meetings. The circle structure gave each student an opportunity to reflect on their new learning and hear the perspectives and experiences from their peers. Throughout the process, I observed and reflected on students’ interactions and discussions during the circle. One way I did this was by keeping observation notes as well as video recording each restorative circle in order to record exactly what occurred during the circle as well as student’s body language and behavior. I chose six students to observe closely based on certain criteria. The specific criteria is explained in detail in a later section of this chapter. I held one-onone interviews with these six students four times throughout the study in order to gain insight into their experiences and opinions and track any patterns I notice throughout the progression of the circles. Setting I conducted this research in my own Second Grade classroom in an urban Title I school located in the intermountain west. At the time of the study, the school was represented by more than 20 different languages and 12 different countries of origin. Approximately 600 students grades K-5 attended this school. 85 % of students received free or reduced lunch. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 36 Resources and programs that were provided for students included free Breakfast in the Classroom program, a PlayWorks program designed to foster social and collaborative skills through structured play, Special Education services, speech services, a half time K-2 counselor, half time 3-5 counselor, Reading intervention services, English Language Development classes, First Steps and Next Steps reading tutoring, reading tutoring offered through the Utah Reads program, free violin and music classes, and an afterschool program providing homework help, crafts and activities, and free dinner for students. Students attended weekly special area classes which included P.E, computer, healthy living, and art. Through a local grant, they also received a half year dance program and a half-year local art program. The setting of the study was altered in accordance with COVID-19 safety guidelines. Because the study occurred during a global health pandemic, instead of structuring the restorative circles in an actual physical circle formation with students sitting side by side, the circles instead were conducted online, using the video conferencing tool ZOOM. I used laminated paper shapes with each student’s name printed on an individual shape. These shapes were placed in a circular formation on a whiteboard so students could visualize when it was their turn and who they were passing the conversation to. When it was a particular student’s turn to talk, his/her shape was placed in the middle of the circle. This action served as the talking piece, signaling that it was that student’s turn to talk, and no one was permitted to speak as long as his/her shape remained in the middle of the circle. Participants All of my 20 students participated in the restorative circles and I gathered data regarding how my class as a whole was impacted as a result of implementing this practice. However, I did IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 37 focus on a small group of six students to observe more closely and interview one-on-one. This small group of students allowed me to gain a more in-depth understanding of how the restorative circle process affected certain individuals. Two of these students were chosen because of their admission of being shy and hesitant to share in public settings. I was interested in seeing whether or not receiving explicit instruction in communication skills and social interaction skills would increase their confidence in verbally sharing with others. The other students were chosen because of their consistent attendance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many families struggled with stable and reliable WIFI, childcare, and other factors that caused students to miss school more frequently than past years. I wanted to choose students who I knew would participate in most of the circles and be present for interviews. My first participant, Emma, was a seven-year- old student who spoke English and Karen and lived with her mother, father, and sixteen-year-old sister. Emma was a motivated, dedicated student who loved to learn. She took her education seriously and made it a point to finish all of her homework and participate in class. Although she participated frequently in class, she often was hesitant to share her ideas in front of the class and described herself as a shy, quiet, student. My next participant, Wade, lived at home with his mother, father, and ten-year-old sister. He went to his Grandmother’s house daily to participate in online school while his mother was at work. Wade was a creative thinker who often contributed very unique and interesting ideas to the class conversation. He got frustrated at times when a peer did or said something to upset him or when he was confused about an assignment. Wade needed a lot of support from his Grandmother to make sure he had his supplies for school and that he completed his homework. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 38 The third participant I chose was Pat. Pat was a thoughtful, curious learner who loved to explore new ideas and ask a lot of questions. Pat was a very friendly child but he struggled at times with knowing when to talk and when to listen. There were instances in which his peers became frustrated or disappointed when he interrupted them when they were in the middle of sharing their thoughts or ideas with him. Cecilia was another participant involved in the study. She was performing above grade level at the time of the study and was a great problem solver. Although Cecilia could quickly understand new concepts and demonstrate understanding she was very hesitant to share her ideas in front of class. When we were participating in a discussion, she avoided raising her hand or asked to be “passed.” Although it was clear through written reflections that she actively listened to both me and her peers, she did not enjoy sharing her thoughts or responding to others’ ideas orally. Another participant, Amy, lived at home with her mother and sister. Amy was a very friendly, thoughtful student who liked to be around others but was a self-proclaimed shy person. She worked hard at school and demonstrated motivation and persistence. She hesitated to work in groups or share openly with classmates. My last participant, Asher, was an African student who lived with his seven brothers and sisters and his mother. Asher spoke both Somali and English fluently. Asher was a very intelligent, curious thinker. Although he was performing above grade-level in terms of his reading fluency and comprehension, he often doubted his abilities and would say that he was not good enough. He would raise his hand and engage in class discussions when the material was IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 39 interesting to him, but he would rarely volunteer personal information or actively participate in “get to know you” activities. In order to provide a trustworthy, authentic portrayal of the data and results gleaned from the study, I employed a variety of data collection methods that I used consistently throughout the research study. I conducted restorative circles in my classroom a minimum of three days a week and I video recorded each circle. Parent/guardian assent was given as video recordings of the entire school day are being recorded per remote learning district guidelines. The six students I interviewed and their parents, were read the parent and participant consent forms over a parent-teacher conference conducted on zooms. The consent forms were displayed on the screen and interpreted in their home language. Parents and students were able to ask any questions they had and the answers to their questions were translated in their home language. All of the students and their parents gave verbal consent to this project and were informed that they could decide to withdraw from participation in the project with no consequences at any point (See appendices B and C). One of the data collection methods that I used was semi-structured or guided interviews. Guided interviews are one-on-one conversations with participants, using a pre- written list of questions to guide the discussion, but allowing for organic responses and changes in the direction of the conversation depending on the participant’s thoughts and ideas regarding their experiences (Lichtman, 2010). Soon after selecting my participants, I conducted one- on-one guided interviews with the six students I chose depending on the criteria, to gain a better understanding of their background, self- awareness, and thoughts and feelings toward school and friendships. This also helped me understand where these students are starting emotionally and socially and IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 40 have a base line with which to measure change and progress. I checked in with these students monthly through a one- on -one interview. The questions and nature of the interview remained similar throughout, so I could best measure how students were changing and growing throughout the study in terms of their social and emotional development as well as other outcomes that appeared through the study. I did, however, allow for the conversation to be natural and freeform, encouraging students to speak freely and add thoughts and ideas that are not directly connected with the interview questions. Below are the three questions used to guide the monthly one-on-one interviews. 1. What do you like about our sharing circles? 