Building Relationships With Students
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I am looking for some new loose parts! Do you have any favorites or recommendations?
One of the best ways I've found to start building relationships with students (please keep in mind I did this with elementary students) was to ask them for songs that made them feel good BUT there couldn't any inappropriate lyrics. I would sometimes use instrumental versions if I couldn't find clean versions of the songs. I would use this to build a playlist and when students were doing independent work, I would play it. Students loved it and got to share with me why they chose the song.
A couple of years ago I taught a GT (Gifted and Talented) group of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. One thing about gifted students is they love a good project that they can create from scratch. As a way to keeping them engaged, I did some research on passion projects (https://keepemthinking.com/2020/09/discover-the-power-of-passion-projects/ I had a brainstorming sheet I had created, but I cannot find it! This website explains what it is and gives some great ideas on how to get started.) My students absolutely took this and ran with it. At the end of testing season, they explained their projects (attached picture is one of pure joy!) and the students were in awe of each other. It was one of my favorite days of teaching ever!
I came across this a few years ago, and started implementing in my classroom! My students loved it and I saw immediate engagement. When I had a homeroom, I would also put a positive attribute that students exhibited throughout the week (or weeks) on their name tag on the desk. This also engaged students! How do you build a strong community with your students through the year?
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