Building Real Rapport
by Ryan
Hur and Kellen Pluntke
One
of the key components in a successful classroom is having a positive teacher-student
relationship. Having a positive
relationship with your students will motivate them to do the best work they
can, and keep all your students engaged throughout the school year. A student will
do great work for a teacher that inspires them to work harder. A teacher can affect how a student interacts
and behaves in class just by having good rapport with them. It is so important for kids’ mental health
and future success that they know that people care about them. Since students
spend almost more time in school than they do with their families, the care
that teachers show is essential in their lives.
Teachers can never know what is going on in a student’s life until they
truly get to know them. Students’ personal
lives can greatly affect their in-class performance, to the point where the students’
full potential could not even be realized.
All
this responsibly is not just on the teachers.
Students need to know that they can go to their teachers to talk about
things, not just school issues. I (Kellen) have had my life changed by some of
my teachers, because I finally decided to open up to all of them, and just let
them know about what’s going on in my life. I have personally struggled with a mental
health issue – namely, anxiety - and this year school started to get very hard
for me. Once I went in to every one of my teachers, I got nothing but
support. All of them talked to me about
how they understood what I was going through and they said they would be more
than happy to just talk to me about everything.
Ever since I decided to do that, school has improved so much in every
way possible. I started participating
more in class, getting my work done, and my grades came back up to almost all
A’s and B’s. Teachers started making
some small accommodations for me, just to make me a little more comfortable.
For example, music is a big part of my life, and it is something that always
calmed me down when I had anxiety issues.
I explained this to my teachers and they were completely open to letting
me use music to aid my learning in class.
My classes did not change otherwise, and the workload wasn’t any easier,
but since I knew that I had all my teachers on my side, I could do it. I hope that every student going through
personal issues in their life has the opportunity to open up to their teachers,
but it is on them to do that. Teachers
however, still need to have an approachable “vibe” if you will. I would not have been able to go to my
teachers like that if I didn’t feel like they were going to take what I was
saying positively. The connections that
I made with those teachers has given me my own support system, and it changed
not just my school life, but my life all together.
One
thing that teachers can do to help the students feel more comfortable in their
classes, is to incorporate modern technology into lessons. When doing this,
technology should not take over the lesson, but simply add to it. But integration of technology just for the
point of bringing it into the classroom is a waste, it needs to complement the
lessons that are already made, never the center of it. Kids use social media all the time, and it can
be used positively to help them and the world around them if done
correctly. For example, all the
#bowtieboys try to keep our twitter accounts running with good tweets and
research that support the topics we represent.
This same concept can be used in the classroom. “Educators need to
recognize that these sites can be a place where teens learn social skills and
practice improving interpersonal relationships” (Teaching with the Tools Kids
Really Use, 2010). Social media is a
great way for students to practice their 21st century skills, which
are arguably some of the most important skills students can learn in
school. This integration of something
that kids are comfortable with into the classroom will make kids feel more
connected and engaged.
A
fantastic way to do this is to have students tweet things that they have
learned from lessons, books, and discussions in class. That way if all the students are not reading
the same book, or having the same discussion, they can still see the main
points and ideas brought on by those sources.
For example, if half the class is reading To Kill a Mockingbird, while the other half is reading A Tale of Two Cities, both groups can
tweet about the main ideas and lessons they have learned from their book, and
read about the lessons from the other groups book. This will promote the students’ productive
use of technology, while improving their online presence. When both groups are finished with their
books, a full-on twitter chat can be run by the teacher about what they have
gathered from their book, and all students can say what they feel on the
subject, and how it relates to issues in the world today. The end twitter chat would act like a
Socratic seminar, but is in text so it is easier for assessment. This would
make social media “a place for groups of students to collaborate as they work
on a group project” (Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use, 2010). This
idea, if done correctly, would teach students how to use social media
effectively, incorporate technology in an effective way without taking away
from the meaning of the lesson, and it has relevance to real world issues
today.
Also, the addition
of technology will make the content seem more relevant to students, which is a
huge component to how engaged the students are in that lesson. Everyone wants to learn, and when a student
can see that what they are learning in class can help them in the real world,
they will want to learn even more. This simple
method of integrating technology can help teachers maintain that positive
“vibe” I mentioned earlier, which will make students feel more connected to
their teachers. This connection can make
the student feel much closer to their teacher, thus making them more open to
their teachers about personal issues.
I (Ryan) have been labeled a
slacker by the vast majority of the teachers I’ve had in the past. They see me
on the surface and disregard me as an unintelligent floater, who will never
respect their class. These thoughts about me and students like me can play a
major role in the way we perform in school. While the reason may very well be a
lack of motivation or a lack of interest, lots of students have internal issues
that are not easy to share, and may be prohibiting their success in school. I
have lived with severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder my entire life. I have
learned coping skills over the years yet, it can still happen and make it hard
to pay attention and be present in class. If a teacher could act as a sponge to
soak up everything I might need to get off my chest about something that could
be causing an anxiety attack that can be the biggest factor in my performance
in school. I am not a straight A student. I haven’t been all of my high school
career. As teachers fail to make personal connections with me, I fail to see
the point and meaning in the work I am assigned, and my grades suffer. I go
home and I am berated by my parents. “We know you are smarter than this” they
would say after seeing my pitiful grades. I go back to school and am greeted
with a frown as I fail to turn in my homework yet again. Teachers see these
things on the surface and turn me away as lazy and unmotivated, yet the small
number of teachers I have made a connection with, I have worked unfathomably
harder for them and shown them who Ryan Hur truly is.
While
I was reading The Greatest Catch, by
Penny Kittle, she inspired me to think that teachers can make a deep and true
connection with their students. Penny astoundingly proves that a connection
with a student is fathomable, all it takes is a first step on the teacher’s
side. An unspoken wall is naturally built between the teachers and the students
as soon as they step foot in the classroom, it is up to the teacher to destroy
that barrier. One of my favorite of the many heart wrenching stories she tells
is about Russel. A boy who hasn’t had a father in the picture, and his mother
works too much to have an impact in his life. This is the perfect example of a
student who could benefit extraordinarily from a productive relationship with a
teacher. Russel couldn’t read, therefore, the system failed him. Kittle pushed
Russel to do the best he could, and it seemed as if he did, but due to the way
standardized tests operate, the system didn’t see it that way. Nevertheless,
the connection that he made with Kittle had an impact on his life. All a
teacher needs to do is make a real reach into the student’s life. Ask them
simple questions, and make them feel wanted, because maybe they don’t feel that
way outside of a relationship you build with them.
As
students who both suffer from mental health issues, we know how important it is
to have a positive connection with your teachers. It is utterly important that students change
their perception on teachers, from an inattentive figure that’s only purpose is
to teach to the test, to a person who really can make a difference in their
life. When this connection is made,
students will feel infinitely more pleased with their school experience, and be
far more productive. While using
technology to ease this process along, students will start to feel more
comfortable, and learn some great skills along the way. All it takes is a
teacher who shows that they genuinely care about the work they do. Students perform stupendously for teachers
that they connect to, and are comfortable with. The relationship between a
student and teacher effects a student’s quality of work, happiness in school,
and makes school seem less stressful and much more manageable.
Works Cited
Brooks-Young, Susan. Teaching with the Tools Kids Really
Use: Learning with Web and Mobile Technologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin,
2010. Print.
Kittle, Penny. The Greatest
Catch: A Life in Teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. Print.
