It's all about Relationships!

As teachers, we instinctively know this.  We understand that learning takes place best in an environment that is emotionally and physically safe.  One of the best ways to ensure a positive classroom environment is to develop healthy relationships with students and then help them build healthy relationships with each other.  

Although it sounds simple, this can be hard to do when the pressure to get kids to perform well on high stakes tests is so great and teachers are reluctant to take time away from curriculum to facilitate the community building activities that foster positive relationships.

But the quote above says it all.  Not matter how engaging the lessons are, or how hard teachers try to push students to achieve at high levels, if the relationships that form the foundation for a healthy and positive classroom environment are not established and nurtured, the likelihood of academic success is diminished.

Check out the article below about the Madison School district in Wisconsin.  This district is asking teachers to build deeper relationships not only between themselves and their students, but between students as well using strategies they call trust generators:  

• Selective vulnerability
• Familiarity
• Similarity of interests
• Concern
• Competence

Teachers focus on building better relationships with and between students.