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Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English | TED

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Most students likely connect the term "habits" to their study habits. In fact, for many students the term "study habits" probably gives the notion of habits a negative vibe.

But there is another type of habit that is important for the well-being and positive growth of students: habits that build their character strengths, such as patience, gratitude, and service to others. For example, the habit cue that helps students practice patience before spontaneously sending that angry tweet, or a daily habit of writing down what they are grateful for. I call these "positive habits."

As a researcher and president of Character.org, I want to make the case that every child and teen, before graduating from elementary school, middle school, or high school, should be able to demonstrate and explain how they have formed and consistently practice a positive habit-especially one they intrinsically want to develop.

Positive habits help students achieve the "character goals" they have set for themselves, such as being a person of integrity or someone who strives to be kind and helpful to others. It is difficult for me to imagine any student becoming their best possible self without developing a wide range of positive habits.

As a starting point, here are five concepts to teach students about habits that will help them build productive skills and meaningful practices into their lives.

1. You are your habits

The research is clear: 40-50% of all our actions are done out of habit. Each of us has our morning habits, as well as our eating and bedtime habits. Simply put, our lives run on habits.

Our challenge as educators is to encourage students to understand that their habits shape who they are and the sort of person they want to become. For example, for many years one of my children handed in assignments that were filled with errors because he had not yet developed the positive habit of checking his homework before handing it in. Only later in life did he learn the wisdom of practicing the character strength of carefulness.

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, hit the mark when he suggested that the best way to change who you are is to change what you do.

2. How we form habits

Most students learn about Newton's three laws of motion in eighth grade. But I can't seem to find any curriculum in the United States where eighth graders learn about the science of habit formation. But they should.

Every student should learn about the " habit loop." Whether it's a good or bad habit, the mechanics of a habit are the same:

Cue > Craving > Response > Reward

Cues spark our habits, and our cravings are the motivating forces behind every habit. Finally, the response delivers the reward (the desired thought or action that gives us relief from the craving). In short, we are still captives to our "lizard brain." We remain creatures who crave instant gratification.

This process is fairly straightforward for everyday habits: For example, when a student comes home from school (cue), they might experience a spike in dopamine as they start looking for a snack (craving), and then indulge (response) in the salty, crunchy reward of a bag of Fritos. Here's what the habit loop might look like for a positive habit: Every day when a student comes home from school, she calls her grandmother to find out how she is feeling. Hearing the cheerfulness in her grandmother's voice is the student's positive reward.

Researchers are also beginning to discover that habits persist even when we don't value the reward as much as we once did (or even when the reward is no longer available). That's good news for those of us who believe in the power of positive habits. After consistently practicing these habits, they become part of our identity.

3. Stable cues are the key to forming a positive habit

Here's the one indispensable "habit principle" I'd want my students to learn and practice: Create cue X, for action Y. For example, imagine a student has decided they want to learn how to play the guitar (the action) right after they finish their homework (the cue). The key to creating this new habit or routine is for the student to repeat this activity every day -as soon as they finish studying.

Other stable cues might include waking up or going to bed, brushing teeth, or eating meals-any actions that happen regularly that students can attach a habit to.

Researchers are learning that stable habit cues are essential to organizing our mental space. Over time, repetition reorganizes our brain and becomes its own reward.

4. Four "habit hacks" that work

S. J. Scott recently wrote a book titled Habit Stacking. The idea is that we should link together a harder habit to an easier habit. For example, encouraging students to do their chores (a harder habit) while listening to music (an easier habit).

A second hack is leveraging the power of commitment. The reality is that all of us, at one time or another, have broken a promise we've made to ourselves. That's why we may need to share our habit plan with someone who will hold us accountable, such as a friend, parent, or teacher. Making a commitment to someone we know and trust is often the fuel we need to develop a positive habit.

A third hack is discovering our habit tendency. Developed by author Gretchen Rubin, the core idea is that each of us needs to understand more acutely how well we respond to internal and external expectations. While some people absolutely need accountability for habits, other people must understand why the habit is important before they feel motivated to pursue it.

Finally, when it comes to habit formation, every student should learn about the power of positive affirmations. Refuting our negative self-talk with positive self-talk is a "habit hack" that simply works. For example, students can create the positive mental habit of repeating to themselves, "I got this...I can do this."

5. Setting goals and sheer willpower aren't enough

Emerging research is shattering our long-held myths that setting goals and exercising self-control are the twin peaks of habit formation. Intentions alone don't change behaviors. Moreover, willpower is a muscle that depletes over time. No one can lead a life full of self-denial.

In addition to having long-term goals, students need to "plan" their habits. The research is clear: Preparation is the key. As the saying goes, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Habit planning is far more important than motivation and willpower.

Creating a new positive habit is form of human engineering that requires students to discover their optimal cue/action pattern ( if X, then Y), as well as the intellectual humility to anticipate a weakness or flaw in their habit design. For example, some schools encourage students to develop their own daily habit of gratitude. Students would have to identify a cue/action pattern that works best for them (in the morning or before bedtime), as well as to think critically on what could prevent them from developing their gratitude habit.

Habits are about getting 1% better every day. Aristotle got it right when he wrote that "we are what we repeatedly do."

Yet recent research tells us that educators overlook the role of habits in student self-regulation. That's why it's time for parents and educators, especially during these stress-filled times, to work together to help all students harness the energy and power of positive habits.

Let's imagine a future where 12th graders are talking to eighth graders about habits, with the older students sharing one positive habit they now consistently practice. Or where every student, at the beginning of the school year, is encouraged to share with their teachers and peers one habit they would like to strengthen by winter break. These are just a few ideas to inspire and equip young people to intrinsically form their own habits of mind, heart, and action.
I'd love to learn your ideas and suggestions to help our students form a habit mindset. Please reach out to me at arthur@character.org.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How to Help Your Students Develop Positive Habits

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Small habits repeated regularly can help students cultivate character strengths like patience, gratitude, and kindness.

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Conner, J. (2004). Using Think-Alouds to Improve Reading Comprehension.

Davey, B. (1983). Think-aloud: Modeling the cognitive processes of reading comprehension. Journal of Reading, 27(1), 44-47.

Gold, J., & Gibson, A. (2001). Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension.

Olshavsky, J. E. (1977). Reading as problem-solving: An Investigation of Strategies. Reading Research Quarterly, 12(4), 654-674.

Wilhelm, J. D. (2001). Improving Comprehension with Think-Aloud Strategies. New York: Scholastic Inc.

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Think-alouds have been described as "eavesdropping on someone's thinking." With this strategy, teachers verbalize aloud while reading a selection orally. Their verbalizations include describing things they're doing as they read to monitor their comprehension. The purpose of the think-aloud strategy is to model for students how skilled readers construct meaning from a text.

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When teachers feel free to be themselves at school, it has a lot of benefits for them and their students.

Popular movies with teacher characters cover the spectrum from dryly professional (Ferris Bueller's economics teacher) to inappropriately candid (Miss Halsey in Bad Teacher). The media is constantly sending us the message to be ourselves with maxims such as "You do you" and "Keep it real," but should we bring our authenticity to a room full of young people? In an article on authenticity at work, McGill University professor Patricia Faison Hewlin writes, "When we experience authenticity-when we feel that we're living out our personal values and perspectives-we feel a greater sense of well-being."

When we bring our true selves to our classrooms, we enhance the learning environment and improve our overall job satisfaction.

4 Ways to Be Yourself at School

1. Share your home life... with boundaries. My middle school students have seen photos of my family and pets. They know that I'm obsessed with peanut M&Ms and that I earned two Ds my first semester of college (this is part of a purposeful lesson I give on productive failure). What they don't know is how I vote, my favorite wine, and a myriad of other personal details that are off-limits. I tell family stories occasionally, but I'm careful to not share information about someone that the person wouldn't want me to share.

As an example, I used to tell funny toddler stories about my daughter, but as she grew older and eventually attended the same middle school where I taught, these personal stories came to an end. And I might casually bring up the fact that my feet are sore from a long hike but not mention that I have a strange rash that I need to have checked out.

2. Confront challenges to being authentic. In an episode of Adam Grant's called "Authenticity Is a Double-Edged Sword," journalist Alicia Menendez says that employees who identify with a nondominant group at work, which could mean being a person of color on a predominantly White faculty or a member of the LGBTQ community, can find authenticity in the workplace to be especially challenging. In her book The Likability Trap, Menendez suggests that those who are not of the dominant culture seek out a sponsor to help push through. Does your school offer affinity groups for faculty and staff? Is there someone in leadership who can help promote a culture of authenticity for everyone?

Cornelius Minor, author of the book We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be, writes about being our authentic selves in the classroom to promote student learning. In an interview with education podcaster Angela Watson, Minor challenges the hero narrative that teachers are often held to. Those held to the hero label can't have imperfections, fears, or struggles. "I think the term 'being there for the kids' in many ways is divisive. It is my work as a teacher to walk right into that division and stand for children. I always say that it is my role as a teacher to initially create opportunities for children and to eventually teach them how to create opportunities for themselves."

3. Be inspired but not a carbon copy. When I first started teaching a new course, I literally copied every lesson from the veteran teacher next door. I mistakenly believed that if I did everything he did, I would be a successful teacher like he was. Wrong! Every day, I felt defeated and lost because I wasn't bringing my personal touches to the class.

After some reflection and coaching from my department head, I rebalanced by committing to stay in step with the timing of the units and closely aligned assessments. Everything in between was open space for my personal teaching style.

It's tempting to emulate a master teacher, but Lisa Dabbs reminds us in an Edutopia article to "be that unique teacher you were born to be, and share your experience and passion with your students. Try out those great ideas that are percolating, and watch the magic happen in your classroom."

4. Smile (and frown) well before Christmas. If you've been teaching for quite a while, you might have heard, "Don't smile till Christmas." In fact, you should smile, laugh, frown, and maybe even cry well before December. We are humans. We have emotions, and our expression of emotions serves as a model for our kids. It's OK for kids to see you cry in response to a tragedy, frown when you're frustrated, and light up when they walk in the room. I still vividly remember my teacher crying when we learned of the Challenger tragedy in 1986.

