Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Restorative discipline is a promising alternative to traditional discipline models that favor punishment and exclusion, but they can be difficult to implement. In this chapter, I use interactional sociolinguistics to understand how one school struggled to effectively implement restorative conversations, a discipline model that uses didactic conversation between a student and school adult. Interactional sociolinguistics looks at the ways meaning is negotiated and maintained through talk, so it can help uncover how beliefs are socially reinforced in a school environment. This analysis adds to the literature on restorative discipline by surfacing the burden restorative justice places on school communities to extend the purpose of school conversation from relationship-building and academics to behavior modification.</jats:p>