Building a Relationship with Your Students (Part 2)

Last week, I started a series on how to build a health relationship with your students. I shared my example and suggested that teachers need to connect with their pupils personally by allowing them to see parts of who they are. I recalled that I said been open about yourself doesn’t mean you tell them everything about yourself in one big chunk.

However, it is important to remember that students need a strong sense of comfort and safety from both physical and emotional abuse and criticism in their classrooms. As teachers we need to have enough order so that students do not intimidate, bully, insult, or overly criticize each other. It is also good to note that at all ages; students are very sensitive to what they perceive as unequal treatment. When students believe that their teacher favors some students over others, conflict grows in the classroom, and their trust in the teacher declines. In continuation of my series, the second key to building a relationship with students is learning about your students.

Learn About Your Students-It’s   important to learn about your students—who they are, how they learn, and where they are from. One powerful way to do this is to have students write about themselves. As a teacher explains,

My first assignment is [to ask students to write an] autobiography. It must be three typed pages, anything about themselves. Everyone wants a chance to tell their story; where they were born, about their family. They can tell me “I have a bad home situation”; or “I work long hours.” They write about a sport, extracurricular activities, anything they want. They are motivated when they think you want to know about them.

Another option is to ask students to create a timeline of experiences. After the students write their individual autobiographies, you can add photos (just take digital pictures and print them) and put them in a notebook to create a class book. It’s a great way to encourage students to get to know each other better by reading the book. It’s also a terrific tool for new students, parents, administrators, and substitute teachers.

Finally, a creative way to learn about your students is through the use of Culture Boxes. At the beginning of the year, ask your students to put 7–10 items that represent different aspects of who they are into a shoebox. Your students will love this activity, so get lots of boxes of varying sizes. As a former teacher explains, “These objects reflect their family heritage, origins, ethnicity, language, religion, hobbies, and likes (foods, music, literature, movies, sports, etc.).

The outsides of the boxes are decorated with pictures, symbols, and words/phrases to further explain who they are. Then the students share their culture boxes with the class. Every semester, my students always say that creating a culture box was their favorite activity because they got to be creative, share previously unknown information about themselves with their peers and teacher, and develop a better understanding of the similarities that we all have in common. The sharing might take more than one class period, but the time spent is well worth it!”