Try verbally labeling your feelings for your kids. "I'm frustrated that the classroom was left messy yesterday" or "I'm really sad today because my uncle isn't well." Heather Wolpert-Gawron encourages teachers to think aloud: "Let the kids into your thinking process, and you will have shared both your personality and your expertise." When you make a mistake, laugh about it, demonstrate how you're correcting it, and if needed, apologize.

Another option for bringing realness to the classroom is through humor. What if you're not the slapstick or stand-up routine type? Explore ways that resonate with you personally that may bring some levity to the classroom. There are many brands of humor: Some teachers use cringey puns, some wear quirky ties or socks, some use dry irony (especially with older students), and some welcome the lighthearted self-deprecating variety.

If you find yourself distinctly switching from your teacher self to your real self, take some time to reflect on how these suggestions might help you bring your true self to school. Small shifts in how you show up, how you speak, and how willing you are to open up will help the kids get to know you as a real person.

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When teachers feel free to be themselves at school, it has a lot of benefits for them and their students.

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I started talking about disability in my classroom. It changed both me and my students.

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I realized that my students, like myself, had a choice. They could share who they were with others and accept disability as part of their identities.

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Students in classrooms or training courses may be distracted. They have other considerations running through their minds, such as their other classes, personal lives, friendships, hobbies, physical distractions like hunger or tiredness, and so much more. When students are sidetracked by these or any other issues, their own education and accomplishment may be prioritized below their more immediate needs. Why is this? One human psychologist suggests that this occurs because immediate needs determine the immediate action of the student. When they are worried about these things, they focus solely on those distractions. Those preoccupations will take priority over education and accomplishment. What's the best way to capture our students' attention and get them to prioritize education? Teachers can assist students in eliminating their distractions, allowing the student's top priority to become course material, education, and accomplishment.

Maslow's Hierarchy

Human beings are motivated by goal accomplishment. Achieving goals allows humans to meet their individual wants and needs. Needs are mentally prioritized in order of importance (Maslow, 1943). Less immediate needs have to be met before more important needs can be satisfied. A person's actions will be focused around satisfying the lower-priority needs and will then move on to reach higher-priority needs.

Starting at the bottom of the pyramid (Figure 1), physiological needs are the first priority and must be satisfied first. These needs include nourishment, sleep, clothing, and shelter. People must have these basic needs met in order to focus on anything else - otherwise, their actions will focus solely on meeting these physiological requirements. They are the top priority and are therefore the most important driving factor for human beings. If a person is hungry, they will ignore any other wants or wishes to focus on satisfying their hunger. If a student is hungry, they could exhibit distracting or rule-breaking behavior because education is not their priority - hunger is. A student might fall asleep in class instead of working on their assignments because they lost sleep the previous night. In this example, the student would naturally prioritize sleep over education.

Once physiological needs are satisfied, the next priority is safety. Safety needs are usually environmental, which includes a student's home environment, school environment, and any other environment they're regularly a part of. If the student is having personal issues at home (for example, arguing parents, parents struggling with addiction, lack of parental structure, etc.) or they live in a dangerous area, they will have difficulty learning because their basic safety needs have not been met. Similarly, if the student is being bullied or if they don't feel accepted and liked by their educator, they will struggle to learn and complete their work. Their priority will be acquiring safety. Students thrive on predictability and structure, and they associate these factors with a feeling of safety. They do best with no disruptions in their routines. If they lack a routine, or if there are factors threatening their routines, they may feel unsafe and apprehensive. This can cause the student to perform poorly.

After physiological and safety requirements have been met, love and a sense of belonging become the priority. This applies to family and friend relationships. A student may develop their sense of belonging through joining clubs, volunteering, participating in church groups, or making other group-centered commitments. When a person does not feel loved or does not feel like they belong, they crave affection or acceptance in group settings. The need for love and belonging may be forgotten, but it can be just as critical to a student as their physiological requirements.

Self-esteem is the next need that must be met. Self-esteem involves individuality, respect for others, accomplishment, and confidence. Most people are extremely critical of themselves, which stems from their own evaluation of self-accomplishment and potential. Self-esteem can be two-fold. First, people will crave accomplishment, confidence, competence, and fortitude. Secondly, they will yearn for importance, appreciation, acknowledgment, and status. When all of these needs are met, people will feel adequate, capable, strong, and worthy. If these needs are not satisfied, people will feel incompetent, unprotected, and unimportant.

These first four needs can all be considered deprivation needs. If these needs are not satisfied, those shortcomings will motivate people to focus on meeting their highest-priority needs. One more need follows these deprivation needs, and that is self-actualization. This is an aspiration to fulfill one's own potential. This need is not driven by inadequacy, but instead by a craving for self-improvement. Maslow suggests that very few people ever attain this level. Self-actualized people tend to be impulsive, independent, analytical, and realistic.

Applying Maslow's Hierarchy - Teaching and Learning

Now that we've covered the premise of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, it is also vital to comprehend how this information can be used in education. First, it is important to understand that regrettably, we cannot satisfy every physiological need of every student. It would be impossible for a teacher or leader to equip every student with sufficient sleep, shelter, clothing, and nourishment. Luckily, free and reduced lunch programs are a great way to solve some of the issues of hunger in schools. Providing clothing, sufficient hygiene practices, and sufficient amounts of sleep are still factors. Based on the model, it is clear that if these basic needs fail to be provided, students will be unable to prioritize education. These are needs that teachers cannot always meet. However, teachers can strive to offer students resources and referrals to school programs in order to satisfy as many needs as possible.

Many aspects should be considered by teachers and leaders in order to help students feel a sense of safety. As previously mentioned, a sense of safety can come from routines and predictability. Teachers and leaders should enact routines in their classrooms. Set forth clear-cut rules and processes for your students. Maintain a predictable daily schedule, allowing students to anticipate and expect order in the classroom. Students will feel a sense of control in their classroom environment because they are able to anticipate what will happen next. Additionally, students must have a sense of psychological and emotional safety in their classroom environment. Teachers should foster an environment that allows for healthy levels of risk-taking, question asking and answering, open thought sharing, and healthy discussion. They should not feel fearful of judgment from other students. Students crave a trust-based relationship with their teacher.

To meet belongingness, self-esteem, and love needs, students want to feel needed, loved, and nurtured. Students may seek gratification from teachers or school staff. As teachers and leaders, it is important to regard each student as a unique individual, appreciating them for their one-of-a-kind character traits. Emphasize healthy, positive behavior and self-esteem. Make an effort to show students that their hard work and dedication are genuinely appreciated. This prioritization will support the development of each student's self-esteem and self-worth.

Teachers and leaders tend to primarily handle the four deprivation needs (self-esteem, sense of belonging, safety, and physiological). Every step an educator makes toward contributing to those fundamental needs will enhance their students' capacity for learning and achievement in the classroom. Ensure that you make a true effort to know each student and comprehend the level of their knowledge and their level on Maslow's Hierarchy. In doing so, you can best help students progress through the hierarchy. It may be necessary to explore outside or government resources for students with lower-level needs to help the students thrive in their learning environment. However, a greater comprehension of each student's basic needs is likely to lead to the teacher's ability to help the student overcome their personal educational obstacles, allowing each student to reach their educational potential.
References
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-96.

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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in Education - Education Library

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Applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to Education Students in classrooms or training courses may be distracted....

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While get-to-know-you activities are typically earmarked for the first weeks of school, they shouldn't end there, say educators and researchers.

Whether it's that they love to play baseball, have three brothers, or enjoy writing or photography, celebrating your students' unique experiences and identities can bolster connections that keep them engaged and performing better in school. Students who have a deeper sense of self- and purpose -are also better able to define their goals and stay focused on pursuing them, concluded a 2014 study from David Yeager, Angela Duckworth, and colleagues.

We collected an array of class exercises from interviews with teachers, online resources, and our archives that will help students develop greater self-awareness and purpose. These insights can also give you a better sense of who they are, so you can be responsive to their interests-even if you're separated by screens or masks.

Reflecting on Experiences: 'Laws of Life' Essays

In the early 2000s, educators in an urban, high-poverty district in New Jersey gave their middle and high school students an interesting essay assignment: Write about the values and principles that guide your life.

The seemingly small activity, called "Laws of Life," is based on the work of philanthropist John Templeton, and it turned into a much bigger project that helped students develop a stronger sense of self, purpose, and possibility for the future, according to Maurice Elias, a psychology professor at Rutgers University. The project has since been replicated all over the world.

To run the assignment in your class, Elias recommends asking students to reflect on their past-in and out of school-and the experiences and people that made them who they are. From there, have students discern key characteristics that have influenced their lives and then craft an essay-or create a video or other multimedia content-focused on the "laws" or principles that drive them.

Question prompts like "Who do you admire? List three of their admirable traits" and "Describe an incident or event from which you learned a lesson 'the hard way'" can help guide students. Periodically throughout the year, have students refer back to their essays to reflect on what they wrote and ask themselves, "What's changed?" and "What's stayed the same?"

Exploring Identity-and Perceptions About It: Identity Charts

To get to know her students and ensure that they felt seen in her classroom, middle school teacher Shana White created a lesson to help them explore their identities. First, White set a foundation for discussion by defining identity and explaining how identities can sometimes be visible, like age, or invisible, like a person's life experiences.

Then, with the permission of six of her friends, White shared photos of their faces and had students guess their "identity characteristics." Afterward, she revealed the true details and led a class discussion about making assumptions about others based on how they look or act. To finish the project, students drew their own "identity portraits" or a picture of their face with half the face showing visible characteristics and the other half showing invisible characteristics.
Courtesy of Shana White
The education organization Facing History and Ourselves recommends a similar exercise called the "Who am I?" activity for middle school students. To start, select some key historical figures or fictional characters-think inclusively and avoid stereotypes, selecting a wide range of people from different backgrounds-and ask students to discuss "factors such as religion, gender, and geography" that influenced their identities.

