A good teacher-student relationship is important for the future of the students. As children, we all loved it when a teacher showed us love and care. It gave us confidence and made us feel important. Experiencing emotions like these are very crucial in early childhood. Even today, the importance of the relationship between teacher and students remains intact. However, it has experienced some challenges in recent times.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools went virtual. This created a gap in the one-to-one communication between teachers and students. The young children were struggling to bond with not just their teachers but also their classmates. Hence, as 21st century teachers, you should be aware of some tips and strategies that will help you continue your bond with your lovely pupils even when they may be at a different location.
Here are some common ways which can help teachers bond with their students in the classroom, whether it is a physical one or a virtual one.
Get to know your students
Students love it when teachers show interest in them in ways that are beyond the classroom. Ask them about their interests, hobbies and pets. You can also ask them about their favourite sports teams or music artists. You will be amazed at how interesting some of these answers will be. You can build a conversation around such answers and find out about the deeper perspectives of the young kids. Trust us, their answers and thoughts are so amazing sometimes that they influence our perspective in very meaningful ways.
Make your classroom a stimulating place to be in
Keep a day in your classroom for fun activities. You can also use this as motivation for learning. For example, you can tell your students that if they help you complete a certain lesson by a particular day, you will make the next class a singing session or a dance session.
You must keep in mind that if your students are bored, they will get distracted and think about other things instead of paying attention to what you’re saying. You need to find ways of keeping them engaged so that they stay focused on what’s being taught, even if it gets boring at times. For example, if there are games available at school (such as board games), try hosting an informal game night once per week! This way, everyone has something new going on within the walls of their own classroom building every week without having any obligations outside school hours.
Keep a sense of humour
Humour can be used to connect with students, teach and learn, make lessons more interesting and break the ice.It’s important that you keep a sense of humour in the classroom because it helps create a positive atmosphere. You will find that your students will be more engaged if they are laughing at your jokes or making fun of themselves during class time.
Using pop culture references is a great trick here. Students love it when they know that their teachers are also updated with whatever is happening in popular media and are watching the same things as they do.
Be fair and consistent
One of the most important things you can do to create a positive teacher student relationship is to be fair and consistent. This means making sure that you don’t treat your students the same way in school as they may experience at home or elsewhere. You should also make sure that you’re not too hard on them, nor are you too lenient with them.
Be a good communicator
If you want to be a positive teacher student relationship in a classroom, communication is key. It is an essential part of any relationship because without it there would be no point in having it at all. You may think that your student understands everything perfectly but they don’t know how they feel about what has been happening with them at school so far. This needs to come out into the open so that everyone can see how important this information is going to be for everyone involved
Use their interests
One of the best ways to develop a positive relationship with your students is to use their interests. This can be done in many different ways and it’s not necessary that you know exactly what they are interested in, but you should make sure that your method of teaching reflects their interests.
When they come up with an idea or idea related to their own interests, support them and encourage them by saying things like “that sounds fascinating” or “you know how much I love learning about these kinds of things!” This will help boost their confidence and make it easier for them to share more ideas with other classmates later on.
Another way this works well is if there is a particular topic which needs explaining better than others (for example: maths), then include relevant information from this subject within the lesson itself so that students get a better understanding of what needs explaining first before moving onto another topic altogether (like history).
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Conclusion
As you can see, there are many things you can do to build a positive relationship with your students. By following the tips above and listening to their needs, you’ll be able to create a classroom where everyone feels safe and cared for.
Find out more about such interesting tips and strategies for teachers on Suraasa, the world’s leading teacher upskilling platform.