2. Have the circles helped you with anything at home or school or have you learned anything new from them? 3. Is there anything you don’t like or would like to change about our sharing circles? Another data collection method I used was a field journal. A field journal is used by qualitative researchers in order to closely reflect on observations made on the research site. Every time I conducted a restorative circle in the classroom, I wrote down my observations. This helped help me track any changes in behavior or interactions throughout the study. It also helped me to adapt the delivery of the circles as needed to make adjustments to increase the efficacy of the restorative circle procedure. I used the field journal to record rich, detailed descriptions of my participants’ reactions. I tracked how often each individual student participated, noticing any changes in body language or length of sharing, as well as how they responded to other students’ responses. Because I video-recorded each sharing circle, I watched and transcribed every circle in the field journal. In addition to the field journal, I also used my own researcher journal that I IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 41 kept at home in order to note any reflections made after the observations, detail insights I may have, and record any adaptations I need to make to the research procedures. The last method I employed in my data collection process was a video recording of the restorative circles. I recorded and transcribed each sharing circle. This process ensured precise documentation of students’ responses, reactions, body language, and behavior. This method also helped to avoid any misconceptions I may have had while observing the circles in real-time. Data Analysis After collecting the data from my research study, I engaged in data analysis using the constant comparative method and following the eight-step process of data analysis. These eight steps consisted of organizing the data, immersing myself in the data through reflection and examination, determining categories, coding the data, producing themes, interpreting results, seeking alternate understandings, and finally, writing a report of my findings and results (Rossman & Rallis, 2017). I decided to use grounded coding (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) in order to code the data from my research project. First, I organized all of my data chronologically including my research journal notes, four rounds of student interviews, field journal notes, and sharing circle transcriptions. I then immersed myself in the data by thoroughly reading all the data compiled, in order to come to a full understanding of the significance reflected through all forms of data collection. I engaged in open coding by jotting down initial codes reflected in the data. I then coded all data a second time and determined categories by establishing recurring themes and patterns during careful examination of the data. I coded the data by representing the common categories within each piece of data with a short one- or two-word description. After coding all IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 42 available data, I revisited the documents a third time to determine overlapping patterns (Lichtman, 2010). I renamed, condensed, and created new codes as necessary. After coding the data, I engaged in a thorough examination and analysis in order to further organize the coded data into four overarching themes. I interpreted these themes to determine the significance of the data and worked to use the organized data to draw conclusions and make inferences. I drew on the theoretical framework of Social and Emotional Learning theory in order to help make sense of the data I collected. Below is an example of how I color coded recurring categories and how these categories emerged to form the four overarching themes. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 43 Trustworthiness I implemented several research-based approaches to ensure that my research study is valid and credible. The first approach I used was triangulation. Triangulation is defined as a procedure in which researchers employ a variety of data collection methods in order to seek connections among multiple and varied sources of information (Lichtman, 2010). Researchers who use this procedure categorize this information into overarching themes. Because I used a variety of data collection methods including guided interviews, student video-recordings, a field journal and a research journal, credibility is established; instead of studying only a fraction of the intricacies involved in the study, I am providing a rich variation of data. Prolonged engagement is another method to ensure trustworthiness. Prolonged engagement is simply described as spending a significant amount of time at the field site and in contact with your participants. As a result of conducting my research in my own classroom, I spent a considerable amount of time with my participants. When I started the final data analysis for my study, I had spent more than 80, seven-hour days with my students. This aids in ensuring that I have more than a shallow overview of my participants’ experiences. Lichtman (2010), asserts that prolonged engagement is a very valuable practice in ensuring validity. When researchers engage in repeated observations, they are able to create a trusting bond with their participants in which rapport is established, and participants tend to feel more comfortable sharing their ideas and experiences openly and honestly. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 44 Reflexivity, another approach to establish trustworthiness, is a procedure in which researchers openly disclose their assumptions, biases, and beliefs (Lichtman, 2010). Because it is impossible for a researcher to not use their own cultural and personal lens in which to interpret data, it is important that they acknowledge and explain early on what biases, assumptions, and beliefs may affect the portrayal of the data and the way they interpret it. Reflexivity aids in the creation of validity because it allows the readers to know how the researcher has approached the study, and separate possible bias or subjectivity from the data analysis. In the researcher statement section of this document, I outlined my personal paradigm as well as my past personal experiences and current assumptions that will affect the way that I interpret the data I collect. I continued to implement reflexivity as I reflected on the data I collected and describe how my beliefs, assumptions, or biases may be reflected in the way I interpreted, analyzed, and drew conclusions from my data. I also participated in a community of practice to further strive to create a valid, trustworthy research study. One important component of a community of practice is described by Lichtman (2010) as peer debriefing. I engaged in frequent peer review with fellow researchers who are familiar with the research I am exploring. Throughout the peer review process, we provided support and challenged each other by questioning the methodology used and inquiring about the role our personal assumptions played in the data interpretation. This process helped to ensure trustworthiness because it allowed the research and its analysis to be viewed from an alternate lens. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 45 Ethical Considerations One important way I conducted the study in an ethical manner, is by ensuring total confidentiality of the participants in the study. I did not disclose the names of faculty, staff, students, the school building, or any identifiable student information. Pseudonyms were used when describing the results of the focus group participants. All of the data collected throughout the study including video recordings, student and parent interviews, and student surveys remained completely confidential. I stored all observation notes, researcher journals, and student interviews on a password-protected computer. Another important practice I used to conduct an ethical study, was providing a clear and accurate summary of the purpose of the research project and the student’s role within it. The parents of the focus student attended an online meeting with me via ZOOM before data collection is started, in order to discuss the nature of the study. They were thoroughly informed of how their student’s data would be used and they were assured that all personal identification would remain anonymous. Parents were able to ask any questions or express any concerns throughout the study and were made aware that they could choose to remove their child from the study at any time. Students were also free to opt out of the study at any time without any consequences. Both students and parents received a written disclosure document outlining the study. The six students I interviewed, and their parents verbally consented to participation in the study before I started data collection. A copy of the written disclosure document was sent to them through e-mail. During the meeting the document was displayed on the screen, and a district interpreter translated the document and answered any questions in the family’s home language. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 46 This research study was conducted with minimal anticipated risk for the participants. The restorative circles I implemented followed the structure and guidelines of research-based restorative practices. All practices I performed throughout the study are in accordance with school and district policies. Lastly, a research proposal for this project has been submitted and approved by Westminster College’s Institutional Review Board, whose members thoroughly examined the details of the project, and make an informed decision to deem the study as ethical (See Appendix C). Conclusion Through the research project outlined in this chapter, I aimed to collect valuable data that can inform my instruction and also provide examples, experiences and observations that translate to informed suggestions for other teachers and school leaders who desire to implement restorative circles in their own classrooms. In the following chapter I provide an account of my students’ reactions, discussions, and behavior from the beginning of the project to the end and communicate the outcomes of the implementation of proactive circles in my own classroom. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 47 Chapter IV: Findings Introduction As I analyzed the results of the various forms of data I collected, many codes evolved through the discovery of patterns and commonalities that appeared through students’ interview responses, contributions to the sharing circles, and observations I made of student interactions during the regular school day. These codes were condensed into categories until finally resulting in four overarching themes that characterized the major findings of this study. These findings aided in addressing the research questions I used throughout the study. These questions were: How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom impact the class community? and How can the implementation of restorative circles contribute to the Social and Emotional development of the Second Graders in my classroom? The four overarching themes that resulted from my data analysis were fostering a sense of community, structure and environment, student appreciation of explicit Social and Emotional instruction, and ownership over class practices. This chapter will describe in detail, how the sharing circles began and evolved in my Second Grade classroom, how various strategies and structures affected the sharing circle results, and how students vocalized their engagement and relationship with the sharing circle process. All of these components will be addressed through a discussion of the four themes listed above. The chapter will conclude with an overview of the ways in which my findings relate with my theoretical framework, the Social and Emotional Learning theory and an explanation of the ways in which my findings addressed my two research questions. Fostering a Sense of Community The theme of community is something I observed throughout the course of the study. Data analysis consistently confirmed that many of my students seemed to crave interaction with their peers. They enjoyed being able to get to know each other and share ideas with each other. I also collected considerable data that demonstrated that students were using the Social and Emotional learning strategies in their daily interactions to help them build a stronger community IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 48 among their classmates. The following two sections provide examples from data sources that aid in explain how community building and the two Social and Emotional learning concepts of social awareness and relationship skills were demonstrated throughout the action research study. Community Building It quickly became clear through observations and interviews, that taking time to converse with each other appeared to make my students feel like they were part of a class community instead of learning in isolation, staring at a computer screen. Although at the beginning of the process, students were not quick to verbalize their feelings or elicit more than one sentence responses, they consistently shared through one-on-one interviews, how important it was to them to have a way to get to know their classmates and share about themselves. Four times throughout the course of the sharing circle project, I interviewed the six students whose portraits were shared in the previous chapter. When asked what they liked about the sharing circles they engaged in during our morning routine, all replied that they enjoyed getting to know their classmates and learning about their lives and the things they like to do. In a November interview with Cecilia she stated, I like the circles because when I started Zoom I didn’t really know those people because they were new to me but when they started sharing I got to know them better. I feel like I have friends even if I’m on the computer. Through this comment, Cecilia demonstrates an appreciation of being able to feel connected to her classmates and make new friends even when learning in a remote setting. When I interviewed Wade, he shared the same sentiment of enjoying getting to know others and also expanded on this idea by showing an interest in others’ differences and a desire to learn more. He responded to my question about what he likes about sharing circles by saying, I can hear about what they did on the weekends. I like to get to know them. I get to hear about what they do for fun and what they like to do. Emma was talking about having a IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 49 sleep over with her nieces. I didn’t know she had any nieces or relatives that lived near her. I knew she came from a different country, so I didn’t know she had a lot of family here. It made me want to learn more about her family and who lives here and who lives in her other country. In this statement, Wade communicates his enjoyment of learning about his peers and getting to know more about them, their family, and what they like to do for fun. He communicates a new curiosity and desire in getting to know more about his classmate after Emma shared this information with him. The remaining four participants expressed similar feelings of appreciation for having time to get to know their classmates. Several of them also expressed the reciprocal, an enjoyment of having the opportunity to, through sharing about themselves, have their classmates get to know them better. When my students openly expressed their appreciation and desire to build relationships with their peers, they demonstrated the process of building social capital. Wachtel (2013) defines social capital as connections that individuals establish in order to form bonds that are based on mutual understanding and trust. He explains that when this social capital is created among students, cooperative action and positive behaviors are some of the major results. In the following section, I will describe some of the observations that demonstrate the impact that the establishment of social capital had on my students’ interactions and problem solving processes. Social awareness and relationship skills Throughout the study, data from sharing circle transcriptions, student observations and interviews, and my own researcher journal pointed toward the development of two Social and Emotional Learning competencies in particular. These competencies are social awareness and relationship skills, two of the five core competencies of Social and Emotional Learning as established by CASEL (1994). IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 50 The following comment from Amy during our November interview serves well in introducing the relationship skill of listening actively to her peers and the social awareness competency of demonstrating concern for others’ feelings. I don’t like talking that much because I am a shy person. I have been trying. I do like listening. I think listening sometimes helps me be a good friend. I think it helps me be a good friend because I can listen and know how people feel and it helps me know what they like and what they don’t like and treat them good. I can do a better job of being kind if I know about the person. Here, Amy illustrates the relationship skill of listening actively to her peers and the social awareness competency of demonstrating concern for others’ feelings. In a recent observation at morning recess, this sentiment shared by Amy was displayed through another one of my student’s reactions to a peer cutting in front of another student in line. Promptly at 9:30 A.M on a cold February morning, I blew the whistle to signal the end of recess. Students immediately stopped their soccer matches, jump roping, and other games, and started running toward the direction of our school building entrance. Because so many of the students arrived at one time, some confusion started about who got there first and who “butted” in front of others. The unstructured mass of little learners soon started to form more of a standard single file line as I approached behind them. As students attempted to find their place in line, one of my students clearly removed himself from his place at the end of the line and seemed to try to subtly slide in front of a classmate who was positioned near the front of the line. Instead of signaling my students to form a circle and quickly review line up procedures as I have before, I decided to observe how the students would solve the problem on their own. The victimized student did not respond verbally but simply lowered his head and looked down at his shoes in dismay. Pat was the student who responded first. He addressed the perpetrator with a serious expression and said, IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 51 Can you go back to where you were? I can tell Ben doesn’t like that you butted him. He even said it remember? When it was his turn to share one time when we talked about things that bugged us or we didn’t like? He said he didn’t like when people butted in front of him (Observation notes, February, 2021). Said perpetrator nodded, said a quick and sheepish “sorry,” and went back to the end of the line. Realizing that I had spent possibly too much time eaves dropping instead of leading my students back inside, I took my own place in the line and we started the journey back to the classroom. I remember being overjoyed that students were making connections and actually remembering what others shared in the circles and also simply remembering what our sharing circles were. However, what I enjoyed much more, was witnessing my students’ capability and desire to recognize others’ feelings, stand up for peers when they noticed any form of injustice even as simple as cutting in line, and being able to appropriately communicate in order to solve the problem. Another observation I noticed in regard to students’ capacity to exhibit social awareness was on a January afternoon in the classroom. In this observation, Amy was working on a water color painting of a cactus during her live-streamed Art class and was getting visibly frustrated. Her hands started tensing up and she would periodically put her head into her hands before picking up her pencil again (Observation notes, February, 2021). A few hours earlier, we had done a sharing