Next, have students read the chapter "My Name" from the book The House on Mango Street, where the main character, Esperanza, talks about her name, revealing details about her culture. Ask students to create an identity chart for Esperanza, answering questions such as "What is her family like?" and "What does her name reveal about her personality?" Guided by the reading, students can then create identity charts for themselves and share them with the class.

Learning Important Details: Student Inventories

Student inventories can help teachers quickly discern details and facts about students that shape who they are, and can be used to plan further class activities and lessons. Ask students to list their favorite musicians, songs, sports, activities, games, or food, for example, or probe deeper with questions about their culture, memories, and family.

Another option is having students write 20 sentences that complete the prompt, "I am someone who..." or asking a short list of thought-provoking questions in one-to-one Hopes and Dreams conferences. Target questions that tap into who students are now and who they hope to be, such as "What are some things that bug you about the world?" "What inspires you?" and "What dreams do you have after high school?"

Look for patterns in student responses, and use what you learn to make classroom lessons and activities connected to students' interests, advises Rebecca Alber, an education professor in California, who says, "Students need to see connections between learning and their lived experiences."

Understanding Interests: Passion Blogging

In Allison Berryhill's high school English class, literary analysis exercises left her students "frozen," and free-writing assignments produced hard-to-read rants. Influenced by the book Beyond Literary Analysis, Berryhill started offering a new exercise called "passion blogging" last year, in which students write about topics that interest them.
Courtesy of Allison Berryhill
Students start by drawing "heart maps," or large hearts filled with illustrations and words that represent their passions. Then, they select one or two topics to explore further and look for related articles, images, and videos. Berryhill also gives accompanying class lessons on attribution of sources, texts, quotes, and imagery, and shares mentor texts to guide students' writing.

Students' blogs have run the gamut in subject matter, from pheasant hunting to hunger strikes to hiking, and give them an opportunity to dive deeply into things they care about. As part of the process, students are also tasked with reading and evaluating several of their classmates' blogs. Overall, the low-stakes activity has served as a springboard to build students' literary analysis skills for harder assignments, says Berryhill, while helping her get to know them better.

Documenting Your Life: Movies, Photos, and Podcasts

Though many teachers and students are feeling virtual brain drain, digital tools can provide new, creative outlets for students to share and define their interests and personalities. Teachers are having students create autobiographical mini-movies or trailers about their lives and produce podcasts or write articles for digital school newspapers on issues they care about.

Influenced by her community's experiences during the pandemic, Wendy McElfish, a high school teacher in California, taught a lesson on Dorothea Lange's famous black-and-white photography from the Great Depression. Then, she had her students take their own photos with phones to document their lives. She guided them with the themes "life outside your door," "through a window," "different life inside," and "porch photos of your family."

"When kids are faced with terrible circumstances, sometimes it helps to take an artistic approach," she said. "A lot of kids aren't good writers, but they have an eye and they have a voice... [and] they can show the world what I see."

Similarly, Lori Wenzinger, a middle school social studies teacher in South Carolina, paired up with a local photographer to create a three-week multimedia project called "Finding Your Joy." After the photographer taught two classes on photo composition and mood, students were tasked with taking photos that "capture joyful moments throughout their day," sharing and reviewing them as a class, and selecting their three favorites to keep in the class Google Drive.

Having Fun: Icebreakers, Games, and Accolades
Courtesy of Cathleen Beachboard
In addition to more comprehensive assignments and lessons, teachers can build in short, entertaining activities that keep students engaged and reveal insights about who they are.

Trevor Boffone, a high school teacher in Texas, asked his students to submit their favorite song to a list at the start of the year. Now, at the beginning of each virtual class, he plays music to kick things off, incorporating students' picks and his own.

Throughout remote learning, Cathleen Beachboard, a middle school teacher in Virginia, says she's including fun activities like show-and-tells and theme days. This fall, she also adopted a practice that her superintendent uses for staff meetings called "Three Cool Things I've Seen." Once a week, Beachboard calls out three things she's observed about students from classes that week that recognize them for their individuality.

"I know a lot of teachers are struggling right now getting students pulled in. I found the more encouragement and authentic praise we give to students, the more they dive in," she said. "These are scary times, but by giving students time to showcase their individuality, they will feel safe and ready to fully engage in learning."

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6 Exercises to Get to Know Your Students Better-and Increase Their Engagement

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Celebrating your middle and high school students' unique identities can bolster connections and improve performance in school.

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Great Expectations!: Co-Constructing Classroom Rules to Build Community (Virtual Tour)

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The new "question-of-the-week" is:
What is the role, if any, of an ELL student's home language in the classroom?
Over ten percent of the student population in the United States is comprised of English Language Learners. Given that reality, the role of a student's home language merits discussion.

Today, Melissa Eddington, Wendi Pillars, Tracey Flores, Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo and Mary Ann Zehr offer their thoughts. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Melissa, Wendi and Tracey on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

There will be times, however, when limiting primary language use could be important. For example, during certain classroom activities, I might say that the next ten minutes is an English-only time. The chances of this request being generally respected is high in my classroom because students know that I do not typically restrict their own use of L1 at any point (and in fact often use it in the strategic ways I've previously mentioned).

You might also be interested in previous columns here about .
Response From Melissa Eddington
Melissa Eddington is an ELL educator from Central Ohio. She has been teaching ELLs for 14 years - and16 overall. She's an advocate for her students everyday in the classroom:

Imagine you have a student who entered your classroom where the only language spoken is one unfamiliar to them...what do you do? As an educator, a student's home language plays an important role in the classroom. According to Frank Genesee, a professor in the Psychology Department at McGill University, Montreal, in his book The Home Language: An English Language Learners Most Valuable Resource, "With respect to ELLs, there is undeniable and growing evidence that the home language of ELLs is of considerable benefit to their overall academic success." We need to nurture our students by using their home language as we assist them in acquiring their new language.
Some Instances where using the student's home language in the classroom may be necessary are as follows:

1. Understanding Directions: Students may need the directions spoken to them in their home language for full understanding and for success. It is crucial for the teacher to model as well for the new student. With translation and modeling, the student has a higher chance of being successful, which is our goal.

Of course there are additional reasons why a student's home language would need to be utilized in an English speaking classroom, these are just a few. I would encourage you to explore more. A student's home language is something we should never try to take away from a student. Response From Wendi Pillars

1. Connecting Vocabulary: Students who have a solid understanding of their home language can connect new English words to the known words for success in the classroom. It is found that "knowledge, skills, concepts, and ideas that a student learns in their first language can transfer into their learning of the second language..." (Russell, J. and Wariua-Nyalwal, P. (2015) "Research-Proven Strategies for Improving Content Vocabulary for Middle School English Language Learners." International Journal of Business and Social Science). Consider having the student write the vocabulary words in both their home and new language for deeper understanding.

ESL teachers know that optimizing students' linguistic resources can be a game-changer, but it's tricky business. We don't realize the advantage we have as English speakers until we are outside of our language bubble, become part of a minority language scenario, and are unable to use it as the tool it has always been for us. You juggle constant active listening, observing facial cues and body language, translating and interpreting everything you can because you're not sure when and what to filter, plus the anxiety of responding to teacher questions -- whew! Our language learners have a LOT on their mental plates. We must acknowledge L1 as a valuable resource and judicious tool for learning to help ease their mental loads. But ultimately, language is power, and in American schools that power is based in English. It is the language of testing, and of most instruction and student-teacher interaction. The goal is for students to use their L1 intentionally to access English. Our role is to teach students to value their language as a tool for comparing, accessing, and contextualizing information. Encourage students to think deeply by showing that language learning is both a perspective and a process. Value your students' knowledge and skills as incredible resources upon which to build new learning, and do so explicitly. From my experience in multilingual classrooms, I see the transformative power of "students as experts" when teaching others about their native cultures and languages. Watching various language learners craft English into their common tool for communication is fascinating. The knowledge of their own language(s) serves as a foundation for patterns, concepts, and usage in other languages. Much evidence has shown that the stronger a student is in his/ her L1, the more readily they can learn another language. Encouraging students to talk about, and family members to continue communicating in, the L1 are critical for this reason. This semester my English learners are uniquely monolingual. All of my students are Spanish speakers, and we've optimized that in a number of ways. We combine ESL I, II, and III classes frequently, which makes for fabulous grouping scenarios, partnering, and opportunities for student leadership. We've had the pleasure of several bilingual guests, who have been gracious enough to speak in both languages during their presentations. Doing so allows students to hear complex language used naturally, helping concepts stick for all students and facilitating subsequent conversations about the content and speakers. We also use bilingual textbooks, so that even our newest learners can pull concepts directly from the text. They learn to analyze cognates, make educated inferences based on phrases and words they already know, access nuanced ideas, and navigate complex grammar and vocabulary from the start. These textual experiences further increase motivation since they are typically culturally relevant. When written texts are unavailable, we use podcasts, TED talks, video clips, live broadcasts, and even former students to supplement student learning through a broad array of multimodal inputs. Considering language as a tool rather than a barrier is a mighty fine place to begin, no matter how you say it. Response From Tracey Flores

1. Classroom Routines and School Tour: Students who do not understand the language spoken in the classroom need to have the classroom routines (including rules and expectations) translated into their home language and be given a tour of the school because they are held to the same standard as the English speaking students. According to the Ohio Department of Education, in Teaching English Language Learners: What Classroom and Content Teachers Need to Know About English Language Learners, "allow students with the same first language to discuss the learning materials. Often higher proficiency students can help new arrivals." Set the new student up with a buddy, preferably one who speaks their home language, so they are comfortable and feel safe.

