You know that building positive relationships with students is a good idea. But you know how important it is for both students And Teacher? For students, the facilities are quite wonderful. An analysis of 46 studies conducted by the Review of Educational Research found that students’ academic engagement, attendance, grades, disciplinary work, and dropout rates all improved when a positive teacher-student relationship was present. But what about teachers? Do we feel any benefit? Absolutely. From greater job satisfaction to better teaching overall, when teachers and their students build meaningful relationships, everyone benefits! We asked teachers to share those moments when they knew the relationship they had made with a student made a difference, and we were amazed by the strong response.
We took a selfie with our short haircut.
“There was a 2nd class student who cut her hair very short and she was very embarrassed. He will not take off his wool hat on May 8. The K-teacher brought her to my room because I also had very short hair then. I talked to her about all the benefits of having short hair. We took a selfie with our short haircut. I read him in 3rd class next year. That picture is still hanging in my room. – Benita S.
Her mother thanked me when she came to pick up her daughter at the end of the day.
“I had a student who was upset because there was an argument between him and his mother. When I spoke to her, she said that her mother usually prayed with her before she left, but to this day she did not do so and so it bothered the baby. I called my mother and explained the situation, and she told me to put her daughter on the phone. He prayed with her, and you should have changed the girl’s appearance the rest of the day. At the end of the day, when she came to pick up her daughter, her mother thanked me. ” – Sandra M.
That’s exactly what he should have said in the first place.
“There was a student in my study hall who loved to talk. He often talked to me because many of his colleagues wanted to use the time to finish their homework. One day, he was complaining about the novel he was reading in his English class. I told her how much I loved that book and she looked at me as if I had three heads. I proceeded to explain to him why I thought the book was so great. He listened. Really Listen. Then he said, ‘Well, at first he should have said that!’ For the rest of the unit, she will bring her book to the study hall so I can help her with that. It’s not a slap in the face to her English teacher, it just shows that when students trust you, they are more willing to try hard things. “- Angie S.
I’m a Knight Elf Hunter, do your assignment now.
“Okay, I’m acknowledging my huge intelligence here, but it has helped me build a positive relationship with multiple students. I play. World of Warcraft. One year, I had a student with whom I could not communicate. He was indifferent in class. He did not take office. I talked about my gaming in class one day and he immediately accused me of lying. I told him to ask me something about the game. After several questions, I think he finally believed me. Even better, he also played and was fascinated. He wanted to know more, so I told him we could talk about gaming as soon as he finished his assignment. He did! I used to World of Warcraft Lots of that year to connect with that kid. He graduated, but we still chat about games online from time to time. “- Trevor M.
*Note: Responses may be edited for clarity and / or length.
Creating positive relationships with students is vital, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Student welfare and teacher welfare are so closely involved. The more we build relationships with our students, the more they will want us to come into their lives, work with us and trust us. This does not mean that it is easy. Having time to talk to each of our students can feel overwhelming, and not all students feel comfortable chatting one by one in our room. In addition, not all students respond to the same questions, conversations, or types of engagement. Reaching out to each of our students on a personal level can be difficult if not impossible.
Makes it easy to connect with Tools All Our students.
Along is the first type of teacher-student connection builder. You simply choose a question to ask your students (or create your own). The questions are research-directed and designed to help students feel comfortable opening up so you can find out what they care about and how they think. You answer it first, either in the form of text, audio or video. Then, you send it to your students. After reading / viewing your feedback, they respond to the form they feel comfortable with and return it to you. The only people who see your conversation are you and the individual students, so they can be as honest and open as they want. Connections and communities are big ideas that can start small – a simple question that leads to a small conversation, to create real connections, to transform the school environment.
Check out the overview below for an idea of how this might work in your classroom.