9/19/23: Connecting with students and part II of teacher hydration!

We’re back with more helpful tips to help all of us become better teachers!

But First, A Chuckle!

Devin Siebold “When admin sends those training emails” 🤣

Helpful Stuff

To continue our discussion from previous emails on strategies to engage students in our classrooms, here are some great ideas to help foster connections and build relationships with students!

This makes it more likely and easier for them to engage in your class instruction because they feel understood and valued by you as their teacher, regardless of the subject matter!

There’s A LOT of great stuff to cover on this topic so I’m breaking it up into more digestible chunks over a few emails. 🤓

1. Spend one-on-one time with each student

Spending one-on-one time with students, especially those who have behavioral problems, is something very powerful.

I’ve noticed that in large classrooms, students frequently feel lost and just a part of the crowd and not like an individual.

A student receives the teacher's undivided attention during one-on-one time. They are more likely to be honest because they don't feel pressured to impress other students, since they don’t have an audience.

One-on-one meetings should be set up so that they are relaxed and conversational rather than punitive.

I usually ask about a student's family, current circumstances, and feelings regarding the material we are covering in class. You can get invaluable information about what they’re struggling with and know how to better help them learn!

Students are almost always less likely to misbehave in class after these meetings because we've made a stronger connection!

2. Search for Something to Comment On!

I put only one restriction on this one: don’t talk about behavior nor school —keep it fun and student-centered!

This worked remarkably well with my kids!

A relationship can start with something as small as making a comment about a student's T-shirt/jacket/hat/shoes/anything.

Students frequently represent their favorite things, people, and activities through the clothing & accessories they wear; commenting on their interests can start a wonderful conversation that connects the two of you on a deeply human level.

Tell them about that cool trip you took to see that band on their shirt or how you used to record their music on cassette tapes before CDs and digital music!

You can establish trusting bonds with your students by paying attention to even the smallest details.

I recently saw a student cracking up laughing with headphones on and I said, “I wanna laugh!”

Turns out the student is a huge fan of stand-up comedy (like me) and before we knew it, we had bonded over our favorite comedians and their best bits!

Now of course a lot of stand-up comedy is not appropriate for school, but both the student and I have enough common sense & mutual respect for each other to only speak about the appropriate, but still hilarious, parts.

If there is ever any doubt on the appropriateness of the subject or conversation, use your best teacher judgment and shift accordingly. You guys are pros at this, I know! :)

Now we both look forward to catching up and laughing together on the latest comedy specials. There’s even been times, although rare, when I can connect the class instruction to a comedy bit or a specific stand-up comic! Talk about teachable moments!

To help all of you amazing teachers out even more, here is our own FREE student interest questionnaire that I personally use to foster better relationships with all of my kiddos in my classroom.

Try it out and let us know how it goes! Don’t forget to tag us in your posts on Instagram as @shining_scholar_education and Facebook as Shining Scholar Education!

Because through helping others, we all win!

Recommendations

Since last week we spoke about Teacher hydration, this week I wanted to recommend these awesome replacement lids for your tumblers!

These handy little replacement lids breathed new life into our 16, 20, & 30 oz. tumblers that have been sitting in my cupboards going unused. It saved us money by not having to replace the entire tumbler —just the lids!

​Between the 2 sizes of lids (30 & 20 oz.) there wasn’t a lidless tumbler in our cabinets that didn’t fit well with these lids.

Click here for the 30 oz. Tumbler replacement lids and here for the 20 oz. Tumbler replacement lids. (Amazon affiliate links :))

A Little Inspiration

---

 If we threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
-Regina Brett 
​

This quote comes from a fantastic podcast episode entitled “50 Life Lessons from Regina Brett” from a podcast called “Let It be Easy with Susie Moore” (linked here with Spotify).

As always, please forward this to any teacher that could benefit from this message and help spread the love!

The goal of these messages is to help ourselves improve—for our students, for our loved ones, and for ourselves.

Leave a comment with Facebook below or can always message us on Facebook here.

Keep changing the world,

Charlie with Shining Scholar Education
P.S. Consider joining our TPT Affiliate Program for 25% commissions here!

Want to join our email list? Click below!
MS ELAR teachers Click here!
HS ELAR teachers Click here!
And check out our TPT store here!