"So, if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity-I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself." ~Gloria Anzaldúa It is 1962, a young Latina girl, in 4th grade, with long black hair and curious dark brown eyes is in her classroom after the school day has come to an end. She is alone. In her right hand is a small piece of white chalk, which she raises to the chalkboard and writes, "I will not speak Spanish on the playground." This sentence, she has been told by her teacher, must be written 100 hundred times on the blackboard, punishment for speaking Spanish on the playground. This is my mother's story. I cannot write this blog post without sharing this very personal story that my mother shared with me. Each time she shares it with me, she becomes that young girl again. As she relives the torment of this moment, I can hear the deep pain in her voice. This moment of filled with shame, ridicule and guilt was not one isolated experience. It was a series of experiences that she endured as a child and young adult growing up bilingual and biliterate. As a former English Language Development (ELD) teacher working within a state with English Only policies, this narrative of shame, ridicule and guilt continues to be part of the lived experiences of many children learning English as an additional language. In Arizona, students are tracked into classrooms based on language proficiency and receive 4-hours of skills-based language and literacy instruction. This mandate is based on the assumption that the acquisition of language will happen within one school year and does not take into account the rich linguistic and literacy practices that children and youth bring to our classrooms from their homes and communities. Under restrictive policies and mandates like the one in my home state, many of our students learning English as an additional language enter the classroom already viewed as "lacking" or as "blank slates" in need of remediation. Rather than stigmatize the language and literacy practices that our students bring from their homes and communities, we should work toward recognizing the value of these resources and their place within our learning communities and schools. From my own experiences, I open my classroom door to you, and provide a glimpse into the ways that I created space for my students' home language in my own learning community, even under very restrictive English-only policies.

1. Support Parents' in Sustaining Home Language: There are some misconceptions made by teachers and families about language policies in schools. Our job is not to discourage families from sustaining home language, but rather to support families in their commitment to teaching their child their home language. This is a gift!

2. Home Language/Literacy Dig: Invite students to enter their homes as ethnographers and record all the different ways language and literacy is used in their homes and communities. This can uncover practices and "funds of knowledge" that can be included in the curriculum throughout the school year.

3. Dialogue Journals: Provide each student with a personal journal that is a shared writing space between the two of you. Give daily prompts or free writing time. Allow students the freedom to practice writing in any language without fear of judgement.

4. Classroom Newsletter: Create a classroom newsletter with students and their families as reporters. Invite families to contribute stories, recipes, how-to-guides, etc. in the language of their choice. Print and distribute to all families.

5. Family Writing Workshops: Create an after-school multilingual space for students and their families to draw, write and share stories in a variety of genres.

Even under restrictive policies and mandates, our classrooms must provide space for our students' home languages. A student's home language is a powerful tool for mediating learning. Through their home languages, the language of the heart, students first learned as children -- how to love, to hope, to dream and to wonder. This in itself is a powerful resource to use in our classrooms to build learning communities where students and teachers can learn, thrive and live--together. Response From Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo
Wendi Pillars, NBCT, has been teaching students with English as a second/foreign language needs in grades K-12, both stateside and overseas, for 21 years. She has also taught Algebra, History, vocational classes, and Health and PE. She is the author Visual Notetaking for Educators: A Teacher's Guide to Student Creativity, as well as several articles on best practices for ELLs, educational neuroscience, and teacher leadership. A lifelong learner, she loves using creativity to empower her learners. She can be reached on Twitter @wendi322:
Across the nation, districts vary in the language service delivery models that are implemented and often use a combination of programs. Decisions on which model to use are left in the hands of the local education agency and determining factors are state laws, population, resources, and the preference of the community. Language programs fall under one of two overarching goals, English development or bilingualism and biliteracy (Faulkner-Bond, et al., 2012; Garcia & Baker, 2007). These goals will drive how the home language is viewed and used: whether it is the means to acquiring English or developed so that students can understand, speak, read, and write in more than one language. With the cognitive, psychological, and social benefits of being bilingual, programs in which the home language is not developed may be at odds with what is best for students (Baker, 2000). When children enter the door of a school, they bring with them all of who they are - lived experiences and rich backgrounds. A significantly important part of their identity is the language spoken at home, a valuable resource that connects them to family and can lead to a positive self-concept and educational success if promoted in school (Cummins, 2001; Genesee, 2012). The good news is that, regardless of the language program model in place, educators can create positive learning environments and make conscientious choices that build upon the cultural and linguistic resources students bring with them. The following are some suggestions:

Form traditions and rituals that incorporate the home language. It can be the start or end to the school day or a celebratory song/chant when the class accomplishes a goal. Come up with it together and make it your own! Many times, these are the things that students remember and enjoy.

Empower students and families by allowing them access to the "ways of school." Depending on their exposure to our school system, students from nonmainstream cultures benefit from explicit guidance on how the classroom and the school functions. This can be especially challenging when there is a language barrier so, as much as possible, educators should make every effort to communicate information in the home language.

Tap into family and community resources. Invite family and other community members into the classroom to read a book, model how to do something, or teach a song or a poem in the home language. This can also be kept in mind when scheduling classroom trips.

Include the home language in ways to assess children's understanding of concepts. As much as possible, utilize the home language to create ways for students to demonstrate what they know. At the very least, always have it as a point of consideration when analyzing other data points. This will be helpful for guiding instruction and making decisions about programming.

Advocate for the use of the home language beyond the classroom walls. Collaborate with and enlist the help of school staff, especially those who speak the students' language(s), in infusing the home language throughout the day, during lunch, on the playground, in special classes, and at school-wide events.

Choose materials that authentically represent students' language and culture. Offer a variety of books, both fiction and nonfiction, in the language(s) spoken by students. Choose books with which students can connect and encourage them and their families to be the creators of their own stories

The goal is that one day all students will have the opportunity to develop bilingual proficiency. Until that day comes, students will benefit from the choices educators make to honor and promote the home languages they bring to the classroom. References/Suggested Readings Baker, C. (2000). The care and education of young bilinguals. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Cummins, J. (2001). Bilingual Children's Mother Tongue: Why is it Important for Education? Faulkner-Bond, M., Waring, S., Forte, E., Crenshaw, R.L., Tindle, K., & Belknap, B. (2012). Language Instructional Education Programs (LIEPs): A Review of the Foundational Literature (pp. 107-121). US Department of Education. Genesee, F. (2012). The Home Language: An English Learner's Most Valuable Resource. Garcia, O. & Baker, C. (2007). Bilingual education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Nemeth, K. (2009). Many languages, one classroom: Teaching dual and English language learners. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House, Inc. Response From Mary Ann Zehr
Tracey Flores is a PhD candidate in English Education at Arizona State University (ASU). She is a former English Language Development (ELD) and Language Arts teacher who worked in elementary classrooms for eight years. Her research focuses on adolescent Latina girls and mothers' language and literacy practices and on using family literacy as a springboard for advocacy, empowerment, and transformation for students, families, and teachers:
I work at an academy in the District of Columbia that is part of the Internationals Network for Public Schools. The network promotes a school design for teaching English-language learners that incorporates the use of students' home languages in the classroom. I agree with this approach. Spanish is the home language for most students in our academy. My students have primarily immigrated from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, but some students have come from other countries and thus do not understand Spanish. All of my students are English-language learners. I teach to the whole class always in English but I occasionally speak Spanish with some students one-on-one or in small groups to offer a brief explanation. When students work in pairs or groups, they may speak in their home language, but when they hand in an assignment to me or make an oral report to the class, they must use English. In every class, they must produce English. I pair students with more English proficiency with those who have less English proficiency and have the more advanced students help the newcomers to write what they want to say in English or practice saying words in English before they make a presentation to the class. One of the most valuable uses of the native language is to have students read content first in their home language and then in English. Reading a text first in their native language helps them to better understand the English text. They do this while completing online research assignments. Also, when students are reading articles I've printed from Web sites such as newsela.com, I encourage them to read the content first in Spanish and then in English. In addition, last school year, we read excerpts from "Enrique's Journey," by Sonia Nazario, a story about a Honduran teenager who travels thousands of miles to try to reunite with his mother in the United States. I assigned students whose native language was Spanish to read the excerpts first in Spanish and then in English. This approach greatly increased their engagement. When their peers were reading aloud in Spanish, students were more attentive than if they heard the text read only in English. The Spanish text provided a bridge for those students who were newest to the class to understand the story. When students are new to writing English, I encourage them to write their ideas first in their native language and then have another student help them translate the ideas into English or do so themselves. Using their native language is a way to get them started in thinking about what they want to say. Sometimes they are so new to English that they really don't know enough words to express their ideas. Other times, they are simply stuck and can't think of what to say. Once they write some ideas down in their native language, their ideas start flowing and it doesn't seem so daunting to write in English. While I constantly model English and encourage students to always speak with me and to the whole class in English, permitting them to use their native language while working in pairs or small groups can help students to get their heads around the content and then move to thinking, speaking, or writing in English. I believe teachers are missing out on some valuable strategies if they don't incorporate students' native languages into the teaching and learning process. At the least, if teachers have a number of students who share the same home language, such as Spanish or French, teachers can use words in English that have cognates in that home language to ease the acquisition process.
Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo is a resource teacher for dual language learners and co-author of More Mirrors in the Classroom: Using Urban Children's Literature to Increase Literacy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) [Editor's Note: You can read an interview I did with Sandy and her co-authors here):

Bio: Mary Ann Zehr teaches English at the International Academy, a high school for English-language learners that is part of the Francis L Cardozo Education Campus in the District of Columbia Public Schools:

Thanks to Melissa, Wendi, Tracey, Sandy and Mary Ann for their contributions!
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Response: ELL Students' Home Language Is an Asset, Not a 'Barrier' (Opinion)

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Melissa Eddington, Wendi Pillars, Tracey Flores, Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo and Mary Ann Zehr offer their thoughts on the role of an ELL student's home language in the classroom.

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WASHINGTON - Creating a pro-social school environment increases the frequency of children's positive behavior, develops their social skills, and may limit future aggressive behaviors. According to research being presented at the 108th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) this week, two years of a school-wide climate changing program called PeaceBuilders gave children greater social competence and more positive behavior patterns.

