Sometimes, connecting with students for just a few minutes of each class period can be just as important as utilizing every single second of each class period.
Frequent contributing writer Jordan Catapano, who is also a seasoned high school English teacher in the Chicago suburbs, explains how use classroom management to build relationships with students, which can go a long way toward achieving a successful class.
Jordan’s ideas include:
- Tell a story
- Show them something I care about
- Welcome the student who has been gone
- And more!
Jordan sums up his article this way: “This article is not focus on learning, but rather on the learning environment. I find that when we build relationships with our students, we are making an investment that has payoffs in the immediate and distant future. Students feel respected, understood, and confident when their teacher notices them. They feel comfortable in class, and more prone toward positive social and learning behaviors. If I were to sit down and “Do the math” on the best way to spend our first and last minutes together in class, I firmly believe that allocating that time towards relationship building makes a bigger impact than squeezing in four more minutes of instruction. What do you think?”
How do you spend your opening and closing minutes of class? What are other ways you intentionally build relationships with students? Tell our TeachHUB.com community all about it!
Video Review: 7 Technology in the Classroom Tools
In a recent edition of the always-free TeachHUB magazine, we took a look at seven essential technology in the classroom tools that educators can use to liven up their classroom and help them be more effective teachers.
TeachHUB magazine is always full of the latest educational technologies and enlightening articles. Best of all, it’s always FREE!
