Restorative versus Punitive Methods - Which works the best?

Tallulah:
In my opinion, it feels quite good when the person gets punished after they’ve hurt me, but I know once their punishment’s over and they come back out, nothing’s changed. So my conclusion is that no matter how good it feels when they get in trouble, it won’t change how they feel about you.

Luke:
I don’t think people should be punished for what they did. I think people should talk about it so they can work out their issues/problems.
If you do this they will understand what they did and it won’t happen again.
But if you punish them they will just get more angry and do it again because they think that’s their ticket to do it again, but the feelings about the other person are still there.

Gemma:
When I had a fight earlier this year, we first didn’t want to sort it out by talking, but instead of punishment, which isn’t cool, we decided to talk it out, and now we’re on an okay basis.

Kenny:
I think the restorative method works better because if you punish a kid they will do what ever they did after the detention. If the person who has done something has a chance to talk about it to the victim, they can sort it out so it doesn’t happen again.

Alex:
I think that talking and sorting it out is better than just getting a detention and having to write out 5 pages of the dictionary or something like that. But sorting it out can be very stressful on teachers and in some cases even harder for the student to front up to what they have done. So students just want to be punished sometimes because they don’t want to face what they have done. If they don’t sort it out it’s more likely to happen again.

Jack H:
I think talking about the problem is better than not doing anything to help the problem between the two people.
If they got punished again and again for doing the same thing they will soon get used to the same punishment happening and not learn anything. However if they were to talk about it with adults, the adults could find out the problem and resolve it rather than punishing them again and again.

Quinn:
I think that punishments are good and bad. They’re good because depending on what the punishment is it could make them regret what they have done or if it is something simple then they will think they will get punished and then do it again because the punishment is easy and they get use to it and they find ways to make it shorter.
I think that it would be harder for the person to face up to the victim and say they’re sorry and think of something they could do to make them not do it again and then say what it was.

Eric:
I think that the restorative method works best because if you punish a kid, he/she will get angry at the one that told on them and will want revenge.
The restorative method asks why you did the crime so that the victim and the criminal can know what they both felt and the criminal will want no vengeance or anything like that.

Hunter:
When I had a fight at my old school no one knew about it except my friends. I wanted to tell my teacher but I had a feeling that I was going to go to detention. I told my teacher and he said to me, “Did you win?” and I was like, “Serious?” and he said to me, “What are you going to do about it?” so I went to his class and I had to talk to him and we were friends again. If I had just had a detention, he would still be wanting an apology.

Taylor:
Punishment:
Isn’t helping anyone whatsoever.
No one’s learning from their mistakes.
If teachers keep on giving unfit punishments, children keep giving unfit responses, and so on.
No one’s apologising or forgiving, so then the child that is getting no justice thinks that they can’t defend themselves because the offender will keep offending because they think it’s okay to do so.
It’s bad because then parents ring school thinking that their child got no justice and wanting the bully to get an especially harsh punishment, which the bully will do then bully the boy again (full circle).

Restorative punishment:
I think that this is a better approach because the naughty kid will feel guilty and silly when they apologise to the kid that they hurt, and the kid that is getting apologised to will be pleased that they are getting a sincere apology that the kid is embarrassed by... meaning that the bully won’t want to do that again.
The bully won’t like it so they will stop (problem solved).
If the kid does something that involves the class, most of the time they have to get up in front of the class and apologise = complete embarrassment = kid not wanting to do that again.

CONCLUSION:
Punishment = Kids not caring about what they have done and think it’s okay to do it again.
Restorative punishment= kids feeling embarrassed when they apologise and not wanting to do that again = everyone happy.

What it feels like being a victim:
When I am a victim then I always like to think I am going to get a sincere apology from that person and then we can both move on.

If the person received a punishment then they could just keep hurting me and I couldn’t do much about it.

Breaks

A reading text we have been looking at is about the need for kids to have breaks between lessons. Dr Michael Irwin says that 5 to 10 minute bursts of vigorous activity several times a day, helps boys to settle (http://www.everybody.co.nz/page-30a5811f-d5ed-469e-abb9-186e8955e956.aspx). Another study has found that regular physical activity breaks actually enhance academic performance and on-task behaviour (http://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/Active_Ed.pdf). In Room 4, we take breaks between long periods of sitting down, and the girls appreciate them as much as the boys.  

