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Figure P1.1: Interdependency builds connections.
As infants, we need to connect so critically with another human (for food, safety, clothes, shelter, and interaction) that we’ll bond with nearly any caregiver, regardless of quality (Moriceau & Sullivan, 2005). Students also want their teachers (that’s you) to offer more inclusion to integrate their personal experiences into the lessons and facilitate more interactive discussions and team-building activities (Chung-Do et al., 2013).
Effective teacher-student relationships contribute to student achievement, and this contribution varies depending on students’ socioeconomic status and grade level. The research tells us that relationships mean more to students who have instability at home than to students who have a stable, two-parent foundation (Allen, McElhaney, Kuperminc, & Jodl, 2004). Among all students, good relationships have a 0.72 effect size, which makes them an exceptionally significant and strong effect size catalyst (Hattie, 2009). Among secondary students, the effect size is an even larger 0.87 (Marzano, 2003).
Among elementary students, more so for boys than girls, kindergarten teachers’ relationships were significantly correlated with academic outcomes through middle school. In fact, teacher-student relationships are a significant predictor of student achievement even when prior levels of relationships and academic ability are taken into account (Hamre & Pianta, 2001). In addressing relationships with students from poverty, remember that a good adult relationship significantly destresses the student (Miller-Lewis et al., 2014). When students are less stressed, you get better behaviors, better cognition, and more emotional flexibility.
When teachers offer strong instructional and emotional support, students from low-income families perform equal to their higher-income peers (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). In fact, by the end of first grade, those so-called at-risk students are learning, have achievement scores, and are behaving like their nonpoor peers. By contrast, students in poverty in less-supportive classrooms have lower achievement and more conflict with teachers (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Pause for a second and consider that high support from you can actually bring all your students to middle- and upper-income academic performance.
In fact, at every grade level, students who feel affinity for the teacher tend to engage more. This is especially true at the secondary level where students often experience feeling disconnected (Pianta, Hamre, & Allen, 2012). And, when researchers look over a period of years, students with highly supportive teachers with low levels of conflict obtain higher scores on measures of academics and behavioral adjustment than do students whose relationships with teachers are poor (Hamre & Pianta, 2006).
As you might guess, the effect size on student achievement from effective relationships is stronger for behaviorally and academically higher-risk students and for students of color than for low-risk learners (Hughes, Luo, Kwok, & Loyd, 2008; Liew, Chen, & Hughes, 2010).
In the classroom, relationships influence engagement in multiple ways. First, quality interactions within a relationship provide instruction, correction, modeling, and support for students, forming the basis of a teacher-student relationship (Hughes & Kwok, 2006). Second, a positive teacher-student relationship enhances students’ sense of classroom security and increases their willingness to engage in the classroom (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Third, evidence shows that quality relationships can help students achieve more through greater connected engagement (Roorda, Koomen, Spilt, & Oort, 2011). Another study reveals that students’ positive or negative classroom relationships are equal to IQ or school achievement test scores in predicting if a student will drop out (Jimerson, Egeland, Sroufe, & Carlson, 2000).
Reread that last sentence. If you really want to keep students in school, build relationships! Daily, ask yourself powerful questions such as, “When other teachers successfully build quality relationships, how do they do it?” “In what ways can I connect with students that will make a difference for them?” and “How can I help students feel more safe, respected, and connected?”
A Look Ahead
The next three chapters offer the following strategies to help you build relationships with your students that will get them onboard emotionally and socially.
1. Personalize the learning.
2. Connect everyone for success.
3. Show empathy.
In these chapters, you’ll see how relationships offer the emotional environment through which all course content flows. There is no classroom content without some sort of context, even if the context is a digital device. Let’s dig in.
CHAPTER 1
PERSONALIZE THE LEARNING
In a large, noisy crowd, what’s the one word (besides “Fire!”) that gets your attention? It’s your own name. We perk up and listen when we hear our name because we have been conditioned, over a lifetime, to respond to something directed to us, at us, and about us. Personalization in your classroom works because our brain cares about our identity (Eichenlaub, Ruby, & Morlet, 2012). In short, your kids do not want a new pair of shoes; they want shoes that fit them. This is a way to frame equity from the conversation to action steps.
This chapter is all about fostering teacher-student relationships by creating a culture of personalization. To get personal in this context means connecting in a personal way so that your teaching gets students to perk up and pay attention to that which is relevant: themselves. In this chapter, you will engage with the following four strategies.
• Learn students’ names.
• Create a Me Bag.
• Share an everyday problem.
• Share progress on goals.
This is a powerful chapter, and it lays the groundwork that makes the other mindsets in this book effective; as you read it, reflect on what you already do. Maybe it will also inspire you to add something new.
Learn Students’ Names
To create a culture of personalization starting on day one, learn every student’s name. You don’t need to be a memory champ to do this. You just need to care and take the time to set up the learning process, then practice, just like the students in your class. When you use a student’s name, be sure to smile and make eye contact. Many times, a simple handshake or other appropriate connection will show a lot to your students (you care).
There are many smart ways to remember names and faces. First, put your brain in a curious state. Say to yourself, “OK, what is this student’s name? Is it ___________?” That primes the brain to care and to listen better. Then, when you hear the name, use it! Use it under different circumstances such as standing, sitting, when giving a compliment, or standing at the door. Here are some strategies for learning names.
• Introductions: At the start of the school year, have students say their first names every time they speak. Do this for the first thirty class days (if you have thirty students, or twenty days if you have twenty students).
• Desk nametags: Have students create desk nametags from single index cards or cardstock (fold the paper in half horizontally). Have a box for each class of nametags and ask students to pick them up and return them to the box each period. The hard (but good) part is after two weeks, you pick out each name and try to place it on the right student’s desk.
