Healing Together, Not Just Moving On

9-11 years

Me with Others

30 min / 1x per month

Learning goal :

Learning to Be Happy in a Group

Pedagogical Intention :

Ability to Forgive (Accepting Apologies)

Target skills :

Restorative justice process, Harm-needs-repair model, Reintegration over punishment

Materials :

Restorative justice circle protocol, community harm scenario facilitation

Detailed procedure :

1. Introduction: "Restorative justice doesn't ask: 'who broke the rule and what's the punishment?' It asks: 'who was harmed, what do they need, and how do we repair together?'"
2. Introduce the restorative justice model: harm → acknowledgment → needs → repair → reintegration.
3. Distinguish: punitive response (isolates, punishes) vs. restorative response (includes, repairs).
4. Script: "Punishment removes a person from the community. Restoration brings them back - accountable, repaired, and included."
5. Conduct a full restorative justice circle for a real or simulated community harm.

Progress Indicators :

Participates authentically in a full restorative justice circle. Articulates the difference between punitive and restorative responses. Reports feeling more repaired than punished by the restorative process.

Research Foundations :

Zehr (2002); Enright (2000); Bronfenbrenner (1999)