Cultivating Relationships with Diverse Learners

"Learning something new gives us the opportunity to reflect upon the challenges and fears our students face daily; the stress and threat of failure, peer or teacher criticism, material presented outside of student learning styles, and grades given before the material is mastered." (Bonnie M. Davis)

I feel one of the best ways to welcome students into my class is to be prepared. as the students enter the classroom, I am ot organizing paperwork or otherwise distracting myself. I want my full attention to be on greeting students, measuring the emotional levels and actively listening during conversastions with students. I greet as many students as possible. A few years ago, our middle school began the tardy sign-in system. If the students enter late, they merely sign the ledger then the office will make attendance adjustments later. This helps the student enter the classroom without notice which allows a more welcoming attitude.

I understand that greeting the students is an important component of cultivating relationships. Leaning into a conversation helps me to focus on what the person is saying. I will look into having someone video tape my welcoming procedures, but that may be a challenge to make happen. People who I enjoy spending time with normally do not cross their arms, they listen without interrupting the conversation, they do not text friends when spending time with me, they are not judgmental and they smile a lot. I try to do as many of these behaviors as I can. I can improve by speaking louder and not interrupting the conversation.

Finding a way to measure the emotional climate in a classroom is important. I have a poster that says "How are you feeling today?" that was displayed in my classroom each year. I also have an 8 x 10 of the poster that I make copies of give to the students. There are faces on the poster that reflect different emotions and the students can look at them and give a word matching their feelings. Effective teaching and learning can be accomplished when emotional needs are met, so if the students come into the classroom after recess and are all charged up they need some down time. Teachers can provide that needed time if they consider the emotional needs of the students.

There are many ways to build relationships with students. I try to get to know their names as soon as possible and try to attend as many of their events as possible. Administratively, we post dates of games, events and activities and encourage attendance. Our service projects with community organizations, offer students opportunities to participate in authentic projects. They are given opportunities to serve the homeless, elderly and disabled. Within our school community, the Green Team paper recycling team gathers, sorts and recycles paper products for the middle school and high school library. Last year the campus recycled almost 15 tons of paper much of which is from the efforts of the students. Their accomplishments are given notice in the home-to-school newsletter, online newsletter and end-of-year celebration.