circle based off of the guidance counselor’s lesson on goal setting. We shared with each other a goal we had for the future and the steps we could take to help ensure we can meet those goals. Amy shared her goal of becoming an artist when she grew up. Genevieve, a student sitting behind Amy noticing her frustration level, said, “You are doing a great job with your steps to being an artist. Did you get to a tricky part?” Amy responded saying, “This is hard and I keep messing up. I’m trying to make it look good but the colors keep mixing together.” Genevieve, attempting to encourage her, said, “I think it looks good but I’m not an artist like you. But mistakes help us learn so if you think you made a mistake you should keep trying. And IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 52 I can help you if you want.” Amy smiled and responded with a weak but grateful “Thank you.” In this instance, Genevieve demonstrated a characteristic of self-awareness- the ability to empathize with others and share concern for another individual’s feelings. She also demonstrated the relationship skill of taking on another’s perspective when she thoughtfully recognized that because Amy was working toward being an artist, she might have a different understanding of what constituted a “good job.” These observations are two of many that produced a body of codes that related to the overarching theme of community building as a positive result of implementing sharing circles in my classroom. The two core competencies included in Social and Emotional learning that I described in the paragraphs above, are social awareness and relationship skills. Social awareness is defined as the ability to empathize with other people, take into account others’ perspectives, understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and demonstrate compassion and concern for others’ feelings (Dusenbury & Weissberg, 2017). The competency of relationship skills is defined by CASEL as the ability to build and sustain healthy and successful relationships with diverse individuals and groups of peers. Examples of successful relationship skills are communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, standing up for each other, and problem solving collaboratively (Dusenbury & Weissberg, 2017). Structure and Environment As I made observations regarding students’ interactions during the sharing circles and reflected on notes made in my researcher’s journal, many codes relating to levels of participation, elaboration on peers’ ideas, and students’ desire to share, reflected two main factors that influenced students’ interest in sharing and the quality of responses and interactions that took place. These two factors are the specific structures that are used to implement the sharing circle, and the environment in which they take place. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 53 Structure When I first started the sharing circles in early November, I introduced them using the sequential format. In this format, students sit in a circle. One student shares at a time and uses a talking stick to signify that it is his/her time to share. The talking stick is passed around until everyone has had a chance to share (Bucci, Cannon, & Ramkarran, 2017; Wachtel, 2013). Due to the circumstances caused by COVID-19, we all started the year with remote learning using the video conferencing tool ZOOM. To make the necessary adjustments without sacrificing the core components of sharing circles, students’ names were placed on laminated paper shapes and placed into a circle figure on the white board. Each student took turns sharing. I placed a student’s shape in the middle of the circle when it was his/her turn to talk. This process helped my students visualize whose turn it was and understand that it was their responsibility to listen to that person until their circle was placed back into the formation. When a student was done sharing, they held up their thumb to symbolize the end of their turn. We regularly addressed the four guidelines of sharing circles- share from the heart, listen from the heart, share the right amount, and respect privacy. Students were able to reflect on why these guidelines were important and they eventually internalized them. Because this circle structure does not naturally lend itself as well to collaborative dialogue because each student shares one at a time, we ended each circle with a time to share what we learned about a friend who shared, ask a follow up question to learn more, or make a connection. These processes were explicitly taught and modeled for students. Having a time for students to connect with each other’s ideas instead of just sharing isolated statements was important to me. After the first few weeks of the sharing circle, I became worried that the format used was inhibiting students from sharing. Because the topics of conversation at this point included relatively light prompts such as “What did you do this weekend?” and “What do you enjoy doing after school?” I was a little surprised that many of my students were hesitant to share. Upon noticing that not all students were willing to share, I started regularly using sentence starters and IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 54 sentence frames in an attempt to help students process the question and aid in structuring their responses. I saw very little change using this strategy. I started wondering whether or not the circle formation was creating pressure for them to speak before they were ready, thus creating a superficial response because they knew they had to say something. I was also worried that students didn’t seem to demonstrate an interest in what their peers were saying. At the end of each sharing circle, students were given time to ask a question to a peer in order to ask for clarification, receive more information, or make a comment on what a peer said. I was noticing that very few students were choosing to do this. After one more week, and a sustained curiosity to see what would happen with more time and without too much of my own meddling, I observed that responses were beginning to develop and become more thoughtful, focused, and thorough. Students started verbalizing through interviews that they were becoming more comfortable talking in front of their peers and more comfortable using a computer in general. However, although my interviews with the six students indicated in the previous chapter all showed that they were enjoying learning about their peers and sharing about themselves, students were still not asking questions or making comments in a way that demonstrated they had been actively listening or that they were interested in what their peers were sharing. In an attempt to aid in the social interaction piece of sharing circles, I implemented two new strategies. First, I introduced collaborative talk structures to my students. Below are examples of these structures. • I agree with ______________ because_______________. • I disagree with _______________because __________________. • I connect with what ___________said because_____________. • I want to add on to what ________said.” • I am interested in what______said because_______________. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 55 Because these are structures that my students have been successfully employing during their literacy block, I assumed that re-introducing them in the context of sharing circles may elicit more nuanced and thoughtful responses to peers’ statements. Second, I started to use the non-sequential circle method as a way to hopefully create a more organic, natural discussion setting in which students could feel free to respond to a peer’s idea or ask a question right after that peer shared. The non-sequential circle is structured more freely than a sequential circle because there is no set order to determine which student will speak at a certain time. Students are free to have more than one turn, and to add on to or respond to someone else’s comment or idea (Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2010). I didn’t want to lose the component of the circle structure that encouraged every student to share, but I also wanted to move toward more free-form discussions in which students could employ and practice relationship skills such as turn-taking, listening, and asking clarifying questions. I reflected on the outcomes of these strategies in my researcher’s journal. Students appear to become consistently more eager to share their ideas. Their responses are for the most part, very thoughtful and their peers appear to be engaged in what they are saying through the use of their body language. I have been trying to come up with ways to steer the circles more in the direction of collaborative conversations that build off each other rather than just listening to peers share one by one. I tried this with the use of collaborative conversation sentence starters and by changing the format to the nonsequential format in order to see if students would be more apt to respond to peers’ ideas right after the fact as opposed to waiting until the whole sharing process had ended (Researcher’s journal, January, 2020). In this entry, I am reflecting on my concern that students are not building on each other’s ideas or demonstrating a curiosity or interest in their peers’ ideas as much as I hoped to see. I consider IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 56 strategies used in other subject areas of instruction that may be helpful in aiding students in elaborating on each other’s ideas. The next section of this entry explains the results of these efforts. After two weeks of doing this, I noticed that the non-sequential format is allowing students who want to share multiple ideas or think of ideas later on to share more than once. However, it has not been creating a change in terms of students’ adding on, elaborating, questioning, or commenting on their peers’ ideas. The same two students at times will respond to a peer but everyone else stays silent. As far as the sentence frames, they have