Psychologists Daniel J. Flannery, PhD, and Alexander T. Vazsonyi, PhD, along with several colleagues, evaluated the PeaceBuilders program in seven Pima County, Arizona elementary schools. Students were surveyed about their aggressive behavior (e.g., "I hit someone"), and their peace-building behavior (e.g., "I helped build peace at school"). Teachers also rated their students' social competence and aggressive behavior using two tools, the Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment, and Achenbach's Teacher Report Form. The PeaceBuilders program was instituted immediately in half the sample and a year later in the other schools.

The PeaceBuilders intervention teaches simple rules: praise people, avoid put-downs, seek wise people as advisers and friends, notice and correct hurts inflicted, and right wrongs. These principles were taught school-wide to both teachers and students in an attempt to change the setting that triggers aggressive or hostile behavior and to provide role models for good social behavior. The authors say the intervention was "purposely woven into the school's everyday routine to make it a 'way of life,' not just a time or subject-limited curriculum."

After beginning PeaceBuilders, teachers noted significant improvement in student social competence, rating students higher on factors like empathy, cooperation, and sensitivity. Students also reported increased peace-building behaviors like helping others and giving compliments for good behavior. The majority of improvement in social competence and peace-building occurred between and six and 12 months into the program.

There was a small decline in aggressive behavior after the first six months, but by the end of the program aggression levels had returned to the baseline. However, in the six months that aggressive behavior was declining in the test schools, the control school's aggressive behavior actually increased. So, PeaceBuilders may have an effect on future aggressive behavior. In order to reduce aggressive behavior significantly, say the authors, future programs should include more targeted behavioral efforts to complement the universal approach.

PeaceBuilders is different from previous violence prevention programs, say the researchers, because it attempted to change the school climate instead of individual risk factors, it lasted longer than many other programs and the program focused on universal prevention beginning in kindergarten. The authors believe that a school-wide climate intervention such as PeaceBuilders "can improve child social competence, increase the frequency of positive behavior and may buffer expected increases in aggressive behavior."

Presentation: "Longitudinal Effectiveness of the PeaceBuilders' Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Program," Daniel J. Flannery, PhD, Kent State University, Alexander T. Vazsonyi, PhD, Auburn University, Dennis Embry, PhD, PAXIS Institute, Kenneth E. Powell, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Henry Atha, MPH, Pima County, AZ Community Services Department Program, Wendy Vesterdal, MA, and Shenyang Guo, PhD, Case Western Reserve University. Session 4108: Monday, August 7, 10:00-11:50 a.m., Capitol Hilton Hotel, Federal Room B.

Daniel J. Flannery, PhD, can be reached at his Kent State University office at (330) 672-2775.

Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 159,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59 state, territorial, and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare.

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Positive school climate equals positive children's behavior, Peacebuilders program teaches social competence

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Creating a pro-social school environment increases the frequency of children's positive behavior, develops their social skills, and may limit future aggressive behaviors.

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Even when topics move into more controversial areas, co-author and Senior Research and Evaluation Manager Milena Batanova says the lessons learned through this intentional work allow students to focus on individuals rather than get caught up in differing opinions.

"We need to remember that this work is about people and skills rather than specific content," Batanova says. "It's about the process and what it takes to try to understand people, to learn about them, and to be generally curious to develop the skills to take that care further."

How educators can begin to work with students around biases, challenging topics, and caring:
1. Start small
Students might be itching to dive into big topics, but before tackling what can be vulnerable subjects, students need to trust each other and their teacher. Part of that work can be done by creating class norms so students have a shared understanding of expectations.

The other piece is building a foundation for caring by starting with smaller issues. Making Caring Common Project Consultant Kiran Bhai, an HGSE alum, says this is helpful to manage the many issues swirling in current events that students want to tackle.

"The gut reaction from teachers is they have to say something to show they care, but it's better to build relationships so students know they can come to teachers to talk about those issues," Bhai says. "Later on, you can have those discussions with the whole class."
2. Show and tell
Games and other activities aren't just an excuse for fun. They can also be useful tools for students to share their identity with their classmates and build community. As a school counselor in New Mexico, one game Bhai plays with elementary and middle school students is the "news ball" game. At the end of the week, students and teachers share one piece of news about themselves that brings a piece of their identity into the classroom. Each sharer also explains how they want their community to respond, perhaps with clapping or a hug after class.
3. Caring for everyone
One of the biggest challenges for students when it comes to caring is not just learning how to care for others, but specifically those who are different than them.

"It's really about caring about certain kinds of people," says HGSE alum Glenn Manning, senior project manager for Caring Schools. "Not just the people in your circle already, but really focusing on caring for those who are different than them and who are marginalized."

One way to help students expand their circle and practice the important skills of asking questions and listening deeply is through activities like a portrait project. Students can conduct interviews with a member of their community they don't know well and share their learning with their class. It shows students that caring isn't just an individual act but "it's about a community's experience of caring for others and the common good," Manning says.
4. Talking, and listening, across differences
Too often when students begin to tackle difficult topics, the focus turns to the individual rather than on the issue being discussed. So, modeling not only listening but questioning is important to keep students focused.

"The goal is not to have a debate around controversial issues," Manning says. "It's not arguing. It's about talking about important topics in growing levels of difficulty and really learning how to listen to understand."

To help students practice these skills, they can begin with easier topics, like vegetarianism. A student would share a statement they believe in, like "I believe everyone should be a vegetarian because of animal rights."

Then, the rest of the students have the chance to ask a clarifying question. The key is that students work on controlling their emotions and learn to respond in order to better understand a point of view, not interject their own beliefs.

"We're trying to prepare young people for a democracy where people will have differences of opinions," Manning says, but where students can still build "communities that care and trust."

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Think Your Students Don't Care About Others?

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A new report finds people actually do tend to care for each other - despite their differences.

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Cite This Webpage

Rimm-Kaufman, S. (2015, March 9). Improving students' relationships with teachers. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/relationships

Positive relationships can also help a student develop socially

Improving students' relationships with teachers has important, positive and long-lasting implications for both students' academic and social development. Solely improving students' relationships with their teachers will not produce gains in achievement. However, those students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with their teachers will attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflict in their relationships.

Picture a student who feels a strong personal connection to her teacher, talks with her teacher frequently, and receives more constructive guidance and praise rather than just criticism from her teacher. The student is likely to trust her teacher more, show more engagement in learning, behave better in class and achieve at higher levels academically. Positive teacher-student relationships draw students into the process of learning and promote their desire to learn (assuming that the content material of the class is engaging, age-appropriate and well matched to the student's skills).

High quality academic instruction

High quality academic instruction is designed to be appropriate to students' educational levels. It also creates opportunity for thinking and analysis, uses feedback effectively to guide students' thinking, and extends students' prior knowledge.

What do good teacher-student relationships look like and why do these relationships matter?

Teachers who foster positive relationships with their students create classroom environments more conducive to learning and meet students' developmental, emotional and academic needs. Here are some concrete examples of closeness between a teacher and a student:

A high school student chooses to share the news that he recently got a part in a community play with his teacher because he knows that his teacher will show genuine interest in his success.

A fourth grade boy who is struggling in math shows comfort in admitting to his teacher that he needs help with multiplying and dividing fractions even if most of the students in the class have moved beyond this work.

A middle school girl experiences bullying from other students and approaches her social studies teacher to discuss it because she trusts that the teacher will listen and help without making her feel socially inept.

Positive teacher-student relationships contribute to school adjustment and academic and social performance

Positive teacher-student relationships - evidenced by teachers' reports of low conflict, a high degree of closeness and support, and little dependency - have been shown to support students' adjustment to school, contribute to their social skills, promote academic performance and foster students' resiliency in academic performance (Battistich, Schaps, & Wilson, 2004; Birch & Ladd, 1997; Curby, Rimm-Kaufman, & Ponitz, 2009; Ewing & Taylor, 2009; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Rudasill, Reio, Stipanovic, & Taylor, 2010).

Teachers who experience close relationships with students reported that their students were less likely to avoid school, appeared more self-directed, more cooperative and more engaged in learning (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Decker, Dona, & Christenson, 2007; Klem & Connell, 2004). Teachers who use more learner-centered practices (i.e., practices that show sensitivity to individual differences among students, include students in the decision-making, and acknowledge students' developmental, personal and relational needs) produced greater motivation in their students than those who used fewer of such practices (Daniels & Perry, 2003).

Students who attended math classrooms with higher emotional support reported increased engagement in mathematics learning. For instance, fifth graders said they were willing to exert more effort to understand the math lesson. They enjoyed thinking about and solving problems in math and were more willing to help peers learn new concepts (Rimm-Kaufman, Baroody, Larsen, Curby, & Abry, 2014). Among kindergarteners, students reported liking school more and experiencing less loneliness if they had a close relationship with their teachers. Further, kindergarteners with better teacher-student relationships showed better performance on measures of early academic skills (Birch & Ladd, 1997).

The quality of early teacher-student relationships has a long-lasting impact. Specifically, students who had more conflict with their teachers or showed more dependency toward their teachers in kindergarten also had lower academic achievement (as reflected in mathematics and language arts grades) and more behavioral problems (e.g., poorer work habits, more discipline problems) through the eighth grade. These findings were greater for boys than for girls (Hamre & Pianta, 2001). Further work indicates that kindergarten children with more closeness and less conflict with teachers developed better social skills as they approached the middle school years than kindergarten children with more conflictual relationships experiences in the past (Berry & O'Connor, 2009). A recent study examining student-teacher relationships throughout elementary school (first through fifth grade) found that teacher-student closeness linked to gains in reading achievement, while teacher-student conflict related to lower levels of reading achievement (McCormick & O'Connor, 2014).

What do positive teacher-student relationships look and feel like in the classroom?

