Building relationships with your students gives them an insentive to respect you, and to work for you. It is also alleviates difficulty with classroom management.
Building relationships can be tricky. The key is to maintain a balance between authority figure and caring adult.
You don’t have to buy the kids ice cream and throw them parties and let them drive your car to make them feel like you care about them. Adversely, you don’t have to be the Ice Queen of Narnia to let them know you’re in charge. It IS okay to smile and be friendly, as long as you are firm when necessary.
It is so important to create boundaries. I know. Sometimes this seems like common sense. It is a nice little reminder, though, because just when we think something is common sense, someone texts nude photos and it is all over the news.
An experienced teacher knows how to create boundaries and can make jokes with the class while maintaining order. For some, this takes years to master. And others have learned it by enduring a few hard knocks.
Healthy student-teacher relationship building tips
· Stand at the door and greet them when they enter every day
· Encourage them to respond to you when you say hello
· Respond positively to something they write
· Compliment them politely on a new hair cut, new shoes, or an outfit
· Use positive reinforcement
· Treat all students equally
· Frequently contact parents: monthly newsletters, positive phone calls home, emails, etc…
· Have a professional website or blog that you update daily or weekly, and allows parents and students to contact you through emails.
· Attend plays, choir concerts, sporting events… congratulate students for a job well done
· Refuse to allow students to speak negatively to or about each other
Things to avoid
· Friending them on Facebook
· Picking favorites… or appearing as though you pick favorites
· Engaging in conversation that is too personal
· Allowing them to talk negatively about your colleagues
· Bantering and joking
· Letting them contribute to rule making
