Forming Positive Relationships With Students-- Easy Things You Can Do

Student learning in your classroom depends on relationships you have made with your students.  All the strategies in the world will not be effective unless your students believe in you.  Establishing good rapport is easier than you might believe.  The following article is excellent and if you do them you'll find an amazing difference.




4 easy ways to form positive relationships with students. Josh Strumppenhorst. 6.9.15. eSchoolNews

 

How to Give Feedback to Students More Effectively

We hope that the feedback we give to students will help them in the future with similar assignments.  What ;happens when you don't see that occurring?  Perhaps it is the way you give feedback in the first place.  The author of the following article, Taylor Meredith, saw that happening with her students.  After reading John Hattie's & Dylan Wiliam's work, Ms. Meredith changed her method completely. She learned that relationships with students were the key for  student feedback.  Excellent article and well worth your time.


Starting Student Feedback Loops.  Taylor Meredith. 5.16.15.  edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/starting-student-feedback-loops-taylor-meredith

Build Trust and Confidence With Your Students

From the land down-under, Australian teacher Emma Waters reflects on the writings of poets, Tao Te Ching and the 14th Century poet Hafiz to see how their words might apply in a 21st Century school classroom.  She offers 7 excellent ideas for creating a productive classroom environment which is based on trust and confidence.  Excellent.


Why it is important to be a centered (centred) leader. Emma Waters. 3.9.15.  Britannica - Digital Learning: Australia

Relationship Building Among Teachers & Students of Different Cultures

Positive relations between students and their teachers are a "must" in order for good learning to take place.  The first order of business for us as teachers is to 'listen' rather than 'do'. As the author, Jose Vilson so aptly points out, we have a lot on our plates that are action orientated with little time left for listening and reflecting.  Mr. Vilson points out 3 essential strategies that are needed to work successfully with culturally and/or racially diverse classrooms.  Excellent!


Empowering Educators Through Cultural Competence.  Jose Vilson.  3.10.15.  edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/empowering-educators-through-cultural-competence-jose-vilson

Ever Have Students Lead Parent Conferences?

This is an idea that some schools have adopted and it has paid off handsomely.  Read how one Decatur, Illinois school describes their parent conference experience.  Students lead their conferences and keep a notebook of their progress.  Beforehand, they practice with fellow students.  Very interesting!


Dennis students have hand in teacher-parent conferences.  2.13.15.  Valerie Wells.  herald-review.com
http://herald-review.com/news/local/education/dennis-students-have-hand-in-teacher-parent-conferences/article_c39f385b-e862-5ae4-bd59-b5e6f3c1ef5a.html

Ways to Build Relationships With Students

Positive relationships among teachers and students are fundamental to student performance.  This article presents 6 short videos that model different aspects of relationship building. Intended for middle-schoolers, the ideas shown certainly translate to other ages.  Perhaps you would like to try some.  Do you have other ways you'd like to share? If using this post with other teachers at your school, I suggest the sidebar questions on the webpage as a guide.  

Video Playlist:  6 Ways to Build Relationships with Students.  Elizabeth Weiland.  9.8.14.  Teaching Channel
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/09/08/video-playlist-6-ways-to-build-relationships-with-students/?utm_source=Teaching+Channel+Newsletter&utm_campaign=97dcad7284-Newsletter_September_13_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_23c3feb22a-97dcad7284-294497157
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How to Help that Really Troublesome Kid

Read this story about Justin and what his teachers did to finally turn him around.  He certainly was in a lot of trouble at school.  Hopefully, you don't have students like Justin but we can all learn ideas about what changed him to a become a responsible, friendly student.  Read about Melissa, Joshua, and Charles - all with significant issues.  We as teachers can transform futures by building relationships with students, even the most difficult ones.



Building Relationships That Transform Futures.  Rachel Garfield.  8.14.14. ASCD EXPRESS.  Making a Difference, Volume 9  Issue 22

Stategies to Help Those Tough Kids

We remember those tough kids in our classes for quite a few years.  Why?  They probably stretched us to become better teachers.  We learned from them, not only for teaching ideas but to develop better sensitivity to students with significant issues.  This excellent article presents five tips for teaching tough kids.  All are worth spending time with and thinking how best we could use them for our own difficult students.

5 Tips for Teaching the Tough Kids.  Josh Work.  6.11.14.  edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-for-teaching-tough-kids-josh-work

Tips to Reach the Reluctant Learner

In this fascinating article a former student connects with his high school teacher and ends up giving 10 tips to a workshop she was giving, called "Motivating the Reluctant Learner."  All of us can learn something from several of Eddie's 10 tips.  Just Excellent!

How to Reach Reluctant Learners.  Nancy Barile. 5.27.14.  Education Week Teacher.
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/05/27/ctq_barile_motivating.html?cmp=ENL-TU-MOSTPOP

A Student Researches Effects of Social Media

This article is most interesting because it discusses a 17 year old girl's graduation research project at school --researching the negative effects of social media on teenagers.  You need to read this to appreciate her findings which are quite revealing about what is happening to more than a few young people today. Lexi Duley chose this topic because she became aware of changes in herself.  Her research shows a number of disorders stem from spending too much time connected to technology.  This might be a good topic that could engage our teens in Title I classes.

