1. Learn the name of the student
It may seem obvious that you as a teacher should know the student’s name, but when you get a new class with over 20 new students, it is not so easy to learn everyone’s name. However, it is a very important and trustworthy activity and you will not be able to create a good and deeper contact with a student as long as you don’t know the name.
Many people say they are bad at remembering names. They have already somehow decided thats the fact and therefore forget almost all names right away. Therefore it is a good idea to stop saying that you are bad on remembering names because it’s not true! The only thing you have forgot is to create a personal system for you to remember names.
Try to repeat the name of the person you are helping in the classroom, e.g. “Good job Lisa”, “John can you get a new pen at the bench?”.
Visualize to turn the name into an image. And makes the image really big, in 3D. Anna can be an apple, Peter can be a pear, but the most important thing is that you use the image that comes to you first. Do a mental rehearsal every day the first week of the school term. That way, I can guarantee that you have learned the names of all the students during the first week of school.
2. Say good morning to every student every day
If your students line up in the hall outside the classroom, say a personal good morning to each student before entering the classroom.
A good idea might be to start each morning by saying “Good morning and welcome to school” while stretching your arms in a bodily “welcome”. All this sends signals that here I am welcome, here I get a place, and here I am important. And you: don’t forget to smile!
When they then have entered the classroom, ask the students natural and personal questions. Do you see anything that deviates from the normal? Tell Emma that her new haircut is great and also ask if she herself is happy with it. Olivia has a patch on her forehead, ask why she has it, has there been a small accident? Tim looks a little bit tired, is he about to be sick or just tired? What did Isabella do in her spare time yesterday?
3. Be a servant, not a lord
The meeting between teacher and student determines how much the child will learn from what you as a teacher want to convey. How you treat the student also affects the child’s ability to develop his or her identity and skills. Therefore, you must constantly reflect on your own actions towards the students. Try to critically examine yourself and if you contribute to an environment where the student feels safe and can develop.
A teacher must be a servant and never lord. By this, he means that the teacher should constantly ask himself how he is the best way, based on position and authority, should treat the child so that he can realize and develop their knowledge and opportunities.
4. Cooperation instead of obedience
In today’s school, the development has thus meant that the concept of obedience has more or less disappeared from its
governing documents and the emphasis is instead on cooperation. In the school’s values and rules of order, there is no threat of punishment if you do not obey the superiors, but on the other hand, consequences if you break the rules. A good relationship is based on just this, learning and collaboration is a common goal for the teacher and the student. It is important that you can talk to the student in a good way and listen to what the student has to say, it is a basic requirement that everyone should meet.
The adults (also other than teachers) who work in the school have, based on their role and knowledge, a special responsibility to create conditions that make all students feel good and find development. There is research that shows a two-way connection between how a student feels and how it goes into the actual school work/learning.
5. Create a clear and visible structure that everyone understands
A clear and visible structure creates calm and study peace. Write the structure for the whole day and / or the lesson on the whiteboard.
- What is the purpose of the lesson?
- What is the goal and why?
- How should students work during the lesson?
- What should the student do when he is finished?
- When will there be a break?
Through this structure, students gain control over what times apply and what is expected of them during future sessions. It increases predictability and improves the relationship between teacher and student.
It also means that everyone can put their energy into the most important thing, the learning itself.
6. Justice is about treating people differently
It is important to be able to compromise in teaching, regarding tasks to be performed, to move forward instead of ending up in a conflict with a student. By meeting halfway, you as a teacher can divert individual student resistance and maintain a trusting relationship.
Justice is often about treating people differently, strange as it may sound. It is largely a matter of looking after each child’s abilities and skills so as not to create situations that lead to failure. The importance of justice is rather about treating children differently – according to their circumstances.
7. Do not take criticism personally
If you as a teacher openly acknowledges your mistakes and takes the criticism you have received, it creates in 100% of cases respect among the students. If, on the other hand, you take a defensive stance, there is a risk that you will be perceived as easily offended and the students will thus lose confidence in you.
Criticism often leads to anger and further irritation. It’s never too late to learn to deal with criticism from your students. Therefore, I will now share with you some tips on how to accept what you feel when others give their opinion and how to redirect your feelings in a positive way.
- Criticism can reveal the truth about you even if it is uncomfortable. It is not always criticism that aims to discredit you, it can instead aim to develop a better relationship between the student and you
- What you should do in the first place, regardless of how the criticism is presented, is to be silent – and listen
- Always assume that the person who comes to you with criticism does so with good intentions
It is also important that you as a teacher can be a good listener. Once I really got the opportunity to practice this. That was when I talked to a student who was quite rowdy and noisy in class. I tried to get him to think about what was wrong and the hardest thing he criticized me immediately: You talk for far too long and too much. It feels like you never stop talking and we can never start working on our own.
After our conversation, I thought a lot about my own role around why he experienced me talking, maybe there were more students in the classroom who experienced the same thing. I started to take short breaks during the lesson to clarify the different parts of the lesson.
I even wrote down the different steps (including the pauses) on the whiteboard and gradually crossed out a step when it was completed. I understand that this has been appreciated by all students. If I had taken the criticism personally, no change would have taken place.
8. Trust in both directions
In a study involving more than 2,500 students in the UK, Sammons et al. (2014), showed that those students who felt that they have a good and fair relationship with their teachers received better diplomas.
The study also showed that students were more likely to seek help from teachers they felt they could trust and trusted. A good relationship between teacher and student also turned out to increase students’ commitment and performance. By regularly communicating the knowledge you have about the students’ individual needs and learning development to the students, trust can be strengthened.
A basic prerequisite for a student to feel good at school is that he or she feels safe, seen, and confirmed.
By having a personal relationship between teacher and student, the student’s well-being is facilitated. Self-esteem is built up where it is okay to fail, but above all that the student is given the opportunity to succeed with tasks. It is therefore important to break down the tasks into manageable goals that are adapted to the student’s opportunities to succeed.
There may be a problem in a class when the students constantly focus on something other than themselves and when certain individuals have to take on the responsibility of keeping order in the class. But remember that it is never the students’ job. If the students feel that it is messy, it is the teacher they should turn to.