Teacher-Student Relationship
Benefits
Why having a positive relationship with you students is beneficial
What You Can Do
Ways that you can build a positive relationship
Resources
Learn more about the effects of positive relationships and classroom climate
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POSITIVE STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS:
- Help students feel welcome and safe in the classroom.
- Increase student motivation and engagement in academic activities. Students who have close, positive, and supportive relationships with their teachers attain higher levels of achievement than students with more conflict in their relationships.
- Offer a context in which students learn about emotion expression, and social interactions, and create a model for positive student interactions.
- Impact peer relationships and classroom climate; when students see another student receiving praise, they increase their opinion of that student.
- Create the foundation for effective classroom management. Students are more likely to follow classroom rules when they feel valued by their teachers. Teacher praise and disappointment are more meaningful when the student respects the teacher.
- Create trust the allows a student to ask for help or share when they are struggling.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Greet children when they enter the classroom and say goodbye when they leave at the end of the day.
- Make eye contact, use their names, smile, get on their level
- Consider having a special handshake or gesture
- Personal Check-ins: An interaction (less that 1 minute) in which you learn something new about the child and show interest in their hobbies or activities outside of school.
- CARE Time is a method in which you engage with the student: CARE Time stands for:
C: Child centered focus
A: Affirming
R: Reflect the child’s words or behavior
E: Enjoy yourself and enjoy the child
This is a one-on-one teacher-student interaction separate from academics in which you get to learn about the child’s personal interests. It is an extended check-in and the time can be used talking, drawing together, and/or playing a game. - Highlighting Positive personal Attributes: Genuinely calling attention to a child’s positive personal qualities that are unrelated to behavioral compliance or academic ability. Examples could include: artistic abilities, persistence, creativity, courage, social skills, being talented at certain games, athletic abilities, musical, or drama abilities.
- Highlight the positive strengths and characteristics of students in front of their peers. This can counter the development of negative reputations, which is particularly important for students with emotional and/or behavior problems.
- Praise positive behaviors
- Provide a structured environment with clear expectations: Reviewing rules creates a safe, predictable environment.
- share age-appropriate examples from your personal life regarding things you care about (hobbies, food, family, friends, pets) with your students.
Resources
This website provides extensive information about the student-teacher relationship and video demonstrations of the strategies:
Improving students’ relationships with teachers (apa.org)
Consider having a personalized greeting for each student such as a handshake. An example of a teacher doing this is in the video link below:
NC teacher has unique handshake for each student | Daily Mail Online
Other strategies for developing positive relationships:
How Teachers Build Great Relationships With Students (thoughtco.com)
Using Cooperative Learning:
Effective Cooperative Learning Strategies (thoughtco.com)
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