This video clip shows a third grade teacher facilitating positive communication among peers by conducting a "Thoughtful Thursday" activity in which students discuss thoughtful actions or words they have experienced from classmates throughout the week. The student talks about the "safeties" (student safety-patrol members) outside the school and how they welcomed him to the school.

In this video clip, a preschool teacher is facilitating positive peer interactions by communicating with students in a warm, calm voice and making encouraging statements, such as "Very good teamwork!'

How to develop positive relationships with your students:

Show your pleasure and enjoyment of students.

Interact with students in a responsive and respectful manner.

Offer students help (e.g., answering questions in timely manner, offering support that matches students' needs) in achieving academic and social objectives.

Help students reflect on their thinking and learning skills.

Know and demonstrate knowledge about individual students' backgrounds, interests, emotional strengths and academic levels.

Avoid showing irritability or aggravation toward students.

Acknowledge the importance of peers in schools by encouraging students to be caring and respectful to one another.

In contrast, what do negative teacher-student relationships look and feel like?

Teachers who have negative relationships with a student show evidence of frustration, irritability and anger toward that student. Teachers might display their negativity through snide and sarcastic comments toward the student or describe the feeling that they are always struggling or in conflict with a particular student. Often, teachers will describe a specific student as "one who exhausts them" or "a student who leaves them feeling drained and burned out."

Negative teacher-student relationships can amplify when teachers show irritability and anger toward several or many of the students in the classroom. In these types of classrooms, teachers may find themselves resorting to yelling and harsh punitive control. Teacher-student communications may appear sarcastic or disrespectful. Student victimization or bullying may be common occurrences in such negative classrooms (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2006).

Negative teacher-student relationships are stressful for both teachers and students (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Lisonbee, Mize, Payne, & Granger, 2008) and can be detrimental to students' academic and social-emotional development (McCormick & O'Connor, 2014; O'Connor, Collins, & Supplee, 2012).

Do's:

Make an effort to get to know and connect with each student in your classroom. Always call them by their names, find out information about their interests and strive to understand what they need to succeed in school (Croninger & Lee, 2001; Whitlock, 2006).

Make an effort to spend time individually with each student, especially those who are difficult or shy. This will help you create a more positive relationship with them (Pianta, 1999; Rudasill, Rimm-Kaufman, Justice, & Pence, 2006; Spangler Avant, Gazelle, & Faldowski, 2011).

Be aware of the explicit and implicit messages you are giving to your students (Pianta, et al., 2001; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002; Hemmeter & Conroy, 2012). Be careful to show your students that you want them to do well in school through both actions and words.

Create a positive climate in your classroom by focusing not only on improving your relationships with your students, but also on enhancing the relationships among your students (Charney, 2002; Donahue, Perry & Weinstein, 2003; Wentzel, 2010).

Be aware that you are modeling behavior for your students, whether intentional or not.

Students notice your interaction style. They notice whether you show warmth and respect toward them, to other students and to adults at your school. Often, they will model their own behavior after your behavior.

Students notice the methods you use to manage strong emotions. They notice positive strategies, such as taking a deep breath or talking about your frustrations. Likewise, they notice negative strategies, too, such as yelling at students or making mean or disrespectful jokes about colleagues (Jones, Bouffard, & Weissbourd, 2013). Be aware that students will often adopt the strategies that you use.

Don'ts:

Don't assume that being kind and respectful to students is enough to bolster achievement. Ideal classrooms have more than a single goal: teachers hold students to appropriately high standards of academic performance and offer students an opportunity for an emotional connection to their teachers, their fellow students and the school (e.g., Gregory & Weinstein, 2004; Wentzel, 2010).

Don't give up too quickly on your efforts to develop positive relationships with difficult students. These students will benefit from a good teacher-student relationship as much or more than their easier-to-get-along-with peers (Baker, 2006; Birch & Ladd, 1998; Hartz & Williford, in press).

Don't assume that respectful and sensitive interactions are only important to elementary school students. Middle and high school students benefit from such relationships as well (Allen et al., 2013; Meece, Herman, & McCombs, 2003; Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, White, & Salovey, 2012).

Don't assume that relationships are inconsequential. Some research suggests that preschool children who have a lot of conflict with their teachers show increases in stress hormones when they interact with these teachers (Lisonbee et al., 2008).

Don't wait for negative behaviors and interactions to occur in the classroom. Instead, take a proactive stance on promoting a positive social experience by including students in discussions about prosocial interactions and consistently modeling those positive interactions for them (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).

How to cultivate positive relationships in your classroom

Know your students

Knowing a student's interests can help you create examples to match those interests.

If a student who loves basketball comes to you with a question about a math problem, you might respond to her with a problem involving basketball.

If a student who speaks Spanish at home comes to you with a question about English vocabulary, you might answer his question and then ask him what the word is in Spanish and how he'd use it in a sentence. This type of specific responding shows that you care about your students as people and that you are aware of their unique strengths (i.e., fluency in another language).

Knowing a student's temperament can help you construct appropriate learning opportunities.

If a girl in your class is particularly distractible, you can support her efforts to concentrate by offering her a quieter area in which to work.

If a boy in your classroom is very shy, appears engaged but never raises his hand to ask questions, you can assess his level of understanding of a concept in a one-on-one conversation at the end of class.

Give students meaningful feedback

Notice the way that you give feedback to your students. If possible, watch a video of your own teaching.

Are you giving students meaningful feedback that says you care about them and their learning, or are you constantly telling your students to hurry?

In your conversations, are you focusing on what your students have accomplished or are you concentrating your comments on what they have not yet mastered?

Does your body language, facial expression and tone of voice show your students that you are interested in them as people too?

Are you telling them to do one thing, yet you model quite different behavior? For example, are you telling your students to listen to each other, but then look bored when one of them talks to the class? Be sure that the feedback you give to your students conveys the message that you are supporting their learning and that you care about them.

Are you paying more attention to some students than to others?

In this clip, a third grade teacher is monitoring and assisting her students during an independent reading activity. She kneels down next to one of her students and asks him questions to determine if he comprehends the story. The teacher positions herself in close proximity to the student and speaks to him with a calm and respectful tone of voice, which conveys the message that she is here to support him.

Make sure to provide social and emotional support and set high expectations for learning.

Be respectful and sensitive to adolescents

Supportive teacher-student relationships are just as important to middle and high school students as they are to elementary students. Positive relationships encourage students' motivation and engagement in learning. Older students need to feel that their teachers respect their opinions and interests just as much as younger students do. Even in situations where adolescents do not appear to care about what teachers do or say, teacher actions and words do matter and may even have long term positive (or negative) consequences.

How to improve relationships with difficult students

Develop positive discourse with students with challenging behavior

Think about what you say to the difficult students in your classroom. Are you constantly bombarding your more challenging students with requests to do something? Do you find yourself constantly asking students to stop doing what they are doing? No one likes being badgered and pestered, and your students are no exception.

Try to find a time or place when you can have positive discussion with the problem student.

Notice and mention the positive behaviors they exhibit.

Remind yourself that even if a challenging student appears unresponsive to your requests, she is hearing the messages that you are giving her. Her responses may not change her immediate behavior but may matter in the long term.

Make extra effort to develop and sustain relationships with difficult students

Difficult students require more energy on your part. For example, you may need to spend time with them individually to get to know them better - to understand their interests as well as what motivates them. This will not only allow you to tailor your instruction to their interests and motivation, but the time spent will also allow them to develop trust in you. Recent research on high school students who have frequent and intense discipline problems shows that when adolescents perceive their teachers are trustworthy people, they show less defiant behavior (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). Persistent teacher-student conflict throughout the elementary years increases the likelihood that children will exhibit negative externalizing behaviors (O'Connor et al., 2012), so it is important for teachers to build close relationships at an early age with children at-risk for behavioral issues.

This video clip highlights a teacher talking about how developing positive relationships is particularly important with behaviorally difficult children.

Forming positive relationships with behaviorally difficult students

These video clips show two teachers talking about the ways positive relationships with their students helps to reach and motivate them.

Theoretical perspectives to explain student behavior

Three theoretical perspectives - attachment theory, social cognitive theory and self-system theory - help to explain why students behave in certain ways in your classroom and how you can use your relationships with them to enhance their learning.

Attachment theory

Attachment theory explains how students use their positive relationships with adults to organize their experiences (Bowlby 1969). Central to this theory is that students with close relationships with their teachers view their teacher as a "secure base" from which to explore the classroom environment. In practice, students with this "secure base" feel safe when making mistakes and feel more comfortable accepting the academic challenges necessary for learning. Strong teacher-student relationships can even act as a buffer against the potentially adverse effects that insecure parent-child attachment can have on students' academic achievement (O'Connor & McCartney, 2007).

Social cognitive theory

Social cognitive theory posits that students develop a wide range of skills simply by watching other people perform those skills. Thus, modeling behavior can be a positive and effective modality for teaching (Bandura, 1986). Applied to the classroom environment, teachers play a critical role as live models from which students can learn social behaviors and positive communication skills. Social cognitive theory also sheds light on the importance of feedback and encouragement from teachers in relation to student performance. Teachers serve as role models and help regulate student behavior through interactions and relationships.

This video clip shows a 16-year-old boy describing one way his teacher is modeling behavior. Given the relationship he describes, it is easy to see the influence that this teacher has on the student.

Self-System theory

Self-System theory emphasizes the importance of students' motivation and by doing so, explains the importance of teacher-student relationships (Harter, 2012; McCombs, 1986). Students come to the classroom with three basic psychological needs - competence, autonomy and relatedness - all of which can be met in a classroom through students' interactions with teachers and with the learning environment (Deci & Ryan, 2002).

Classroom practices that foster the feelings of competence, autonomy and relatedness are likely to produce the engagement and motivation required for academic learning and success.

Competence refers to a student's need to feel capable of academic work.

Autonomy suggests a feeling that he or she has some choice and ability to make decisions.

Relatedness implies that a student feels socially connected to teachers or peers.