encouraged those two students who engage in follow up dialogue to use varied language, but otherwise have not made a difference (Researcher’s journal, January 2020). Here, I am noticing that although I have employed strategies that have successfully encourage students to actively participate and extend other peers’ responses in other contexts such as Language Arts, it has not made a considerable impact to the quality of conversation in our sharing circles. Environment The last week of January, 90% of my students returned to in-person learning while the remaining 10% continued their learning with our class remotely. I immediately noticed a significant increase in the quality of discussion while students were in-person as opposed to learning remotely. I comment on this difference in the following excerpt from my researcher’s journal after the first week of the in-person schooling transition. I have noticed a huge difference in the way students are responding to each other during the sharing circles. I have kept the same supports of the sentence frames and collaborative conversation starters. However, now that most of the students have returned to school there has been a significant increase in back and forth dialogue. Students are regularly referring back to each other’s comments when they share and elaborating on or responding to what someone had said earlier. The nature of the sharing has remained the same as well. We are still sharing ideas to IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 57 a question or prompt that is based on the Social Emotional competency we have been focusing on. In spite of the consistency in structure and routine, there is a noticeable increase in sharing without needing prompting or encouragement, and more instances in which students are commenting one peers’ ideas. This makes sense based on the number of students that shared through personal interviews and circle responses, that they would much rather learn and talk with others in-person as opposed to online (Researcher’s journal, February, 2021). Because of the nature of our school’s in-person instruction proposal, the time spent on instruction with the in-person students was slightly reduced. Because of this, I felt a little bit of anxiety regarding the time-constraints and those extra minutes spent on the sharing circles that were interfering with precious academic instructional time. As I understood and valued the research that encourages and promotes Social and Emotional Learning and also proves the connection between Social and Emotional learning and academic growth, I knew that it would remain an integral part of our mornings. However, I wanted to strategically incorporate the circles in a way that would maximize the important social interactions and meaningful discussions and minimize wait time. Although I appreciated the use of the sequential circles, I started exclusively using non-sequential circles as a way to ensure that the discussion was flowing and time was never being wasted. Because safety procedures such as six feet of distance were followed, students still were not able to sit in a circle formation and the same laminated shape procedure was used. I was surprised at the difference between the outcomes of the inperson circle experience and the online circle experience when the exact same format was used. Below are examples of two different sharing circle transcriptions in order to illustrate the variations in interactions. One occurred in the beginning of January when all students were learning remotely, and the next occurred two weeks later when 90% of the students had returned to in-person learning. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 58 Transcription 1: January 12, 2021 Sharing circle topic: Share one way you like to stay healthy. This topic was based on a lesson the students had just finished with the school counselor regarding making healthy choices. Me: I am excited to hear everyone’s ideas on how you like to stay healthy. Remember that when you have your idea in your brain, and there is not a shape in the circle, you can raise your hand to share. When a person puts their thumb up to show they are done, you can ask them a question or make a connection to what they shared if you would like. Ivan: I like to jump on the trampoline. I have a trampoline at home. Cecilia: I don’t know yet... I want to think about it Manny: I like to run a lot and I always run in the yard with my brother. Pat: Running. I run with my brothers. Luke: I exercise and eat vegetables. Clyde: I don’t really know. Genevieve: I do jumping jacks. Amy: I drink water Emma: I play outside with my sister. Wade: I walk with my mom. Asher: I eat good food. No junk food. Ellen: I like to do sit ups and other exercises. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 59 Me: Thank you for sharing those great ideas of how you make healthy choices. Now we will start our question or connection time. Did anyone get a good idea from what someone else shared or does anyone have ideas for others who might want to start a new goal for staying healthy? ** No further comments or questions** In this transcription, students offer minimal responses to their peers’ ideas. Comments and ideas are stated in isolation, without any follow-up questions or remarks. Transcription 2: January 22, 2021: Sharing circle topic: What is a goal you have for the future? Ben: I want to be a police officer when I grow up. Wade: I want to be in the army when I grow up. Ivan: I want to do martial arts Emma: I want to be… When I grow up I want to work in a vet clinic… a veterinarian Ellen: When I grow up I want to be a police officer Pat: I want to be a doctor. Amy: I want to be an artist Ava: I want to be a good dancer. Manny: I want to be a fire fighter. Levi: I want to go to college. Cecilia: I want to have a job where I can work outside. Genevieve: I want to be a scientist. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 60 Me: It is great that you all have dreams and goals for when you grow up. Remember we have been learning that in order to reach big goals we have for ourselves we need to make small steps first. Does anyone have any ideas of what small steps you can take to reach the goal you shared or do you have an idea that could help someone else? Manny: Levi, if you want to go to college, then you can make sure you keep doing a good job in elementary school and all the school after that like middle school and high school. Levi: Lots of school. I can do it though. I can work hard. I want to go to college. Manny: You can do it! Pat: I know if I want to be doctor I need to go to college. Amy: Any you will need to go to high school first and graduate to go to college? Pat: Yes. So maybe my step is to go to high school. Ben: But first you go to elementary and then middle school. Genevieve: Yeah so if you don’t do well in Elementary you can’t go to high school maybe. Pat: Okay that makes sense. My step is to do good in elementary. I will listen and I will do really well. Me: I love how friends helped Levi and Pat come up with that good first step to meet his goal. Does anyone else want to share? Amy: I will practice Art. Cecilia: I want to add on to that Amy. We have Art class here. Doing your best in Art class can help. Amy: Yes, that’s a good idea. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 61 Genevieve: I want to be a scientist and you teach me Science so I am going to do good in Science and ask questions and participate. Wade: I agree with what everyone was saying. We need to do well in school now so we can do what we want later. This second transcription reflects a significant change in the frequency and quality of students responses to their peers ideas. The responses students provide demonstrate first, that they are truly listening, processing, and understanding what their peers are saying and also genuinely interested in what they have to say. These two transcriptions demonstrate a major difference in students’ frequency of responses and verbal connections to their peers’ ideas. They also demonstrate that unlike what I was previously concerned about, my students do appear to be interested in what their peers are sharing and have the desire to make connections to their responses and at times, aid their peers in processing their ideas and helping them problem solve and work through concepts. The remaining circles that were conducted in the in-person setting were all very similar, with many collaborative conversations in which students built on each other’s thoughts and worked together to establish new ideas. Open Appreciation of Explicit Social and Emotional instruction A regular morning routine included a brief morning meeting lesson in which the monthly social and emotional learning component was taught, followed with a sharing circle that led students into a discussion based on a question related to the lesson. The Social and Emotional learning concepts taught throughout this research study were kindness, recognizing emotions, empathy, responsibility, growth mindset, relationships, and respect. All six of the students I interviewed, communicated an appreciation for receiving that explicit instruction. They commented on ways in which the Social Emotional lessons and the IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 62 subsequent discussions in the sharing circles helped them become better friends, communicators, and learners. In a recent interview, when I asked Pat my standard question, “What are some things you are liking about the sharing circles?” He responded with, I really like learning about listening. I like when people look at me because it makes me feel important and I like knowing how to be a good listener to someone else because I didn’t really know before. Teachers and my mom and stuff tell me to listen but I don’t think I really knew how but now I know. Like use body language and don’t interrupt. In this comment, Pat helps to support the research that calls for explicit Social and Emotional instruction. As he relayed, although he had heard the concept of listening quite often throughout his young years, he hadn’t quite understood how to truly put it into practice. He was in need of concrete guidelines that would help him understand he was in fact, practicing the skill of listening. Emma appreciated gaining an understanding of what being respectful means. When I interviewed her, she commented on how learning about respect helped her stand up for herself when she felt like people were not respecting her. Below is an excerpt from one of our interviews near the end of the study. Me: Is there anything you are learning from the sharing circles or morning meeting lessons? Emma: Like the lessons we have on being respectful and when we made our class agreement to help us be respectful. Me: How do you feel like those lessons have helped you? Emma: It helped me know when I don’t feel like people are respecting me. Like I learned I can tell the teacher but sometimes I don’t have to. Like I can use my words. We learned to use our IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 63 words in morning meeting like please respect my space. I say that sometimes when people are too close to me because it’s COVID. In this transcript, Emma comments on learning tools to help her solve issues that she views as disrespectful. She communicates that learning how to use her words to ask for respect from others was helpful to her. Four of the six students interviewed, commented on the goal setting lessons as being valuable in aiding them in making and reaching goals they set for themselves. Cecilia noted, I liked making a goal and talking about how we were doing. I wanted to be prepared so my goal was to have my supplies ready. I saw that during our lesson I didn’t have all my things ready so I know I need to keep working on my goal but now I know how to make a goal. Amy also mentioned her appreciation for learning about goal setting when she said, I liked the goals. I didn’t know how to make goals. Now I know and I think it is good to have goals. I made a goal to read more words in a minute than I did last week. I know it’s my goal so I want to read my 20 minutes a day at home even if I don’t want to sometimes. These two quotes demonstrate an appreciation for learning explicit guidelines and directions for establishing, implementing, and reflecting on goals. Both students express feelings of confidence in knowing what they are working towards due to their understanding of how to set goals. Although my sample size is obviously small and these comments can in no way produce significant data showing that the desire to practice these Social and Emotional skills are a universal outcome of Social and Emotional instruction for most students in most schools, it does help to show that it can have an impact on some students. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 64 A multitude of research on effective implementation of Social and Emotional learning in elementary classrooms, shows that explicit instruction of Social and Emotional learning skills is one of the most important components of successful implementation (Greenberg & Jennings, 2009; Sapra,2017). For example, instead of simply embedding concepts such as relationship building, goal setting, and kindness into instruction, students should receive thorough guidance in regard to what the skill means, the steps involved in acquiring the skill, and how to determine progress in terms of developing the skill. As noted in the previous chapter, I did not use an established Social and Emotional curriculum to teach my Morning Meeting lessons. Instead, I drew on research-based practices and core definitions and concepts supported by CASEL. Ownership Over Class Practices Ownership has become a buzz word in education over the last decade. Often times, when educators refer to students who have ownership over their learning, they are referencing students who have a strong sense of motivation and determination and demonstrate a high level of interest and desire to learn for their own personal reasons instead of simply out of compliance. Ownership in the field of education, although sometimes mistaken as a synonym for traits such as empowerment and engagement, is most commonly defined by educational researchers as the level of investment a learner has in the content they are learning, the ways in which they are learning it, and the spaces they are learning it in (Fletcher, 2008). This is the definition I am referring to as I address the concept of student ownership in this section. Through data analysis, many codes were generated that reflected students’ genuine interest in contributing ideas to make the classroom a better place, and shared suggestions to improve our sharing circles. Students also showed ownership when they reflected on our coconstructed class expectations, analyzing how we were progressing in certain areas and offering input on how to improve. Codes related to student ownership arose through sharing circle transcriptions, student interviews, and through observations of daily student interactions. We regularly discussed as a IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 65 class, the reasons for participating in our sharing circles. Concepts such as we can learn so much from every one of our classmates, we can learn more when we learn together, school is more enjoyable when we know and respect each other, and school is a better place to be when we all feel like we belong, were regular topics of conversation as we engaged in reflections about how successful a certain sharing circle was. We had a quick reflection time one day a week after engaging in a sharing circle. The first day, I guided students into the reflection, posting the four guidelines- share from the heart, listen from the heart, say the right amount, and respect privacy. We entered into a teacher-directed analysis of how we were doing in each component, why each component was important, and which component we could improve in and how we could work towards that improvement. After two or three of those types of teacher-directed reflections, I gradually removed myself from the conversation, and limited my control. Most of the remaining circle reflections were started simply with “How do you think our sharing circle went today?” From there, I would allow students to contribute their own suggestions and ideas as I provided feedback and prompts as needed. Below is a sample of a transcript in which students provide input on how the sharing circles are going well and how they can be improved. Sharing Circle transcript (excerpt) December 11, 2020 Me: Let’s reflect on how our sharing circles have gone this week. What are some things we have done well, and what are some things we can do even better? Amy: Umm… for sharing the right amount… I think we could practice saying more so people can really know what we mean. I don’t think we ever share too much I think we don’t share enough. ** Many students put up a hand signal used in our class to symbolize “I agree” ** Me: What is something we can do to practice that? Wade: Maybe take your time and don’t be nervous. I think sometimes when I am nervous I can’t remember what I want to say. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 66 Emma: Maybe say something and then take a quick break to keep thinking. Pat: maybe we can have even longer to think about what we want to say. This excerpt demonstrates Fletcher’s definition of ownership when students demonstrate an investment in the sharing circle process by taking the time to thoughtfully think about and contribute ideas to improve circle practices. The first week of February, after we had concluded a morning meeting unit on respect, we worked together as a class to co-construct a class agreement of what respect will look like in our classroom. Students shared ideas of how they would like to be treated and how they think they should treat others. When all students agreed on a certain expectation, I wrote it down on a piece of chart paper that I later hung in the classroom to refer to as needed. Students thoughtfully contributed ideas based on what they had learned in our morning meeting lessons and sharing circles, and also on prior experiences in which they either had been treated with respect or had not been treated appropriately. A week later, we used our sharing circle time to conduct a check-in on how we were doing with our agreement. Students discussed which areas they were doing well in, and which areas needed to be addressed. I was impressed and pleased with the level of honesty and vulnerability in which students engaged in the conversation. Some students chose not to verbally participate in the conversation. The students that did, however, contributed very thoughtful, genuine responses. Below is an excerpt from this conversation: Sharing circle transcript: February 11, 2021 Ben: This doesn’t happen a lot but sometimes when we line up people try to butt. I don’t think that’s respectful. Wade: I know I did that once during recess. I’m sorry I won’t do it again. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 67 Pat: We are good at listening when you are talking. I think it’s because you are the teacher. But sometimes when someone else has a turn to talk we are noisy and we don’t active listen like we are supposed to. Amy: Yeah. I saw that happen too. Manny: Yeah, I know that because sometimes when someone talks Ms. Salik asks them to stop because someone is making noise and she has to wait until people are respectful and then they can talk again. Genevieve: We are good at being quiet in the hallway though, Ms. Salik says that. Ben: Yeah. We walk really quiet. This conversation demonstrates the concept of ownership as students work collaboratively to design their class practices. Instead of seeking direction from me or desiring to simply comply (or not) with already established school rules, students demonstrate a genuine desire to play a role in developing a co-constructed agreement in which they can hold themselves and others accountable. An observation I noted shortly after this conversation, also helps in reflecting how one student displayed ownership. I reflect on this in my researcher’s journal. Asher came up to me after coming back from recess today. He told me that he was disappointed that when he accidentally bumped into someone in line hey turned around and yelled at him. He asked me if we could add something to our agreement or talk about it in a sharing circle. He wanted to know what other people think and to make a change in that behavior (Researcher’s journal, 2021). Here, Asher is showing an investment in class practices. He is demonstrating a desire to see change in current student interactions. Instead of seeking teacher intervention, he is holding himself and his classmates accountable to make the change. