What Will I Do to Establish and Maintain Effective Relationships with Students? The Art and Science of Teaching Chapter 8 – Marzano

The relationship teachers have with students is the key to classroom management and the ability to effectively teach.

You must strive to communicate: You can count on me to provide clear direction in terms of your learning and behavior. That we (students and teacher) devoted to the well-being of all participants.

If the relationship between the teacher and students is good, then everything else that occurs in the classroom seems to be enhanced.

The teacher has to determine; What will I do to establish and then maintain classroom rules and procedures and what will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence to them.

Teachers must maintain emotional objectivity without interpreting violations of classroom rules and procedures or a lack of receptiveness to reaching out to establish personal relationships, as a personal attack.

Research by Nelson, Martella and Garland (1998) demonstrated that teachers who consistently remained unemotional and matter of fact in dealing with discipline violations consistently produced achievement gains greater than expected when compared with a group of random teachers.

Emotional objectivity does not imply being impersonal with or cool toward students. It involves keeping a kind of emotional distance from the ups and downs of classroom life. Work to demonstrate a sense of concern for each student and building a sense of community in the classroom

Moskowitz and Hayman (1976) found that the most effective junior high teachers tended to joke with students and smiled quite frequently. Teacher enthusiasm also helped create a positive affective tone.

Gettinger and Kohler (2006) found that when teachers project a positive and enthusiastic demeanor, students are likely to adopt the same stance in class.

Research Interactions with Students ( Harris and Rosenthal, 1985) BehaviorPercentile Gain Eye Contact9 Gestures25 Smiles23 Encourages32 Touch4 Praise9 Frequency of Interaction17 Duration of Interaction36

What Should I Do? Get to know each student – Interest inventory, newspaper, daily announcements Surprise students by engaging in discussions regarding aspects of their lives. Know the culture of your students – popular recording artists, hangouts, popular terms and phrases, local events..

Engage in Behaviors that Indicate Affection for Each Student Greet them at the door and make positive comments using their names – “ Mary - Good to have you here today; John, I look forward to your comments today…” Bulletin boards with student’s pictures – have them put up comments that they change on occasion.

Attend after school functions where your students participate. Create a schedule where you target two students in a class to make sure you talk to each day.

Bring Student Interests into the Content and Personalize Learning Activities Ask students to create metaphors that relate academic content to their personal interests. “Identify something you are interested in that has the same general pattern and explain.” Do the same with Analogies: Core is to earth as shortstop is to baseball.

Engage in Behaviors that Communicate Interest in Students Smile Eye Contact Look interested in what they have to say Nod your head Active listening – be reflective

Use Humor When Appropriate Engage in playful banter Use historical and popular sayings – “I’ll be back!” Keep a book of jokes or cartoons handy Laugh at yourself Play on words – “always avoid alliterations”; “exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement”

Be consistent in enforcing positive and negative consequences Project a sense of emotional objectivity Recognize that you can control your emotions Check on your attitude toward each of your students and purposefully adjust as necessary

Reframe students behavior in a way that it is not threatening to you. Give students the benefit of the doubt. Stop and think before you act (STAR)–

Remember: Speed Kills