Here are some of our comments about breaks:

I think breaks are a good idea because the boys need to have a run around so they can think straight. Kenny

Yes, boys do need breaks because it helps them think better and do tasks faster, and they can get better at other stuff.  Dylan

After breaks children will come back feeling refreshed and ready to learn. And, if you’re thinking that if kids burn all their energy during the break, they won’t have no energy to learn, well I will counter with my theory that kids have brain energy and physical energy. The physical energy is spent playing sport while brain energy is spent learning. Jack H

I think breaks are good because you can get fresh air and you can clear your mind and have fun. Lisa

I don’t really ever take the breaks, since I prefer to work without interruption for long periods, and find stopping and doing something else distracting. However the article says otherwise. I think they should have at least added a “most” somewhere in there. However, I don’t have anything against breaks. If most people use breaks to help concentrate during the day, then I think that they are a good idea. Logan

I think we need breaks because if we don’t we get bored and don’t concentrate on our work, and a 5 or 10 minute break helps with that. Matai

Why I think breaks are important:

*They refresh our brains when we get fresh air and are outside being active

*It makes settling and starting a new task easier!

*If we’ve been listening to the teacher for a long amount of time it gives us a break

*They’re fun! We need to have fun.

*We get a break from class and class pupils J-if we need it.

*We get a break from learning!

*Breaks help us get active!  Oceana

FIFA World Cup

Italy are a world class team but they can’t handle being beaten by an underdog, so they faked getting pulled down so they could have a penalty. That is bad enough, but they practise it, which is even worse. The ref was from Guatemala and he would have seen that it was a Hollywood but he let it off. But they are the real losers.
Jack M

The world cup is on and I’m excited. So far, I’ve been watching all but one game.
I don’t think the All Whites are going to win the cup, but we can get our rank better. We just drew with Italy and they’re ranked fifth, and we’re ranked seventy-eight. The other team I’m backing is Brazil and Portugal. I’m backing Portugal because it’s got some of my favourite players, like Ronaldo.
Luke

First of all, I didn’t actually know anything about the World Cup until my teacher showed us a video of our All Whites soccer team versing Italy. Then I went home and saw it all over the news! Once I starting understanding what all the fuss was about I became pretty proud. I think we did an amazing job, but I think Italy only got a point from a false penalty. Go the All Whites!
Oceana

Everyone arrived to watch the soccer World Cup. Everyone was buzzing with excitement as they entered the field. They were versing Italy. After a few minutes they started. Then suddenly, they were close to the goal, then, all of a sudden they shot. “Yeah!” Everybody was going crazy with excitement. They were taking their tops off and waving them around. The only way Italy got a goal was by a penalty when one of the All Whites, touched an Italy person and he pretended to fall over.
Julia

I was quite surprised to see New Zealand’s scores against Italy and Slovakia. Sure, 1 – 1 in both of these games doesn’t mean a win or a loss, it’s a draw, but before the cup even started, I saw somewhere on a late night show on the tele that they wouldn’t win and the chances were very slim. Their opinion was pretty logical since New Zealand’s sport is rugby. You can’t go to any town without a rugby team. Anyway, “Whoooo, soccer!”
Jack H

As the All Whites walked on the field to face Italy we had no idea about who was going to win. Goal!!! Shane Smeltz had just scored. The crowd was going wild, tops flying everywhere. They were so happy. They were going to put them out of the FIFA World Cup. But, no, an Italy player did a Hollywood. Free kick. Sadly, it hit the back of the net. One to the All Whites and one to Italy. Well, at least we weren’t out of the World Cup.
Facts:
Italy had 24 shots at goal and only one got in.
New Zealand had 4 shots at goal and one got in.
The All Whites had a celebrating plan for if they scored a goal against Italy but they didn’t do it.
My opinion:
We are going to win the World Cup
Immanuel

I think we did an awesome job at drawing with Italy, but I reckon the only way Italy got a point was because they got a false penalty because the guy pretended to fall over.
Hunter

Hands-on Fridays

Hands-on Fridays are fun because we can look forward to not doing bookwork on Friday mornings. We can pick things to do that are appropriate to be done at school. Today we’re doing painting and some weeks before we have done origami, rock carving, cooking, like Anzac biscuits and pizzas, and sometimes we just play learning games that we choose. Some people in the olden days think that we should just sit at our desk and do the usual topics – maths, etc, but some teachers now think that we should some have some freedom from the desk. We asked other kids in the class what they thought:

It is fun and we will focus better when it is time to do bookwork so we can look forward to next Friday when we can do more hands-on activities.

There is actually hidden learning in hands-on activities too, like in cooking there is maths, like measuring and fractions. In origami we had to be patient and follow instructions.

It’s fun because it’s different from other days.

It’s a different style of working; we get to use the computers. We get to do art activities, and most of all we get to chose what we do within reason.

It doesn’t feel like work but we learn different things like getting on with each other and making new friends.

You learn better when you are moving around and doing things.

You’re learning and it’s fun, like when you are cutting wood you are learning measurement and angles, and with the painting you are learning rotations and reflections.