Student examines negative effects of social media on teens.  Aurelie Krakowsky. 4.15.14.  StarNews Online in North Carolina

What Parents Wish You Knew plus Conversation Starters

This is a fantastic article and one I hope lots of teachers take the time to read and reflect.  The parents in our schools reflect our society with some difference in economic status, but not much.  Every home situation is different states the author Dr. Joe Mazza....parents not living together, grandma raising the children, families without transportation, single mom with 3 jobs, moved to the US from a foreign country, both parents working so schedules for conferences are difficult, and so on.  Do any of these sound familiar to you?  They should.  Dr. Mazza recommends more listening to the needs of our families than offering one-size-fits-all solutions on our part as teachers.  His last 2 sentences are classic. "Working toward a strong home-school partnership is hard, and you should never feel like you've reached the summit. This work is ongoing."
Please read this article and reflect.  We'd enjoy reading your comments.

12 Conversation Starters on What Parents Want You (Teachers) to Know.  9.24.13.  edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-parents-want-teachers-to-know-joe-mazza

Let's Teach Students the Reality of Mistakes

Ever heard of the 10,000 hour rule? Malcolm Gladwell's main idea of the 10,000 rule is that it takes that many hours to become expert in most any field.  Work does lead to expertise, but what kind of work are we talking about?.....deliberate practice. Mistakes are the most important thing in the classroom because they tell you what to focus on in deliberate practice.
Kids, however, don't think this way.  Students think about their mistakes emotionally.  Some kids, like the lion in this great article picture, want to hide their face.  So it is us, as teachers to give students a different perspective on their mistakes.
Excellent article.....love that lion!

Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes. Hunter Maats and Katie O'Brien.  3.20.14. edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-students-to-embrace-mistakes-hunter-maats-katie-obrien

Tips to Build Student Confidence

As children proceed in the grades, content can become overwhelming.  So much is new, unfamiliar, and "hard."  How to help kids gain confidence in their study and remember what they are learning is the focus of this article. The authors offers 4 strategies to help.   It ends with a humorous video from "Happy Days."

4Tips to Build Student Confidence.  Matt Levinson.  4.2.14. edutopia.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/4-tips-build-student-confidence-matt-levinson

Relationships Matter the Most

Our students come to our classes with a variety of life stories, many tragic and troublesome.  Our students are more than numbers and data; let's not forget them as individuals.This moving article will stay with you awhile and I'm sure you'll agree that the author speaks the truth.

Let's not lose perspective. Tom Murray. 1.21.14.  SmartBlog on Education
http://smartblogs.com/education/2014/01/21/lets-not-lose-perspective/?utm_source=brief

Getting to Know Those Hard-to-reach Kids

You win when you get to know your students and what they feel is important. Heidi A. Olinger, author of this article offers quite a few ideas to help you 'get inside their heads.'  The payoff is increased cooperation and engagement in classwork which didn't seem relevant to their lives.  She gives a creative example of force in physics making the analagy of a young girl's Crush on another boy.  Read further for those details.  (Hard to come up with a more relevant analogy.)

To Help Students Learn, Appeal to What They Value.  Heidi A. Olinger.  1.15.14.  edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/appeal-to-what-students-value-heidi-olinger

Giving Students Choices

Developing positive relationships with students is an important key to motivate them to learn.  In spite of standardized testing which offers little choice, other aspects of school lends itself for students to make decisions about 'what', 'how', and 'why.'  The other references Larry Ferlazzo who has written a great deal about students and teachers in the changing environment in US schools.  He advocates "personalized learning," but not necessarily with technology, but personalize the learning experience by letting students make personal choices.  Excellent! Certainly something we can implement in our Title I classes.

Choice Equals Power:  How to Motivate Students to Learn.  Katrina Schwartz.  11.18.13.  Mind/Shift
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/11/how-to-help-students-develop-the-motivation-to-learn/

Simple Things To Help Your Students Everyday

All of us - students, teachers, and families - feel stressed most days with never-ending things to do or think about.  Often we feel nobody even cares.  Our students have such feelings in school.  Here are 5 such simple things to do that will make a difference in your classes.  Wonderful article and excellent reminders for all of us.

5 simple ways to be a better teacher tomorrow.  Annette Breaux.  11.28.12.  SmartBlog on Education
http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/11/28/5-simple-ways-be-better-teacher-tomorrow-annette-breaux/

Parent Engagement - A Democratic Learning Community

Interesting, this post follows one that says that parents are not essential for students to learn.  Kim Farris-Berg, guest blogger, for Education Week, suggests that when educators make all the decisions for students. Yet many parents baulk at that practice and want a say in the major program and policy decisions.  MPS school, ALBA is an example of shared decision-making.  Read more to discover how this school and others have achieved a democracy in school governance.

Trusting Teachers Is a Means to Authentic Parent Engagement.  Kim Farris-Berg, guest blogger for Sam Chaltain.  Education Week - In Search of the Civic Mission of K-12 Schools
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/civic_mission/2013/07/trusting_teachers_is_a_means_to_authentic_parent_engagement.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2

Do Students Need Parents to Learn Successfullly?

We all have heard or "blamed" parents as the reason so many students don't perform successfully in school. Teachers say, "It's not our fault that kids don't learn - it's the parents' fault."  Ben Johnson tells us that we need to change perspectives by saying, "We are the professionals and we do not need parents to help students learn in our classrooms."  This indeed is a powerful statement and he further quotes Mike Mattos from a Professional Learning Community Institute he attended with more forceful language.
After reading the following article, please share your thinking with your colleagues.

Parents Aren't Necessary for Students to Learn.  Ben Johnson. 7.23.13.  Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/parents-not-necessary-for-students-to-learn-ben-johnson%20

When a Student Gets Suspended

All of us at one time or another have probably had students who were suspended from school. Carrie Kamm has written a very positive article about how to relate to these students during their suspension and after they return to school. This article is not to be missed!
I love the introductory quote from Maya Angelou...

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Please share you thoughts below.