What Teachers Need to Know: Research Regarding Positive Learning Relationships
Teacher-student relationships (Tsai and Cheney, 2011)
- Strong teacher-student relationships protect students from behaviour problems, drug/alcohol abuse, and school dropout.
- Attachment theory- students seek to have secure relationships and open communication with their teachers.
- More information is exchanged when they feel close to each other (closeness- positive relationship characterized by warmth and open communication).
- Student-teacher relationships are strong predictors of behavioural, academic, and school adjustment outcomes.
- Close student-teacher relationships are particularly important for students from diverse backgrounds.
(Rudasill, 2011)
- Quality of student-teacher relationships in early elementary has implications for academic and behavioural outcomes in later grades.
Lozada, M., Carro, N., D’Adamo, P., & Barclay, C. (2014). Stress management in children: A pilot study in 7 to 9 year olds. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 35(2), 144-147. doi:10.1097/DBP.0000000000000026
-Evaluated effects of mind-body integration practices and cooperative activities on stress levels and social interactions in 7 to 9 year old children
-High chronic stress has been reported in children which could result in long lasting effects.
-Anxiety and depression can be affected by bullying, family life, school environment and health problems.
-Social connectedness has been shown to improve psychological well being.
-Social connectedness is influenced by experience and social contexts.
-Playing cooperative games increases sociability and cooperation.
-In the experimental group, children increased their social network, choosing to play with peers more often after the intervention than prior to the intervention.
Here are some techniques to promote positive teacher-student relationships that are easy to integrate into your everyday interactions with students: communicating positive expectations, correcting students in a constructive way, developing positive classroom pride, demonstrating caring, and preventing and reducing your own frustration and stress.
Communicating Positive Expectations
-Research on teacher expectations and student achievement has shown that expectations have a dramatic impact on student academic performance (Kerman, Kimball, & Martin, 1980).
-Numerous studies indicate that the expectations teachers have for students tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies. It is critically important for educators to monitor their interactions. Their goal should always be to communicate appropriately high behavioral and academic expectations to all students, not just to the high achievers.
-Monitor the way you call on students. Make sure that you give all students chances to participate in class. Give students hints and clues to help them succeed in class. Tell students directly that you believe that they have the ability to do well.
Call on All Students Equitably
-When you fail to recognize particular students, you can communicate a low level of confidence in their abilities. Individual students may “tune out” and believe that you don't expect they will be able to answer your questions.
-Students develop feelings of self-confidence in their abilities when their teacher goes to them for the right answer. In addition, calling on all the students in your class—rather than a select few—will help keep students on task and decrease the number of behaviour problems.
-Putting a check by the name of each student you call on during class discussions is a useful way to quickly determine whether you are being equitable.
-Teachers have the unique opportunity and privilege to communicate daily to a number of students that they believe in them and care about their well-being.
-After a student demonstrates good behavior or academic achievement in a specific situation, telling her you knew she would be successful (Kerman et al., 1980) also instills confidence and a culture of positive expectations.
Correcting Students in a Constructive Way
-The goal in correcting students should be to have them reflect on what they did, be sorry that they disappointed you, and make a better choice in the future. The goal is to provide a quick, fair, and meaningful consequence while at the same time communicating that you still care for the student.
Developing Positive Classroom Pride
Pride can be an extremely powerful force in developing positive teacher-student relationships (Kerman et al., 1980). The pride students develop helps shape identities that in turn drive their behaviors. When you recognize student successes, there is a decreased likelihood of fostering negative pride and an increased likelihood of developing positive pride. As a classroom teacher, your goal should be to help students take pride in their accomplishments and positive behaviors rather than in their negative behaviors.
Strategies to Develop Positive Classroom Pride
- Display student work
- Positively reinforce students verbally
- Show off the class's achievements
- Speak to the accomplishments of all your students
- Be sincere in your pride in your students
- Look for opportunities for students to be proud in all areas
- Develop parental pride in student accomplishments
- Develop pride in improvement in addition to pride in excellence
Strategies to Show You Care
- Show an interest in your students' personal lives
- Greet the students by the front door as they enter the classroom
- Watch for and touch base with students who display strong emotion
- Listen sincerely to students
- Empathize with students
- http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/module1/handout5.pdf
Building Positive Teacher/Student Relationships:
-Essential task and a foundational component of good teaching
-A positive adult-child relationship built on trust, understanding, and caring will foster children’s cooperation and motivation and increase their positive outcomes at school.
- Distribute interest surveys that parents fill out about their child
- Greet every child at the door by name
- Follow a child’s lead during play
- Have a conversation over snack
- Conduct home visits
- Listen to a child’s ideas and stories and be an appreciative audience
- Send positive notes home
- Provide praise and encouragement
- Share information about yourself and find something in common with the child
- Ask children to bring in family photos and give them an opportunity to share it with you and their peers
- Post children’s work
- Have a “Star” of the week who brings in special things from home and gets to share them during circle time
- Acknowledge a child’s effort
- Give compliments liberally
- Call a child’s parents to say what a great day she or he having in front of the child
- Find out what a child’s favorite book is and read it to the whole class
- Make “all about me” books and share them at circle time
- Play a game with a child
- Play outside with a child
- Learn a child’s home language
- Give hugs, high fives, and thumbs up for accomplishing tasks
- Hold a child’s hand
- Call a child after a bad day and say “I’m sorry we had a bad day today – I know tomorrow is going to be better!”
- Tell a child how much he or she was missed when the child misses a day of school
Talking to children using pleasant, calm voices and simple language, and greeting children warmly when they arrive in the classroom with their parents or from the buses help establish secure relationships between teachers and children.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/blog/building-positive-relationships-primary
Give pupils the tools to build successful relationships and get along with one another
-Enabling children to develop their personal and social capability is essential. Not only does it help them to build self-esteem and a sense of personal identity, but it is also key to establishing and maintaining healthy relationships with others.