Blog 4: student-teacher relations

https://www.parentingscience.com/student-teacher-relationships.html

This article reviews  some interesting research into student-teacher relationships.  The research showed that students who had positive relationships with their teachers performed consistently better on assessments than students who had a more distant relationship with their teachers.  This relationship appears to weaken as students get older.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/building-positive-relationships-ELL-larry-ferlazzo-katie-hull-sypnieski

This blog discusses ways to build positive relationships with English language learners.  The ideas presented are very specific and helpful, such as having students write a weekly reflection that gives immediate feedback to the teacher so that they can restructure if necessary, regular check-ins, and using a teacher-student letter exchange.  Some of the ideas are not necessarily limited to improving relationships with ELL students, but with all students in the classroom.

This TED Talk features Rita PIerson, a life-long teacher.  Her message is simple: “kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.”  For this reason it is so important to show your students that you like them, even if you don’t. She talks about her experience building relationships with her students, and how she works to bring up their self-esteem.  It is a very interesting talk, well worth a watch.