Designing Restorative Classrooms

Course Description

“Prison” is the most common word used by students to describe their classrooms and schools. Classrooms should be places that are restorative for students and teachers, but most are not designed this way.

This session will share strategies that embrace emerging technologies, connection with nature, and peak experiences to empower educators to more thoughtfully design classroom spaces for improved wellbeing, engagement and learning in schools.

The presentation is rooted in the experience from an ongoing project to redesign existing classrooms across Henrico County Public Schools, backed by years of supporting research found in three guiding texts, Flex-ED, Schools Than Heal, and the Power of Moments. Join us and learn the five big ideas and walk away with 15 simple strategies for designing restorative classrooms, one learning space at a time.

Learning Objectives

  1. Participants will discover a compelling why around our classrooms of today and the need for improvements.
  2. Participants will explore emerging technologies, connection with nature, and peak experiences and their impact on improving wellbeing, engagement and learning in schools.
  3. Participants will engage in a real-time reconfiguration of their learning environment and process how that changes their feelings throughout the learning process.
  4. Participants will walk away with five big ideas and fifteen simple strategies for designing restorative classrooms.

Course Presenter

Linda Dove

Course Credits

1 LU | HSW

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