blog # 22

Blog #22 - New Focus

 

 

Imagine that it is your first time teaching students in a classroom setting. Many of you will feel apprehensive about how you will teach each lesson, but the true challenge you must overcome is building positive relationships with your students. Having a positive relationship with your students is beneficial for both, yourself and your students. Both, Mark and Christine Boynton, claim in their book The Educators Guide to Preventing and Solving Discipline Problems “that demonstrating care for your students is one of the most powerful ways to build positive relationships with your students. When your actions and words communicate that you sincerely care for your students, they are more likely to want to perform well for you and enjoy coming to school”.  So, the big question is how do we build a positive relationship with your students? The answer to this question is not an easy answer because each classroom is faced with different issues. I interviewed a third grade teacher in hopes to find how she built positive relationships with her students.

 

Writing Lesson

                The third grade is when students first learn how to write a five paragraph essay. Many students find this to be challenging because they are expected to do something they have never done before.  The teacher has to teach them how to write in detail, and the basic structure of an essay.  During her writing lessons, she notices that “It takes a long time and I have kids that cry they don’t want to do it and they shut down, absolutely nothing is done.  It takes a lot of energy just to make sure that I don’t spend it all on just one kid who is screaming hysterically every single day because of writing.”  For these students who shut down and don’t attempt writing, the teacher then asks them to write about something they are interested in.  She saw that many students wrote about the video game called Mine Craft.  Consequently, she uses their interest in this game to shape her writing lessons. She asked them to write a “how to survive” essay.  By relating to her students and allowing them to write about something they were interested in, it built a positive connection between her and her students and motivated them to continue writing.

                This teacher also had a non-English speaking student in her classroom and teaching her to write was another challenge she was faced with. She encourages her student to “just write, I don’t care if its spelled wrong, just get your ideas out. I don’t care if your sentence structure is off, like if you’re missing a common.”  She says she does this because “I just want to see if she understands the question being asked “This makes the student confident to attempt something. And advising a student that it doesn’t need to be perfect will give her the confidence she needs to strive.”  As Mark and Christine Boynton said in their book “When you treat your students with respect, they tend to appreciate and like you.”  Respecting that this student did not know a word of English when she entered this class and reassuring her that it is okay to make a mistake while writing is one way the teacher builds a positive relationship with this student.

 

 

Increase the Power of Praise

 

We all like to hear someone commend us for our good work. Praise is something that lifts our spirits and allows us to feel good about what we are doing.  The more we are praised, the more we will want to achieve. The same thing is applicable for young children. Personal praising is the most effective kind of praise because it allows the student to know what behavior is being recognized.  Researchers Mark and Christine Boynton said that “to increase the power and impact of praise is to make it personal by simply stating the students’ name. Being specific when you give praise to your students helps create a positive learning situation because it clearly lets your students know the type of behaviors and performances you are looking for.” While interviewing the third grade teacher, I asked her about a wall in the back of her room that had stars and a name printed on each.  She responded, “I go over math multiplication, facts. I give them maybe about a 3 min quiz just to see what they know. If they do well they get a big star and it goes on my Wall of Fame. If they don’t, they have to keep taking the test until they do well and then they go up on the wall.   If you ace 3 of them, you are exempt from the test.”

Here she is using the power of praise to recognize her student’s achievements. What’s also great about her method here is that she allows her students multiple opportunities to receive a “big star” on her Wall of Fame.  This also builds a positive relationship for her and her students because they have someone that believes in them and distinguishes their accomplishments.