Positive teacher-student relationships help students meet these needs. Teachers offer feedback to students to support their feelings of competence. Teachers who know their students' interests and preferences, and show regard and respect for these individual differences, bolster students' feelings of autonomy. Teachers who establish a personal and caring relationship and foster positive social interactions within their classrooms meet their students' needs for relatedness (or social connection to school). Taken together, effective teacher-student relationships confirm to students that teachers care for them and support their academic efforts.

These video clips shows competence and autonomy from an 8-year-old child.

The students in my school have severe emotional and behavioral problems and my school has few economic resources - can good relationships really help?

Teacher-student relationships contribute to students' resiliency. Often, we assume that hard-to-change factors such as class size, teacher experience or availability of instructional supplies are crucial for predicting student achievement. In fact, these factors are not as important as having positive relationships.

In one study of almost 4,000 students (who were ethnic minority groups and from poor families), the presence of positive relationships with teachers and the experience of a positive and orderly school environment in elementary and middle school were strong predictors of gains in math outcomes - much stronger than class size, teacher experience, or availability of instructional supplies (Borman & Overman, 2004).

In another study, urban high school students with behavior and emotional problems were assigned to an intervention involving weekly interactions with teachers, monthly calls to the students at home and increased praise from adults. Those students involved in the intervention showed higher grade point averages over the five-month intervention period compared to their peers who were not receiving the intervention (Murray & Malmgren, 2005). Studies like this point to an important message - across ages and in all content areas, students will be more engaged and motivated if teachers meet students' essential need for social connection.

Can positive teacher-student relationships help to reduce the prevalence of bullying behavior in students?

The behaviors and emotions that young children display when interacting with peers play a critical role in their involvement with bullying throughout the school years. Teachers have the ability to reduce bullying behaviors that occur in the classroom by establishing a positive climate in which pro-social actions are both encouraged and rewarded (Hanish, Kochenderfer-Ladd, Fabes, Martin, & Denning, 2004). Through teacher-student relationship, teachers can assist students in understanding how to better understand and regulate emotions they are feeling. Teachers can also involve students in discussing alternative strategies to deal with social conflict and in establishing prosocial rules for the classroom (Allen, 2010; Fraser et al., 2005).

How does the importance of the teacher-student relationship compare to other important relationships, such as parent-student relationships, in students' lives?

From early childhood through adolescence, positive teacher-student relationships appear to complement the other important relationships in students' lives.

For young students, increased parental engagement (i.e., warmth and sensitivity, support for autonomy, involvement in learning) is associated with greater social bonds with other caregiving adults, including teachers (Sheridan, Knoche, Edwards, Bovaird, & Kupzyk, 2010).

In middle school students, the perception of their teacher (whether they felt that their teacher was supportive toward them or not) predicted students' interest in learning and their engagement in the classroom. At this level, parental support plays a complementary role by predicting youths' motivation in school (Wentzel, 1997).

In high school, parent and teacher supportiveness (combined with parent and teacher monitoring and high expectations) contribute to gains in mathematics achievement (Gregory & Weinstein, 2004). At this age, parent and teacher monitoring of behavior as well as high parent and teacher expectations play an important role in achievement.

This video clip is of a teacher talking about the complementary role that her relationship with the child and the family plays in managing a child's behavior in the classroom.

What are the factors contributing to positive teacher-student relationships?

Multiple factors determine teacher-student relationships: teacher characteristics and student characteristics each play an important role in predicting the quality of interactions that teachers have with individual students. Although less well-studied, other factors (school social climate, school policies, etc.) also contribute to the quality of these relationships.

Will more positive teacher-student relationships improve the peer relationships in my classroom?

Yes, positive teacher-student relationships can promote improved peer relationships in your classrooms through direct and indirect approaches. Teachers can directly promote positive social behaviors by orchestrating the relationships within a classroom in a positive manner (Battistich et al., 2004). Teachers can use positive teacher-student relationships indirectly to promote peer relationships as well. Students tend to be more accepting of peers who show engagement in the tasks of school (e.g., show attention, participate in classroom activities), and positive teacher-student relationships enhance students' engagement. Positive teacher-student relationships improve student-to-student acceptance in both current and future years (Hughes & Kwok, 2007).

Are positive teacher-student relationships easier to form in some situations than others?

Some situations (such as in elementary school, where each teacher is assigned only twenty or so students) provide more opportunities for the development of close teacher-student relationships. Other situations (such as the middle school or high school levels, where teachers routinely provide instruction to four or five groups of twenty-five or more students) make it more difficult to form positive teacher-student relationships with all students (Feldlaufer, Midgley, & Eccles, 1988; Meece et al., 2003), and thus, it takes more effort.

It is also easier to focus attention on positive teacher-student relationships in schools where the administrators believe that trust and positive relationships are important for improving students' performance (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010 ). A distinguishing characteristic of schools with high performing students is the presence of an adult school community that works together in a coordinated manner to create a social environment that supports teachers' efforts to establish good relationships with students (Allensworth & Easton, 2007).

If teacher-student relationships reflect both characteristics of the teachers and characteristics of the student, how stable are these relationships over time?

The quality of teacher-student relationships is surprisingly stable over time. In other words, if a kindergarten teacher has a conflictual relationship with a student; it is likely that the child's first and second grade teachers will also experience conflict in their relationship with that same child. This stability is more evident when the relationships are conflictual rather than when the relationships are close or dependent (Howes, Phillepsen & Peisner-Feinberg, 2000; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Most likely, the stability stems from the "internal working model" that students create in their mind about how relationships with adults typically ought to work.

Here is a video clip of a 16-year-old boy talking about a high school teacher. The teen talks about a teaching method that complements his learning style and motivates him to ask questions. The teacher allows students to question his thinking, a type of questioning that fosters learning, as the student describes. The quality of this give-and-take between the teacher and students provides one example of a teacher-student interaction that appeals to adolescents and enhances the teacher-student relationship.

Are there any unintended consequences associated with creating positive teacher-student relationships?

Ideally, classroom environments need to be nurturing while at the same time holding students to high academic standards (Curby, LoCasale-Crouch, et al., 2009; Stuhlman & Pianta, 2009). Classrooms that focus on nurturance without offering opportunities for academic learning do not produce increases in students' achievement (Allensworth & Easton, 2007; Lee & Smith, 1999).

Do positive teacher-student relationships work for all school subjects?

Positive teacher-student relationships play an equally important role in students' success across all subjects (McCombs & Miller, 2006). Students' social and emotional needs are present throughout the day and the year, regardless of the subject area.

Can positive teacher-student relationships support students' self-control?

In the past decade, there has been increased interest in methods to support students' development of self-control. Executive functioning is one component of self-control that refers to students' working memory, ability to direct attention, and the ability to control their responses in different situations. Through their relationships and interactions with students, teachers can help to develop and improve students' executive functioning skills and the behaviors that emerge because of those skills. For example, a higher degree of emotional support provided by the classroom teacher is associated with a reduction in students' off-task behavior (Rimm-Kaufman, Curby, Grimm, Nathanson, & Brock, 2009). Additionally, students with low effortful control perform similarly to children with high effortful control (i.e., the ability to substitute an automatic or immediate response for a more appropriate one, such as raising one's hand instead of calling out) on tests of reading and mathematics if they experience positive relationships with their teachers (Liew, Chen, & Hughes, 2010). Teacher-student relationships help students develop executive functioning skills regardless of whether they are low or high in these skills in the beginning of the school year. (See Willingham, 2011, for more useful information.)

This video clip provides an example of how a teacher's supportive interactions with an eight year old boy helps him get back on track and show more self-control in his behaviors.

How do you evaluate teacher-student relationships?

Several common and readily available instruments have been developed to assess teacher-student relationships. Although used primarily for research, these instruments can also serve as diagnostic tools to identify strengths and weakness in your own teaching. Some of these instruments rely on teacher reports of relationships, others are observationally-based measures of teacher-student interactions in the classroom, and yet others rely on students' reports of their relationships with teachers. One particularly innovative technique to use with young children relies on children's drawings of their teachers.

There are less formal ways to assess your relationships with students:

Invite a school psychologist into your classroom to observe your interactions, take notes and reflect with you about the child with whom you have a challenging relationship.

Set up a video camera and analyze your own interactions with the student who is causing you difficulty.

Give your students anonymous questionnaires (on paper or on-line) or ask small groups of students about how they feel while they are in your classroom.

Through this process, it is important to realize that even the best teachers have difficulties with a few students from time to time. The reasons for these difficulties are numerous and getting help from a collaborating teacher, the school psychologist, or a supportive administrator may offer you an outside view of what is occurring and help you improve your relationships with the challenging students in your classroom.

Are positive teacher-student relationships a "magic bullet"?

No, positive teacher-student relationships are only one part of a teachers' repertoire of classroom management and discipline strategies. High quality relationships complement high quality classroom management. Furthermore, it is not possible to develop positive relationships with every student. As a teacher, you can strive toward accomplishing that goal but realize that having an ideal relationship with each student may be unobtainable.

How are positive teacher-student relationships linked to classroom climate?

Improving teacher-student relationships constitutes only a first step toward creating a classroom community that is conducive to student's social and academic development.

Several student characteristics are risk factors for problematic relationships

Boys typically have more conflict and less closeness in their relationships with teachers than girls (Baker, 2006; Howes et al., 2000; Hughes, Cavell, & Wilson, 2001).

High levels of teacher-student conflict may affect girls and boys differently. For example, teacher-student conflict appears to affect math achievement more negatively for girls than for boys (McCormick & O'Connor, 2014).

Students with more internalizing problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) show greater dependency on their teachers than their average counterparts (Henricsson & Rydell, 2004), whereas students with more externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, problem behaviors) show more conflict with teachers (Murray & Murray, 2004; O'Connor et al., 2012).

Students who exhibit more problem behaviors at home and school tend to develop more conflictual and less close relationships with their teachers (Birch & Ladd, 1998; Murray & Murray, 2004; O'Connor et al., 2012).