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 68 Fletcher explains that common ways in which student ownership or investment can be seen, include when students are determined to reach a goal they have set for themselves and when they frequently apply what they have learned to daily activities. Other ways ownership can be seen is when students exhibit a sense of accountability to improve their own learning or their learning environment. These demonstrations of ownership are those that my students displayed through the examples explained above. The concept of ownership as a positive result of restorative circles is supported by research. Gregory et. al (2016), asserts that ownership is a potential benefit of the implementation of restorative circles. One way this development of student ownership can take place is when teachers utilize the circle process to have students collaborate together to develop the expectations for classroom rules and behavioral expectations. When I utilized the sharing circles as a time to create guidelines and expectations together and reflect on class interactions, I consistently noticed students demonstrating investment in improving our class climate and our interactions with each other. Conclusion As I conducted my study and through the data analysis process, I consistently used the theoretical framework of Social and Emotional Learning theory to make sense of my findings and analyze my results. CASEL defines Social and Emotional learning theory as the process in which individuals gain and effectively execute the understanding, skills, and attitudes essential to understand and manage emotions, create and accomplish positive goals, internalize and demonstrate empathy for others, form and sustain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (Domitrovic,et al ., 2017). Throughout the research study, I used the core competencies included in the theory to guide my Morning meeting lessons and intentionally choose the questions for the sharing circles that followed. As CASEL calls for teachers to explicitly teach key Social and Emotional Learning concepts in purposeful and meaningful ways (Dusenbury & IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 69 Weissberg, et. al., 2017), I structured my Morning meeting lessons in such a way that elicited student inquiry, provided hands on activities and multicultural literature to support the concepts, and ultimately ended in a clear, concise definition of the specific concept. I consistently used this theory to reflect on interviews and observations, noting ways in which these core competencies were observed in students’ daily interactions, and generating connections between sharing circle practices and Social and Emotional learning concepts. Based on the findings of this research project, the two overarching questions of my study were addressed. My first research question was, “How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom impact the class community?” The codes that were produced reflected my students’ strong desire to learn about and get to know their peers as well as be able to express their ideas. As interviews and observations continued, students consistently shared positive experiences engaging in conversations and sharing ideas with their classmates. Many students shared the sentiment that the sharing circles made our class feel safe because it feels like they know each other. When students started demonstrating ownership of class practices through their contributions to our co-constructed agreements and reflecting on those agreements in the sharing circles, they reflected a strong sense of community in that they shared an accountability for a smooth-running classroom in which students respect the agreed upon rules and respectfully work together to problem solve when expectations aren’t being met. My second research question was, “How can the implementation of restorative circles contribute to the Social and Emotional Development of the Second Graders in my classroom?” The data I conducted and analyzed through this research study, demonstrated that students appreciated explicit instruction regarding Social and Emotional learning competencies. Many students commented that they appreciated learning how to be a good listener and listen actively. Many other students stated that getting to know their peers helped them understand how to treat IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 70 them well and take into consideration what they like and don’t like. Many class observations indicated that students were often displaying the core competencies of relationship skills and social awareness as they solved problems and used their words to speak respectfully to each other. There were references made to discussion in the sharing circles in order to help solve disagreements. Overall, the findings of this research study showed that, for my students, the use of restorative circles in conjunction with Social and Emotional learning lessons contributed to their sense of community and their ability to engage in successful, sustaining, relationships built on appropriate social interaction skills. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 71 Chapter V: Conclusion Summary of Findings The findings developed through my research project aided in answering the two core research questions listed below. 1. How can implementing restorative circles in my Second Grade classroom impact the class community? 2. How can the implementation of the restorative circles contribute to the Social and Emotional development of the Second Graders in my classroom? One of the major findings demonstrated through the study was that implementing restorative circles allowed my students to get to know each other and learn important communication skills such as waiting patiently, listening to understand, and responding with clarifying questions. Students regularly communicated their enjoyment of getting to know their peers and knowing that their peers were getting to know them as well. A second finding was that the pairing of explicit Social and Emotional Learning lessons with restorative circles played a role in students’ problem-solving skills and their rapport with their peers. Students also openly expressed that learning skills such as how to be a good listener, how to show and ask for respect, and how to set goals, were helpful and valuable to them in their roles as students and as friends. A final finding revealed that when the restorative circles were used to facilitate the co-creation of class expectations and behavior agreements or an open reflection of how the class was functioning as a community, many students displayed a sense of ownership over class practices, demonstrating that they held themselves and their classmates accountable for the execution and maintenance of class routines and class culture. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 72 Recommendations Based on the results of my data analysis, this research study has shown me that the implementation of restorative circles, especially when used to reinforce or expand Social and Emotional Learning concepts, had many valuable benefits for the students in my class. Due to the anomalous nature of this year, I would find it very helpful and insightful to continue this practice when students can start the school year in a face-to-face environment and experience the circle structure the way it was intended. The study has also suggested that providing explicit Social and Emotional Learning lessons and using restorative circles as a way for students to express and elaborate on their understanding and connection with key concepts plays a significant role in their Social and Emotional development. For this reason, I will continue to make morning meetings a priority and use them to focus on core components of the five key Social and Emotional Learning competencies. Based on the positive results this study had on my own students and our overall community as well as the research that supports it, it is my recommendation that other K-12 teachers allocate a feasible amount of time to implement class restorative circles. Although restorative circles can be used for a variety of purposes, including academic, behavioral, and relational, my recommendation is beginning the implementation with the proactive circle structure for the purpose of community building and relationship skills. Although I was able to extend the purpose of the restorative circles to address more than just proactive circles, the benefits of the proactive circles for my students sense of community, belonging, and social interaction skills, were valuable enough to warrant the time spent implementing, preparing, and facilitating the circles. For any teachers new to the restorative circle process and interested in implementing the practice in their own classroom, I would suggest consulting the IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 73 implementation guide provided by Bucci, Cannon, & Ramkarran (2017). This can be found at https://www.iirp.edu/images/pdf/RsmGIW_Restorative_Approaches-_First_10_Days_1.pdf This guide is very helpful for initial implementation as it includes a statement of purpose which provides the research and reasoning behind the use of the circles, as well as an easy to follow 10 day guide with suggested