E-School News – Josh Stumpenhorst
“Building relationships with students is probably the single most important thing we do as teachers. There is nothing more important than getting to know your student, and I often say you have to know the kid before you can teach the student. Having a relationship with a student and having mutual respect does not mean being best friends. It also doesn’t mean being the favorite teacher or being obsessed with students liking you. There are a lot of ways you can go about building a relationship; however, it must be clear that simply having a positive relationship with a student will not make all misbehaviors disappear. It has the potential to greatly diminish them, but there are times where you will need to bring in a colleague or an administrator to support you in extreme cases of student misbehavior. Here are four easy ways to form positive relationships with students.”(more)