Keep Relationships Growing Throughout the Year

Last updated on August 1st, 2023 at 05:21 pm

Now that you’ve spent some time building relationships with your students and between your students, how do you use the information you acquired during that time to keep your positive relationships growing? Just like how you take care of a plant by watering it and making sure it gets sunlight or the plant will wilt and eventually die; the same is true of relationships between humans. If you don’t cultivate that relationship, it will wither and eventually die as well.

One way I use the information gathered from my students during the first few weeks of school is to help me make book suggestions to my students. Most classrooms have a time where students read independently and this is a great time to make use of what you know your students like. Each week my students get to choose their own books from our classroom library to put in their book bag that each student keeps at their desk to pull out for independent reading time. Prior to the students selecting their new books, I intentionally place books on the book shelf that I know particular students will have interest in. Furthermore if I have no books on a particular topic of interest to a student, those are books I will seek to purchase during the year using book points etc. See my post on the Top 10 Ways to Build Your Classroom Library on a Budget for getting those books. This is what ignites a student’s passion for reading!

I, also, will choose some of my read alouds based on student interest or through observations of what they need. I’ve done votes between 2-3 chapter books to choose which book I will read to the class for a bit of pleasure reading. It’s wonderful when a book selected is part of a series because then if a student likes it, there are more for s/he to read. I have, also, selected books on problem-solving topics for when I notice students need a nudge in the right direction. For example I will select a book like Mine-o-saur by Sudipta Barnhan-Quallen to promote sharing or Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems to promote patience.

When a student is upset, I am able to more easily connect with that student because of the relationship that has been formed. It’s easier to draw a student into a conversation or know what a student may need at that moment to calm down.  

Using what you already know about your students will help in planning lessons, too. When you can make the subject you are teaching more relatable to your students they will have more interest and thus learn more. For example, if some students love Pokemon, use Pokeballs as a math manipulative or insert the names of Pokemon into story problems. This will definitely capture their attention. Another example would be choosing videos for teaching a concept based on student interest.

Another way to use what you’ve learned about your students is when forming partnerships or small work groups. This can be beneficial in a few ways. You can partner students with similarities together to be talking partners. This usually helps them open up a bit faster during discussions. Next, you could form groups based on student strengths, so they can use their strengths together to create something amazing! Last, you could put students together who seem to be opposites. It’s good for students to hear from differing viewpoints than their own. Forming groups and partnerships using what you already know will help your students to keep positive relationships with each other as well.

Now that I’ve shared several ways to use what you learned during the beginning of the year about your students’ personalities to continue to make connections, I want to share the BEST way to keep those relationships growing and blooming. Talk with your students. That’s it. Sounds easy enough, but it isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Finding the time to talk with your students individually, in groups, or as a whole class non-academically can be a challenge.

There is a lot we have to fit into any given day and it can feel like we are giving up vital learning time when we just talk with students. That talk is super important though. It is what will keep your positive relationships thriving with your students, which we all know is important. See my post on Building a Caring Classroom Community for a refresher, if needed. And even more, that talk can be used to build student vocabulary, which will help with reading comprehension. That sounds like a win-win to me!

So, build it in to your schedule. Maybe it’s 5-10 minutes as students are getting ready for the day that you set aside to be available for students to just come chat with you, maybe it is weekly talk time where you float between groups of students chatting with each other, maybe there’s a few minutes at dismissal you can spare.

Whatever it takes, take some time to speak with your students on non-academic topics throughout the year and be sure to share your opinions, too. Students love knowing things about their teacher, too! That underlying foundation of caring is what will keep your students wanting to be in your classroom learning and keep them coming back to say “hi” year after year!