Episode 123: Interview with John Whalen

In this episode, I chat with John Whalen, a leading Restorative Practices pioneer in both theory and application. He has trained thousands of teachers, staff, and students throughout the United States. He is an innovator in professional development and training.  John has spoken at numerous national education conferences including ASCD Empower, ASCD Leadership Conference, the ESEA Conference, National Association of Community and Restorative Justice Conference, the Music City SEL Conference, and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Conference.

John is the author of the book Classroom Circles: A Toolkit for Building Relationships and Strengthening School Communities.

John currently brings his experience to his role as a principal at the Tioughnioga Riverside Academy, a 4th-8th grade building in Upstate New York. He spent 15 years in the classroom teaching both 2nd grade and 6th grade mathematics.  He also spent over three years as a district Restorative Practices Coordinator leading implementation in over ten primary and secondary schools.

John resides in Conklin, NY, with his wife and two daughters.

During our conversation, John brings up a great point that often undermines the role and resulting impact of restorative practices in schools. Districts often focus on improving discipline issues when they should be focused on improving community connections and culture. In fact, he points out that the root of the word discipline is to learn and yet we do not spend enough time teaching how to get the results we want but instead hope that punishments will teach that lesson despite plenty of research that suggests otherwise. John stresses that restorative practices does not mean that we do not hold students accountable for their actions and the harm they have caused. He also stresses that this is a process … not a program … and thus the implementation and outcomes may look different from one building to the next. In the end, if we want change to happen, then we need to be willing to change.

Ready to dive into this episode? Let’s go!