Relationships

I have met many educators in my 6 years of teaching. Many of those educators know the power of forming relationships with students in the beginning. However, there have been a few of those educators who clearly just come to work to do their job and leave. They do not put their heart into forming relationships and connecting with their students. Honestly you could tell they did not like their jobs at all. This is heart breaking for the students that have to deal with this.

Our students deserve a person to be in their corner each and every day. If our students can tell we do not want to be at school, why would they? If we are not excited about learning, why should they be? If we do not respect them, how are we to ask them to respect us?

Every year I start out with many team building exercises and get to know each other type questionnaires. However, this year, I am going to strive to build those relationships even more! I want my students to always know that I am there for them and believe in their full potential. If we are sure to do this with each and every child, then when we have to be the "bad guy", they wont see us at that.

I teach fourth grade, so obviously I have to deal with some discipline issues in my classroom. However, I think I have only had to get a principal involved maybe twice, and that was for something that occurred when I was not present. I know that this is because of the relationships I have built with my students. Even my most difficult students respect me and the rules in our classroom. We have a social contract, that we call our family contract. This contract outlines how we all would like to be treated and how our classroom should run. We refer to this contract often during disagreements and whenever needed. Even if I have to intervene and provide some type of consequence to a choice a student made, I make sure that I tell them I love them and I am not mad at them. About 99.9% of the time, that child will give me a big bear hug after they receive their consequence. Why? Because they know that I love them and know that they are more than their bad choice.

I challenge any educator reading this to start the year off really building those relationships with your students. I promise it will pay off! "Every child deserves an adult who will never give up on them." (Pierson, 2013) Be that person to every child that walks through your classroom door!

Reference: Pierson, R. (2013). Every kid needs a champion. Ted.com; TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion