What I didn't do was take the time to get to know my students as people, instead of students. This was my critical mistake.
Once I realized I needed to get to know my students as people, not students, the tide turned and our classroom became more of a family and less of a group of people randomly thrown together. Some strategies for getting to know my students were no-brainers I needed to stop thinking about and just do, while others required a bit more effort, but they were ALL worth it.
Start the Day Off Right
I know it is tempting to use the time while your students arrive to get a little something done, but this time is essential to relationship building. Instead of hanging out at your desk greet each student at the door. I am a big fan of the hug, handshake, or high-five choice for students to greet you.
I know things come up, and there are days when I was busy when my students arrived, but I always made the effort to greet each of them by name as they walked in the door. This made all the difference.
Similar to greeting each student in the morning, I also made sure to say a personal goodbye to each student as well. Most of my students were bus riders, so I was able to walk them to their bus and give a high-five or fist bump to each as they boarded.
While both of these tasks seem so simple, they give each student a moment of individualized attention made it worth it.
Implement a Classroom Meeting
Classrooms meetings are something I learned about in grad school, but didn't fully implement for a few years. Sure, we sat in a circle and shared a fact or two about ourselves, but we didn't truly dig deep.
When we did start digging deep to problem solve issues which came up among our classroom community is when the magic happened. Students saw we were truly in it together. When a problem came up in our classroom, or sometimes in their home lives, we worked together to find a solution.
Dedicating a set amount of time each and every day to a classroom meeting was a turning point for our class which was definitely worth it.
The 2x10 Strategy
The 2x10 strategy is invaluable when it comes to our toughest students, but is valuable for each and every one.
To begin this strategy you select a student and dedicate two minutes each day for ten days to talking to them exclusively. The power in this strategy is the chosen student gets your undivided attention for the full two minutes to talk about anything they want to. If the two minutes gets interrupted you start it over again.
When your ten days is up with one student you are ready to move onto the next one. I generally had more than one student going at the same time. I would talk with one student early in the morning, another during lunch, and a final student at the end of the day, usually during after school care. This way I was able to make it through my whole class list much faster, so I could start over again.
This undivided attention allows students to see personal, individualized attention is important. This strategy is definitely worth it!
Front-Load Your Feedback
It is easy to fall into the trap of providing too much negative feedback, especially with out most challenging students. It is vital we front-load positive feedback when our students are having a great day and giving their best effort.
Ideally you want to provide three positive pieces of feedback for every negative piece of feedback. There are a few ways to make sure this happens. You can read more here.
Along these lines, it is important to remember praise should be public while corrections should be received in a more private atmosphere.
Taking the extra time to provide extra positive feedback will always be worth it.
Follow Their Personal Passions
Our students, no matter how young, have their own passions. Chances are they are ready and willing to talk about their passions to no end. Why not embrace these passions and use them in the classroom?
If you have a student who is incredibly knowledgable about sharks bring in a bunch of shark books and use them to learn about non-fiction text features.
Do you have a student who is passionate about football? Have them teach the other how to throw the perfect spiral and then have a contest measuring how far each student can throw the fall and then graph the results.
Does one of your students play a musical instrument? They can bring in their instrument during science when you study sound waves and energy.
All of these ideas are win-win, because students get to use their passions and share them with others. Seeing their faces light up will make it worth it!
Share About Yourself
I still remember the first time I saw one of my teachers outside of school. I was horrified to run into her at the grocery store, and my mom looked at me and asked, "Did you think she lived at the school?" Honestly, as a seven year old, I did.
Students inherently want to know about you. They want to know each and every detail about you. You are like a reality show they watch every day, and they want all the behind the scenes footage, even the B-roll.
I am not advocating for sharing every little thing with your students, because privacy is important, but choose a few areas of your life you share freely with them.
For me, I shared my hobbies of reading and racing cars with my students. I made a point of always telling them what I was reading and how late I had stayed up, because I had to read one more chapter. I often had students check out the books I had mentioned, and it built up our bond. Additionally, sharing my hobby of racing cars with my students gave me major extra credit cool points and an instant conversation starter.
While it sometimes feels a little cringy to share details of your life with nine-year-olds, it bolsters your relationship which makes it worth it!
Wrapping Up
In the end relationships count for a lot. They can get you out of a hole and build your students' confidence in you. No matter if they are easy or hard, they are worth it!
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Great advice!
ReplyDeleteTara
The Math Maniac