When I was in Middle School I'll always remember my teacher Mr Morrison. This is the only teacher's name I can remember from my school days, and do you know why? It's because he was able to build a strong bond with all of his students. Can you remember a teacher like this? I loved music, and still do by the way. Every morning he would get out his guitar and we would all sing a song that we students took turns in choosing from a list he had created. What a great way to start the day!
As a teacher how do you bond with your students? In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the bond between teachers and students has always been crucial. However, in recent times, this bond has taken on even greater significance. The bond a teacher makes with each of their students matters more than ever now and the long-term positive impact they have on their students is critical. How come bonding with your students matter? So does a teacher-student bond really matter? Yes it does. You see, it's all about building a connection. Also wouldn't you agree that, in today's world both adults and children are having to face many of life's challenges, both at school and at home. When a student feels connected to you, they are more likely to share how they're feeling when it comes to their emotions, their concerns and even their anxieties. Create a bond when differentiating your instruction for your students. The book I've written and soon to be published, with my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Janet J. Sawyer, Teachers Are Amazing...That's Us! talks about how to tailor and differentiate your instruction to meet the individual needs for your students. By doing this a bond will naturally occur for you with each student. Teachers who understand their student's behavioral style strengths and weaknesses and who can tailor their instruction to meet those needs, can also foster a sense of self-worth. It's all about increasing confidence and self-esteem. We all know that teachers play a significant role in creating an environment that supports students to develop confidence and self-esteem. And it starts with students having a willingness to bond. By the way, this can have a lasting impact. Also when a student feels a deep bond with their teacher they will be more willing to receive constructive feedback, and less likely to engage in disruptive behavior. After all if I was teaching in the classroom, a would much rather be focusing on teaching rather than having to manage behavioral issues. Here's a couple of tips for creating a teacher-student bond... Communicate with each student the way they like to be communicated to. Some styles like you to give them the facts in short sentences, whereas other styles love it when you personalize the way you interact with them. Here's an example of communicating facts in a short sentence, "Well done Peter, your assignment is on track. Can you please hand it in by the end of the week, and let me know if you need any further support". Now to speak it in a more personalized way you would say, "Well done Jane it looks like your assignment is nearly there, and I love the colored pens you have used. Please hand it in by the end of the week, and if you need any support, let me know". You see, Peter doesn't really care that you like his colored pens, as he just wants to know that he's on track, and wants you to "Be brief, be bright and be gone". "Just please give me the facts", is what he's thinking. Whereas Jane likes more personalized feedback, so she would have liked it when you mentioned her colored pens, and know doubt would have engaged in a conversation about where she bought them and why she chose the colors she did. Create a supportive and inclusive classroom culture. We all know that fostering a supportive and inclusive classroom culture helps your students feel safe and motivated. It's also about creating a culture where students from all cultures feel respected - Honoring others through our words and actions, and treating every person with dignity and courtesy. Students will feel comfortable speaking out, asking questions and taking chances, if they feel valued and heard, no matter what culture they come from. And last but not least...model positive behavior. As a teacher, you are a role model to your students. So, make a conscious effort to demonstrate kindness, compassion, empathy and active listening. When those conflict moments arise between students, support and guide them to resolve this conflict in a peaceful and respectful way. For those of you who would like to read our soon to be published book, Teachers Are Amazing...That's Us!, keep and eye out for my blog post over the next month, as I'll be sharing and posting some of the content from the book and also the Amazon link where you can purchase a copy.
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Young adults are able to thrive because their classroom and the people around them at school make it easy for them to succeed. Research shows that the quality of a child’s environment is a prerequisite for overall brain development and that a stimulating and effective learning environment will positively affect all other learning areas later on in life.
Children need space, time, materials and an accommodating environment that nurtures their sense of security – an important emotional need. Understanding the way that your students learn is also critical. That’s why I’d like to introduce you to a great resource for the older child (13yrs plus) called the Learning Styles Assessment with a report that can be completed online. All learners are not equal and many teachers tend to treat their students the same way when it comes to supporting them to learn, depending on their personality style. Some students like to process information through text, while others want visual support and images. Some assimilate information individually, while others prefer to work in groups. Some grasp information intuitively and quickly, while others prefer to see a strong sequential path and time to reflect. In the end, the only thing you can say for sure is that every individual learns in their own particular way. The Learning Styles Questionnaire simply helps students to understand their relative preferences as they learn. It is intended to help determine where people’s general preferences, or natural learning biases, might lie. Although this is far from an exact science, the simple view is that the more we can understand about how we perceive new information or new learning, the better and more successful our learning transfer will be. The report introduces four categories of learning:
Click on this link to purchase a Learning Styles assessment for each of your 13yrs plus students, and the good news is that it’s on sale, AND it also comes with a Educator's Debrief Guide: Learning Styles Assessment with Report You also might like to apply these three tips I share with the parents I coach, for encouraging and supporting your teens to learn:
For those Teachers that would like to join our Educator's Facebook group you can go here Educators Are Amazing...Even Us! Please share with others if you have found this post helpful. Together we can create a more kind and peaceful classroom culture and world. Also we would love to hear your comments. Yes, being a perfectionist can cause stress and many hours of sleepless nights. Perfectionism is a personality trait that is characterized by a tendency to set extremely high, rigid, or "flawless" goals and place excessive demands on ourselves and others. A person with these traits often has high standards that relate to almost any area of their life. In the DISC Behavioral Model the C Style, or as we at PeopleSmart say, the Owl Bird Style, set very high standards for themselves and are often perfectionists, looking to achieve excellence in all they do. I'm not saying that focusing on a high level of excellence, by giving our best to any task is a bad thing. However, when there is an intense desire for others' approval, or having unrealistic expectations and there is a feeling of guilt because you got it wrong, along with negative self-talk can be unhealthy. Are You a Perfectionist? As an Educator a key part of teaching is learning. As humans we learn every day and chasing perfection takes us away from the learning experience. Here's some tips for letting go of trying to be a perfect teacher:
Children with High Perfectionism Many of us believe that it's a positive thing for students to have high expectations for themselves. However, the difference between healthy striving and problematic perfectionism comes when anything short of perfection is perceived as a failure. The Owls in the classroom often have a rigidly critical mindset and a negative view of mistakes (known as “perfectionistic concerns”) and can be strongly linked to poor mental and physical health effects. I've just read a great article at NewportAcademy.com that says a teenager who constantly strives for perfectionism often has a hard time recognizing the downsides of their perfectionism. This article also gives some good tips on how to teach a child to reframe their negative thoughts by replacing them with self-compassion. Here's a couple of the tips:
Whether you are a teacher, paraprofessional or parent volunteer, or have students with perfectionist tendencies, sometimes it takes applying self-discipline so that you don't get blown off course by your desire to be perfect. It's about establishing healthy habits, and listening to those inner thoughts that bring up emotions, for example when you make a mistake or get it wrong. I always say to myself, "Ok Sandra that was a learning experience, now wasn't it!" Oh, and here's another tip... Challenge the behavior and beliefs that are driving the perfectionism. If you have a student that feels the need to check their work multiple times before turning it in, ask them how come they need to do this. I'm not saying that attention to detail is wrong or a weakness. However it's all about having a balance of recognizing when "good enough" really is good enough and it's time to hand in that project. At the end of the day, it's all about noticing when perfectionism gets out of control and starts to interfere with your relationships or becomes obsessive. As I often say to myself, "Sandra, time to relax a little and just go with the flow for now, tomorrow is another day". Many educators worry about their students being bullied, or if they have one with bullying tendencies what to do about it. Many people out there think that we are making too much of a fuss about it, that we should leave kids to their own devices. I tend to disagree. I remember the name of the person who tormented me in school. You see, she used to call me, “Stork'' because I was taller than most kids in my class and had very long legs. I didn’t like it but in those days you just had to ignore it. So, How Do You Know If A Child Is Being Bullied? Peggy Moss, a nationally known expert on bullying and a tireless advocate for the prevention of hate violence,and also an author of the book Say Something, Our Friendship Rules, co-authored by Dee Dee Tardiff, and One of Us gives us some advice here… There’s a good chance a child won’t walk up to you and say, “I’m getting teased and bullied at school, the kids are calling me names.” Instead, it’s going to manifest itself by a child saying, “I don’t want to be at school today.” If this seems to be happening a lot, consider the possibility that bullying might be the reason behind the sick days. For boys, one classic symptom is that they are teased so much about being gay or being atypical that they’re terrified to go to the bathroom. Since there’s only one way in and one way out of a bathroom, it’s an ideal place to tease other kids. Boys who are bullied often won’t go all day. These are all possible signals that your child might be the target of teasing at school. As an educator, add “Bullying” to your radar when you’re trying to figure out what’s going on with a child. Peggy says that the injury is real when kids get teased. Unchecked, it can be devastating - Source:EmpoweringParents.com Tips For Educators When A Child Is Being Bullied... Listen with Compassion. Be present to the child especially when strong feelings come up. Whether they are feeling sad, angry or scared it always helps to have an adult there who is listening with compassion and is showing genuine concern. Practice compassionate listening by bringing your attention away from your head and moving it into your heart space. It’s about letting go of judgements about the situation and just seek to understand. If you show anger at the person who is bullying the child it will only make matters worse. Let the child talk about it. As I’ve already mentioned, listen in a non-judgmental way about their experience and about the teaser. Let the child talk. As an educator some personality styles will try to solve the problem, however this is not helpful. Just ask them: “What happened? How did that make you feel?” Don’t assume anything. Yes, that’s right. Don’t assume that the child has done something to bring on the teasing. Teasing isn’t always logical, and for the child it doesn’t matter why - it just matters that it’s happening. Therefore, don’t say, “What did you do that made them tease you?” That’s not going to help. Ask “Cup emptying” questions. Linda Kavelin-Popov has a great strategy she teaches in her book, The Families Virtues Guide, for allowing a child to empty their cup of feelings. Linda says that good cup-emptying questions can be very general, or they can zero in on the feelings the child is expressing. For example, if the child is crying you just ask, “Johnny, tell me, what are those tears about”? Here’s some examples of general questions that will support a child to empty their cup:
I hope as a educator, these ideas and tips will support and encourage you when one of your students is being bullied. I invite you to use cup-emptying questions when you see a child expressing strong feelings of hurt or anger. |
AuthorHi I'm Sandra Davis. I'm really passionate about supporting others to be the best they can be through sharing my stories and experiences I've has gained along the way through these Blog posts... Archives
July 2024
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