activities and circle prompts. I found that the implementation of proactive circles alone, provided enough positive results to feel confident in the time spent with implementation. However, based on strong supporting research, I would strongly encourage educators to implement research-based strategies that address Social and Emotional learning concepts and routinely incorporate these concepts into the restorative circle practice. In my own classroom, I was able to recognize significant benefits when I used the restorative circles as an extension to a Social and Emotional learning Morning meeting in order to allow students to explore new concepts and ideas and share their thoughts with each other regarding what they had learned in Morning Meeting. Implications for Future Research One way I believe research regarding Social and Emotional learning and restorative circles can be strengthened, is through the implementation of a study centered around family involvement with the circle process. As an educator, I have found that family involvement and engagement is integral in providing the most successful and impactful educational experience for students. I believe it would be interesting and rewarding to see the potential benefits the integration of family participation could provide. Another topic I recommend for future study is the use of restorative circles for academic purposes, particularly student discourse and discussion of key concepts and ideas of academic IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 74 content. Although studies have suggested the benefits of restorative circles as an extension of ideas and concepts learned in a certain subject area, there are not many studies that focus solely on this purpose. It would be meaningful to see the ways in which student collaboration and enhanced subject understanding could be benefited by the structured routine offered through the restorative circle process. Because there have been so many comprehensive Social and Emotional Learning curriculums developed over the past several years, I would recommend research dedicated to a deep exploration of the pros and cons of particular Social and Emotional curriculums and the ways students from various socioeconomic statuses, cultural backgrounds, and geographical locations respond to each one. Conclusion This research project not only provided noticeable benefits in terms of my students’ sense of community with their peers and their Social and Emotional growth, but it made me a more aware, positive, and proactive teacher. I noticed as I conducted the circles, spoke with my students in interviews, and analyzed data, that I became more aware of problematic issues involving social interaction and peer to peer communication, became more eager to identify the tools my students needed to resolve the problem, and learned how to facilitate and scaffold problem solving discussions between peers instead of exercising control. In planning meaningful lessons for my students built around the core Social and Emotional Learning competencies, I became excited and energized as I watched my students actively engage in lessons on topics such as kindness, growth mindset, and goal setting, and witness them utilizing their new learning to become more socially aware, thoughtful, considerate individuals. Although I have always put relationship building at the forefront of my role as a Second Grade teacher, I believe that IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 75 engaging in this project with my students helped me build even more authentic and meaningful bonds with my students. I am confident in saying that this action research project made me a more positive and happier teacher and my students more profound, interesting individuals. If any teacher were to approach me in earnest inquiry regarding whether or not spending precious instructional time and planning on restorative circles and Social and Emotional Learning is really worth it, I would be quick to discard my previous apprehensions and would immediately answer with “Yes, it absolutely is.” IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 76 References Alzahrani, M., Alharbi, M., & Alodwani, A. (2019). The effect of social-emotional competence on children’s academic achievement and behavioral development. International Educational Studies. 12(12), 141-147. Bucci, D., Cannon, A., & Ramkarran, A. (2017). Community, circles, and collaboration: The first ten days. Retrieved from https://www.irp.edu/images/pdf/restorativeapproaches- firsttendays.pdf Costello, B., Wachtel, J., & Wachtel, T. (2010). Restorative circles in schools: Building community and enhancing learning. Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices. Clawson,A., Davis, A., Gerewitz, J., & Gregory, A. (2013). The promise of restorative practices to transform teacher-student relationships and achieve equity in school discipline. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 26(4), 325-353. doi: 10.1080/10474412.2014.929950 Domitrovich, C., Durlak, J., Staley, K., Weissberg, R. (2017). Social-emotional competence: An essential factor for promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in school children. Child Development. 88(2), 408-417. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12739 Dusenbury, L., & Weissberg, R. (2017). Social emotional learning in elementary school: preparation for success. Educational digest. 83(1), 36-44. High, A. (2017). Using restorative practices to teach and uphold dignity in an American school district. McGill Journal of Education, 52(2), 525-532. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 77 Ingraham, C., Hokoda, A., Moehlenbruck, D., Karafin, M., Manzo, C., & Ramirez, D. (2015). Consultation and collaboration to develop and implement restorative practices in a culturally and linguistically diverse elementary school. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 26(4), 354-384. doi: 10.1080/10474412.2015.1124782 Lafavor, T. (2018). Predictors of academic success in 9 to 11-year-old homeless children: The role of executive function, social competence, and emotional control.38(9), 1236- 1264.doi: 10.1177/0272431616678989 Lichtman, M. (2010). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide. Sage Publications. Mannassah, T., Roderick, T., & Gregory, A. (2018). A promising path toward equity. The Learning Professional 39(4), 36-40. Mirsky, L. (2011). Safersanerschools: transforming school culture with restorative practices. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 16(2), 5-12. Mirsky, L. (2014). The power of the circle. Educational Leadership, 71(9), 51-55. Payton, J., Wardlaw, D., Graczyk, P., Bloodworth, M., Tompsett, C., & Weissberg, P. (2000). Social and emotional learning: a framework for promoting mental health and reducing risk behavior in children and youth. Journal of School Health. 70(5), 179-185. Rossman, G., & Rallis, S. (2017). An introduction to qualitative research. SAGE Publications, Inc. Sapra, R. (2019). Social and emotional competence in young children (6-10 years). Indian Association of Health, Research and Welfare, 7(3)7-12. IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 78 Sagor, R. D., & Williams, C. (2017) The action research guidebook: a process for pursuing equity and excellence in education. Corwin. Wachtel, T. (2013). Defining restorative. International Institute for Restorative Practices. Retrieved from https://www.iirp.edu/pdf/Defining-Restorative.pdf Wang, E., & Lee, E. (2019). The use of responsive circles in schools: An exploratory study. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 21(3), 184-194. doi:10.1177/1098300718793428 Webster-Stratton, C., Reid, J. (2004). Strengthening social and emotional competence in young childrenthe foundation for early school readiness and success. Infants and Young Children. 17(2), 96113. Wood. P. (2020). Emotional intelligence and social and emotional learning: (Mis)interpretation of theory and its influence on practice. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 34(1), 153166. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2019.16921 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES Appendix A: IRB Form F 79 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES Appendix B: IRB Form D 80 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES 81 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES Appendix C: IRB Form E 82 APPROVAL of a thesis/project submitted by Author(s): Rachel Salik School Department: MED Title of Thesis: Implementation of Restorative Circles in a Second Grade Classroom The above named master's thesis/project has been read by each member of the supervisory committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citations, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready to be deposited and displayed in the Westminster College—Institutional Repository. Chairperson, Supervisory Committee: Shelley Erickson Approved On 8/15/2021 1:54:14 PM Dean, School: Dr. Melanie J. Agnew Approved On 9/7/2021 1:53:20 PM STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO DEPOSIT & DISPLAY THESIS IN THE INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY Name of Author(s): Rachel Salik School Department: MED Title of Thesis: Implementation of Restorative Circles in a Second Grade Classroom With permission from the author(s), the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College has the right to deposit and display an electronic copy of the above named thesis in its Institutional Repository for educational purposes only. I hereby give my permission to the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College to deposit and display as described the above named thesis. I retain ownership rights to my work, including the right to use it in future works such as articles or a book. Submitted by the Author(s) on 8/15/2021 10:28:07 AM The above duplication and deposit rights may be terminated by the author(s) at any time by notifying the Director of the Giovale Library in writing that permission is withdrawn.