Bri-ana and Melissa

e-Portfolios

Room 4 is ready to get into blogging. We’d like to share some of things we’ve been doing so far this year, and our thoughts.

We are one of first classes at TIS to create e-portfolios, using Mahara. We’re still working out what should go onto them and how we can best use them, but for most of us, it has been lots of fun learning . Here are the good things about Mahara e-portfolios.

Jake: I think that Mahara is a good way to store our learning. We can make a page and put YouTube on it and pictures and other cool interesting things like that. In our class we write reflections on Mahara which is very useful in a world like this. I think Mahara is great.

Gemma: E-portfolios is an awesome site on Mahara. It replaces the paper portfolios, and is easier to use on a daily basis. It is also better because it is on the computer, because computers are better than ordinary boring school work. One of the best parts about them is blogging about our week.

Danielle:  like Mahara because it is so much more fun than writing. It is also cool because you can put YouTubes on your page and pictures to make it more exciting. And I like using it for inquiry.

Tallulah: I like e-portfolio because it is fun and it is much more exciting to be on a computer to do work than to be sitting at a desk writing.

Oceana: What I like about E portfolios:

*We don’t have to reflect on paper or by hand which is easier

*It’s easier for our teachers to access our reviews and everything else we need them to see.

*Typing our work is easier then writing it down! And less painful!

*I can have contact with friends that I can’t keep in touch with in any other way or on any other sight!

What I dislike about Mahara/E portfolios:

*Not being able to have the wall on our profiles so we can chat to friends!

*Having to write a blog, save it and then have to add it to a view. It would be better if we could just add it straight onto the same view.

 *Not being able to understand some parts and technical parts of Mahara!

Eric: E- Portfolio in my opinion is a pretty good website to go to. You can make views, blogs, and show YouTubes you think are good or cool. You can make groups about something you like, or have seen or heard of, etc. But the bad thing about it is sometimes it doesn’t work. But it might just be that you don’t know what to press or something. But overall it is good and in my opinion better than the blue portfolios.

Taylor: Well, what to say? My portfolio Is really cool, I am comfortable displaying my work online and sharing with others...work is so much easier, I haven’t been as stressed to finish my homework because you just turn on the computer and sign in. Yes! It’s that easy!!!

I think that with Uspace everyone tries to impress, for example putting YouTube videos on their page but they might not even like the song... they’re just trying  to be “in” with the cool people, and with Mahara you can display your work and really show your true colours and create ,share, and get feedback from your work.

Laura: Mahara is an easy way to update and keep records of your work. Mahara is an easy way to work online.

Charlotte: I   like  e-portfolio. It’s fun and it’s easy to use. Also the other teachers  can see what we are doing and it’s better than writing and putting it into the folders. I also like it because I like typing and I hate writing .

Julia: I think My Portfolio is good because you don’t have to write things by hand so it is easier. You can also make your blogs look cool and see what the teachers see about them. There isn’t really anything bad about it though.

Logan: I think E- Portfolio has been easier to use in reflections than a normal reflection book, because I find it easier to type than to write. It has also been easier to organise things like my Citizenship Inquiry than I think it would be if I would have to use books.  So overall, I think that e-portfolio has been working out or me. 

Lisa: I like my e-portfolio because it is fun and easy to use instead of writing it all out and putting it in our blue portfolios.

Luke: I like Mahara because we can do almost all our work on it and all our reflections and writing. Plus I like working on computers. It’s faster and fun so I like writing.

Bridie: I like Mahara because we get to write our reflections, unit and goals and I find it easier to type and save in my work. It is also cool because we can decorate our pages with pictures and other things. When we do unit we can create links and pictures to make the page look better.

Jack M: I like my e-portfolio because you don’t have to worry about neat writing and there is not a whole lot of paper to sort out. But there are some complicated things on it too that should be sorted out.   

Brandon: I think Mahara is so cool. Ever since we started Mahara I have loved it. I just think it’s cool and I think it’s very good for our learning.

Kenny: I think e-portfolio is good because it’s much more easy to find things and also you can’t really lose things unless you delete it. But the normal portfolio things can fall out of it and get lost and it’s harder to find things because you have to flick through all the pages and it takes for ever. That is why I like e-portfolio more than a normal portfolio.

Bri-ana: My e-portfolio makes writing fun and not boring. I used to hate doing blogs but I don’t mind on my portfolio. I like that you can add anything you want like stories etc.

Hana: On e-portfolios it’s way easier because you don’t have to write it all on paper and it’s more fun. Now that we have our own e-portfolio I get more of my work done. And you can send messages to people in the class while you work so you don’t have to talk because usually we aren’t allowed to while we are on our e-portfolios.

Hunter: E-portfolio is cool because we get to create groups and blogs.