Classroom Relationship Building
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Classroom Relationship Building
Know something about each student: Hopefully I will know a lot about each student. I have always had the idea of a questionnaire to start of the school year. It would be just a few short questions, completely unrelated to school, and we would share them as a class. I will do a lot of interest inventories throughout the year (especially my first year!). I constantly want their feedback, written and verbal.
Engage in behaviors that indicate affection for each student: This one is difficult for me because I love children but I also believe in being very professional at school. I believe in the use of descriptive language when I praise or correct a student. Way to show my affection will be the time and effort I put into teaching, displaying all of their work around the room, and taking an interesting in their lives outside of school. In the classroom its important to be professional but in the classroom its important to make a relationship that will be solid outside of the classroom as well.
Bring student interests into content and personalize learning activities: In the first paragraph I talked about the use of interest inventories. This will be important because if something I did didnt work or the class hated it, then I wont use it again. I will also let the students have some control over what they get to do. I differentiate my assignments and projects and let them choose the one that interests them the most. Students will be actively involved on learning through group work, jig sawing, and projects.
Engage in physical behaviors that communicate interest in students: These need to be cautious but are as simple as smiling or waving at students. If I dont look happy to see them every day, no matter how many times I say it they wont believe me. Smile, high fives, and a hug if they want one and when it is appropriate are all good physical behaviors to show students you care about them.
Use humor when appropriate: I would avoid sarcastic humor at the elementary level because they wouldnt get it and it might hurt their feelings. Humor is great way to get students involved and makes a relationship with them. I believe that laughter has amazing power and can change the mood of a room very dramatically. Classrooms should be fun and students should laugh, a few times a day. I would work it in when I was clever enough to think of something funny and jokes are a good way to see whose paying attention.
Consistently enforce positive and negative consequences: I will have an idea of classroom policies and procedures and talk it through with my students on the first day. We will sign a contract so they know, if they do something negative what the consequences will be. Consistency is so important when enforcing rules. If we have a classroom contract that says these are the positive and