SUMMARY PAPER

for
EDUX 7815-7899 PDE Book Study Courses
Complete the student and course informa on below:

Student Name: Joseph Whelchel

Course Number: EDUX 7845
Course Name: EDUX 7845: RESTORATIVE PRACTICES FOR POSITIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Date: 04/11/2025

NOTE: Save this template on your computer or ash drive and complete the assignment below.
Save this template as Summary.docx or Summary.pdf. Upload and submit your assignment
electronically in the Course Workshop tab of your personal folder (see the TRACK YOUR
PROGRESS link located on the top right corner of each CCC webpage) within six months from
the date of course registra on. All coursework must be original.

DIRECTIONS for Summary Paper: Read the book that has been assigned for this course. Then
respond to each of the following guiding ques ons below. Your paper should be approximately
three (3) pages in length. The text boxes will expand as you write addi onal lines.

Complete the following sub-headings for the book you read:

Title of Book: Be er Than Carrots or S cks: Restora ve Prac ces for Posi ve Classroom
Management
Author(s): Smith, Fisher, Frey
Date Published: August 17, 2015

1. Give a brief summary of the book you read. Then select ve (5) or more chapters of the
book. For each chapter, write a paragraph summarizing the informa on or main ideas you
thought were signi cant.
tt
fi
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
fl
ti
fi
ti
ti
 This book is a book that focuses on restora ve prac ces (among other things) compared to

the tradi onal reward-and-punishment approach to classroom management. The authors

argue that the tradi onal punishment system doesn’t lead to las ng behavioral changes and

instead they push for restora ve prac ces that focus on building rela onships, fostering

empathy, and crea ng a sense of community in the classroom. The idea is to move away

from controlling students through external mo vators (like rewards and punishments) and

instead help them take responsibility for their ac ons. The focus is also to repair the harm

that was done in certain situa ons. The approach emphasizes proac ve strategies like

classroom mee ngs, a ec ve statements (expressing how a student’s behavior impacts

others), and con ict resolu on through controlled dialogue.

The authors provide plenty of prac cal tools for teachers to use. They suggest holding regular

classroom circles to build trust and address issues in a collabora ve manner, using quick

individual mee ngs with students to solve problems privately, and encouraging open

communica on. This is all part of a proac ve framework that seeks to prevent behavioral

issues while building a sense of belonging and respect for students. Overall, this book is in

line with most of what I have studied through CCC so far. It takes all the concepts a step

further with being proac ve and using empathy, accountability, and community values.
ti
ti
ti
ti
fl
ti
ti
ff
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
 Chapter 1:

This chapter kicks things o by comparing old-school, archaic discipline (which is very

puni ve) to restora ve prac ces. The authors argue that punishments o en just push kids

away without solving the real problem. Instead, they suggest focusing on the “why” of a

student’s behavior as they could be struggling with something we can’t see. Then we can

begin working to repair the harm and rebuild trust. They introduce three levels of restora ve

strategies, from quick check-ins to more structured mee ngs, and stress that shaming kids

only makes things worse. My big take away was to ditch the "rules- rst" mindset and focus

on rela onships instead. That is exactly what I have been discussing over the past few

courses and I am excited to get back to priori zing rela onship building.
Chapter 2:

This chapter dives into the topic of rela onships between the teacher and students. Students

(children) behave be er when they feel connected to their teachers. The chapter expresses

the importance of rela onships but also the need for engaging lessons in conjunc on with

the rela onships. Each one of those items, individually, are very bene cial. Together is where

you see exponen al payo . Making sure that students feel respected and heard and crea ng

a classroom where they WANT to be, not HAVE to be is where you will reach op mal payo .

Figure 2.2 of Chapter 2 gives us a pre y awesome survey that they show to have been

successful in helping teachers get to know students be er and grow the rela onship. This

chapter also helped me brush back up on the ve social and emo onal competencies from

the CASEL framework.

ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
tt
ti
ff
ff
ti
tt
ti
ti
fi
tt
ti
ti
ti
fi
fi
ft
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ff
 Chapter 3:

Chapter 3 is all about se ng up rou nes that keep things running smoothly. Clear

expecta ons (a lot of this I tend to derive from Capturing Kids’ Hearts and PBIS) give students

a sense of safety within a classroom. This chapter stresses how the trick is to involve students

in crea ng these guidelines so they feel ownership (something like the CKH Social Contract in

a way). Just like previous texts and peer-reviewed journals that I have read on this topic, this

chapter stresses that behavioral issues aren’t a personal a ack on you, they are a message

being conveyed that there is something wrong. This is why it is so important to a empt to

understand the “why” or what is going on in the students’ lives. This chapter stresses the

importance of rules and procedures on a campus level (that are then re ected in an

individual classroom se ng). This reminds me of having a PBIS matrix for the campus as well

as the CKH Social Contract in my room. They always seem to align and be pre y close to each

other with small di erences here and there.

Chapter 4:

As suggested in the tle of this chapter, it is all about keeping the peace through consistency

of prac ces throughout the school year. This chapter lists many ideas such as a ec ve

statements and ques ons, classroom mee ngs that build community, informal classroom

circles, impromptu conferences to resolve the lesser issues, and vic m-o ender dialogues.

There are teachers who take the concept of the classroom mee ngs and implement them

roughly 2 mes per week. They keep it organized like you would minutes in a corporate

mee ng. The students have much less anxiety knowing that there is an understood and

respected format to share informa on and air frustra ons while also knowing that the

mee ngs will happen like clockwork at a known me and date.

ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ff
ti
ti
tti
tti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
tt
ti
ti
fl
ff
tt
ff
tt
ti
 Chapter 5:

The chapters leading up to this chapter presented many resources and tools to help be

proac ve with issues that are common in classrooms yet are fairly minor. Chapter ve is

where the authors begin to discuss what to do when bigger con icts strike, guides teachers

through structured solu ons, and provides tools for the bigger things. Formal restora ve

prac ces (their example is group conferences for example) bring everyone involved in the

incident together. The o ender, vic m and even the broader classroom community is

brought together to talk things out and nd a way forward. The focus is on repairing

rela onships (this is a smaller model of restora ve jus ce that gained popularity in the

criminal jus ce system). The authors stress that these mee ngs need to feel safe and

2. How did your views on the topic change a er reading this book?

One thing that I did not put into prac ce too o en so far in my teaching is a restora ve circles. I

have before and they have tended to get much more heated than the authors present. We do

however have students who are o en mes from familial situa ons that include gang rela ons

among other issues that are insurmountable in a classroom se ng. I am o the belief that if I

am to successfully get to a point that I have grown the classroom community as I talked about in

a previous course, then maybe we can break through those barriers more o en.

3. What were the main themes or objec ves of the book?

ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ff
ft
ti
ti
ti
fi
ti
ft
ft
ti
ti
ti
tti
ti
fl
ft
ft
fi
ti
ti
ti
 The major themes or objec ves of this book were fairly compact in nature. The authors

sought to teach about and provide resources for restora ve prac ces, community building,

a ec ve statements, and con ict resolu on (of small and big con icts). The authors also

provided tools and strategies to implement those resources such as how to run classroom

mee ngs/ classroom circles, impromptu conferences with students, and a ec ve statements

and ques ons.

4. What is the author’s background (i.e., teaching experience, degrees, ethnicity, etc.)?

This book has 3 authors and thus they have a very colored cumula ve background. Together

they have many years of experience as university professors. They also have a combina on of

numerous publishings and texts accredited to them (other than this book which they all co-

authored). An interes ng piece of informa on about the authors is that they also have a large

amount of awards to their names as well. In past courses, we have seen all kinds of authors with

all sorts of backgrounds as far as work experience. Some had decades of experience in the eld

of neurology before teaching and some never had any experience in educa on lower than the

college level. These authors have experience as elementary and junior high schools in various

universi es.

5. How relevant was this book to the current issues in educa on?
ff
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
fl
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
fl
ti
ff
ti
ti
ti
fi
 At a site I have worked at in the past, I encountered the reality of policies on the public school

system rsthand. Funding is one of the most important areas when viewing a district from the

top down. On numerous occasions I experienced situa ons that would normally lead to

discipline and placement out of the classroom but students were sent right back to class. One

me, I had two students get into a hellacious st ght in the middle of class, they were sent to

ISS, and returned to class (together) in under 5 minutes. Complaining can some mes solve

problems but overall that is not what will help in those situa ons. There are controllables and

uncontrollables and that situa on is out of my hands. What is in my hands is rela onship

building and the use of restora ve prac ces. I believe that the best policy is to avoid the issues

through proac vity in the rst place. This book is phenomenal in providing me resources, tools,

and perspec ve in this regard.

6. What do you think the author’s mo va on was for wri ng this book? Do you think the
author was biased? Why or why not?

Keeping in mind the situa on I just men oned, I believe that those scenarios are not unique to

me. I believe the authors’ mo va on was that these are common occurrences everywhere and

that they were seeking a way to approach these situa ons and make a di erence. I believe that

they had collec ve experiences, percep ons/ stances, and understandings of a major issue

facing educa on that they wanted to address. I do not think that they were biased at all

considering the amount of evidence that they provided and the amount of useful tools and

resources that can be applied to classrooms.

7. Describe any controversial issues related to the course topic.

ti
fi
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
fi
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
fi
fi
ti
ti
ti
ti
ff
ti
ti
 I don’t necessarily nd this to be “controversial” in a tradi onal sense but one thing that I

couldn’t gure out is whether or not the authors believe there is a me and place for

everything. I believe that the procedures they present are very bene cial, but I also feel that

there is a me and place for it all. In extreme situa ons, puni ve/ archaic discipline systems are

indeed necessary. Take a violent act for example. If a student commits a violent act, there must

be jus ce for the vic m in that sense. We as educators can take those as learning experiences

and re ect on how we could have improved in order to have be er used proac ve procedures

in order to help prevent such issues.

8. A er reading this book, what topic, idea, or concept increased your interest in which you
would like to learn more about (for further study/research)? Why?

Self-re ec on on proac vity/ where I can improve in that are is de nitely something that has

increased as a focus area for me. Being able to increase my abili es and skills centered around

proac vity will absolutely bene t me and the students. When, like myself and many others, a

teacher nds themselves in a situa on where students are in a classroom and unable to leave

regardless o the o ense, then they need to work on proac vity to limit the occurrence of

those incidences. I believe that proac vity, rela onship building, and other factors will greatly

increase my ability to limit these things before they even occur and I would love to get much

be er at this speci c area. It can translate to things as consequen al as preven ng physical

alterca ons which would be a massive posi ve outcome for students and teachers alike.

9. Describe any addi onal readings, interviews, collabora on or observa ons you completed
for this course.
tt
ft
ti
ti
fl
fl
ti
fi
fi
ti
ti
ff
fi
fi
ff
ti
ti
ti
fi
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
tt
ti
ti
fi
ti
fi
ti
ti
ti
 I believe that the Emo onal Poverty book study may have been the most relatable and

produc ve in rela on to this course’s required text. When we read the text for this course,

we see that restora ve prac ces really are based on a plethora of studies, a combined

amount of experience on the topic from the authors, and what I would argue is a certain

level of intui on on the authors’ parts (and whatever conclusions were arrived upon due to

following that intui on). What has become abundantly clear to me is that the every single

year, we will encounter completely unique individuals with unique experiences that in uence

who they are. When being proac ve and dealing with di cult situa ons with students, it

helps to get to know them and gain an understanding throughout the school year. The

Emo onal Poverty book study really opened my eyes in that respect. I feel much more

equipped and prepared to grow my abili es to be proac ve.

10. How did you hear about this professional development opportunity?

I was told about CCC in general by coworkers and even my mother-in-law who used CCC in the

past. They all took a variety of courses over a few decades me so none of them necessarily

suggested this par cular course but it ts perfectly with what I was trying to accomplish with

my approach to class choices. It was indeed a great class to take/ text to read.

11. How sa s ed were you with this course? Would you recommend this course to others?

I would absolutely recommend this course to the others that are interested in the same areas

that I am. If an individual is seeking to make improvements in the same fashion that I am, then I

would highly recommend this course.

ti
ti
ti
ti
fi
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
ti
fi
ti
ti
ffi
ti
ti
fl