Students with emotional disturbances or mild intellectual disability have more negative relationships with teachers than students without these problems (Murray & Greenberg, 2001).

Bold preschool students with poorly developed language skills are perceived by their teachers as having more conflictual relationships. Shy preschool students with better language skills are perceived by their teachers as more dependent upon them (Rudasill et al., 2006).

For students at risk for problematic teacher-student relationships, teachers needed to make extra efforts to offer the social and emotional support likely to help them meet the challenges they face in school.

Teachers vary in their ability to create positive teacher-student relationships. Some teachers simply have an easier time developing positive relationships with students - personality, feelings toward students, their own relationship histories may all play a role. A few personal characteristics of teachers have been identified as important predictors of positive teacher-student relationships in elementary schools. Research has found that preschool and kindergarten teachers are more likely to develop close relationships with students who share their same ethnic background. In contrast, it was found that Caucasian pre-service teachers working in their 10-week field placement sites perceived African-American and Hispanic students as more dependent than these same teachers perceived White students. Asian-American and Hispanic pre-service teachers perceived African-American students as more dependent upon them as compared to Asian-American or Hispanic students (Kesner, 2000).

Pre-service teachers who recall their own upbringing as caring and nurturing were also more likely to experience closeness with the students in their field placement classrooms (Kesner, 2000). Teachers' beliefs and the types of practices that teachers prefer also appear to be important. Kindergarten teachers who use more age-appropriate, student-centered teaching practices reported less conflictual relationships with their kindergarten students than those who use more didactic, teacher-centered strategies (Manticopoulous, 2005). Much less is known about the teacher characteristics that contribute to positive teacher-student relationships at the middle and high school level.

Measures of teacher-student relationships

Student-teacher relationship scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001) is a teacher-report instrument designed for elementary school teachers. This instrument measures a teacher's perception of conflict, closeness and dependency with a specific child. Another instrument designed for teachers of middle and high school is the teacher-student relationship inventory (TSRI, Ang, 2005). It measures teachers' satisfaction with their students, the help they perceive they are offering to their students and their level of conflict with their students.

Classroom assessment scoring system (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro & Hamre, 2006) examines the presence of supportive relationships in the classroom. This system measures teachers' sensitivity as well as positive and negative climate in the classroom. Different forms of this instrument are available for preschool through twelfth grade.

Assessment of learner-centered practices (ALCP) is a set of validated survey instruments designed for teachers and students. These surveys, each designed for a different age group (grades K-3, 4-8 and 9-12), provide teachers with tools for self-assessment and reflection (McCombs, 2004). The emphasis of this work has been to identify discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions in order to assist teachers as they reflect upon and change their practices (McCombs & Miller, 2006). The ALCP process focuses on student learning and motivational outcomes, as well as the classroom practices that contribute most to maximizing these outcomes.

Feelings about school (Valeski & Stipek, 2001) examines young children's perceptions of their relationships with teachers and their overall feelings toward school. Young children's attitudes about school can also be assessed by having a child draw a picture of him/herself and his/her teacher at school and analyzing the picture for signs of negativity (Harrison, Clarke, & Ungerer, 2007).

Loneliness and social dissatisfaction questionnaire for young children (Cassidy & Asher, 1992) evaluates students' feelings of loneliness and discontentment with peer relationships in elementary school.

Teacher treatment inventory (Weinstein & Marshall, 1984) is a self-report measure that can be used with middle and high school students to rate their perception of the frequency of specific teacher behaviors. This measure can be used along with an adapted measure of perceived social connection.

Teacher-student relationships and the classroom climate

How do teacher-student relationships relate to classroom climate?

When first grade teachers use practices that demonstrate caring toward students and practices that foster interpersonal skills among students, students are less likely to reject one another (Donahue et al, 2003). In addition, aggressive students who have positive relationships with teachers are more likely to be accepted by peers than aggressive students who lack positive relationships with their teachers (Hughes et al., 2001). Ultimately, constructive teacher-student relationships have an important positive influence on the social skills of difficult as well as typical students (Zins, Elias, Greenberg, & Weissberg, 2000). Such findings suggest that enhancing individual teacher-student relationships has beneficial and cumulative effects for other aspects of classroom life.

Improving teacher-student relationships is only the first step toward meeting students' emotional and relational needs. A teacher should also work on producing a caring community of learners. Such efforts improve the nature of interactions among students and promote students' engagement in school (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; McCombs, 2004; Meece et al., 2003; Weinberger & McCombs, 2003).

Interventions

Studies have examined the effectiveness of interventions designed to create more caring school and classroom communities; each has resulted in specific recommendations for improving teacher-student relationships as well as peer-relationships.

1. The Child Development Project (CDP) focuses on fostering caring peer relationships, including students in decision-making during classroom meetings, and teaching students to better understand the feelings, needs and perspectives of others. The goal of CDP is to promote positive development among students and build upon their strengths. Students exposed to this intervention feel more positive about school and are more motivated (e.g., showed more task orientation and greater intrinsic motivation) than their counterparts not receiving this intervention in elementary school (Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000). Likewise, CDP appears to have some long-lasting effects; students enrolled in the CDP elementary schools were less antisocial and more prosocial in middle school as well (Battistich et al., 2004). Further, in a district that pressed for high achievement, CDP was linked to positive effects on achievement outcomes as well as gains in socio-emotional skills.

2. The responsive classroom (RC) approach is a classroom-based intervention designed to integrate social and academic learning. When RC was examined to determine whether there were links between the use of its approach and the quality of teacher-student relationships, it was found that teachers using more RC practices had closer relationships with students in their classrooms (Baroody, Rimm-Kaufman, Larsen & Curby, 2014; Rimm-Kaufman & Chiu, 2007).

3. The RULER approach is another school-based social-emotional intervention that is designed to teach students critical skills related to emotions (labeling, expressing, regulating, etc.). This intervention was developed to align with the language arts curriculum in grades K-12. Investigations of RULER'S effectiveness have revealed that students whose teachers utilize more RULER approaches in the classroom demonstrated improved social skills and emotional intelligence (Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2012).

4. Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) is an additional intervention intended to strengthen the social-emotional learning skills of students in pre-K through grade 6. Primary goals of the intervention include building problem-solving skills, developing conflict-resolution strategies, forming positive relationships, and increasing self-control and self-awareness. Teachers who implemented the PATHS curriculum in the early elementary grades reported increases in prosocial interactions and higher levels of academic engagement in their classrooms (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2010).

When does the strategy work?

What developmental differences are associated with teacher-student relationships?

Teacher-student relationships are as important to adolescents as they are to younger students. Feeling a connection and sense of relatedness to a teacher represents an essential need of all children and teens (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). However, it is worth noting that the nature of positive teacher-student relationships changes depending on the age of the student involved. In other words, the precise behaviors that might be perceived by a kindergarten child as nurturing and caring (e.g., a doting smile, a one-armed hug), in contrast, might be perceived by adolescents as over-involved and cloying. It is also important to realize that in the early years of school, students' perception of their relationship with teachers and teachers' perception of those same relationships are quite similar. As children grow and develop, the gap between their perceptions of teachers and teachers' perception of them grows and widens (McCombs & Miller, 2006).

Students experience stressors as they grow and develop. Positive, healthy relationships can help students with the developmental transitions they experience.

Do good teacher-student relationships work better for some students than others?

Teacher-student relationships are important to virtually all students. However, high quality teacher-student relationships appear to be most significant for students who are at risk for school problems based on early behavioral and learning issues (Baker, 2006; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002). In one study, high quality teacher-student relationships appeared to be better predictors of classroom adjustment, social skills and reading performance for students showing initial externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity), internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) and learning problems (e.g., attention problems) (Baker, 2006) than for students without these initial risk factors.

In another study, sensitive and supportive relationships proved to be more important in predicting increased self-reliant behavior and less off task, negative and aggressive behaviors in the kindergarten classroom for bold, outgoing children. (Comparable levels of sensitivity and support of the teacher played less of a role in children's classroom behavior for shy, hesitant children [Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002). Teacher sensitivity and emotional supportiveness played a greater role in predicting children's academic achievement gains in first grade (after taking into consideration children's earlier achievement) for children "at risk" for school failure than for those without these risk factors (Hamre & Pianta, 2005).

Similarly, a recent study on children from rural families found that high emotional support provided by teachers was associated with increased behavioral self-control and lower levels of aggression in first grade students. This study also found that attending an emotionally-supportive classroom was equally important for students regardless of whether they were from families living with poverty or not and whether they were from families headed by a single parent or two parents (Merritt, Wanless, Rimm-Kaufman, Cameron, & Peugh, 2012).

In another study, poor teacher-student relationships correlated with a reading achievement gap between African-American and White students, all of whom initially demonstrated below average literacy skills. Specifically, when Hughes and Kwok (2007) studied a group of low achieving readers, they found that first grade children who had poorer relationships with their teachers were less engaged in school and had lower academic achievement in second grade. It is very important to note that Hughes and Kwok found that African-American children had poorer relationships with their teachers than children of other ethnic backgrounds (i.e., Caucasian, Hispanic). This suggests how important it is for teachers to develop the best possible relationship with all students, regardless of their ethnic background. Taken together, such findings suggest that high quality teacher-student relationships can partially compensate for disadvantages in other facets of students' social-emotional lives.

High quality teacher-student relationships are equally important for all students, regardless of ethnicity. Students are more likely to experience positive relationships with teachers who share their ethnicity. However, other factors besides ethnicity (e.g., the teachers' skills in creating good relationships, the child's tendency toward behavior problems) are probably more important than ethnicity in predicting the quality of teacher-student relationships.

Ethnicity

Several themes emerge in relation to the study of teacher-student relationships among ethnic minority students.

Virtually all peer-reviewed studies on teacher-student relationships included students who are ethnic minorities in their samples. Many include only ethnic minority students. Such studies have found that high quality teacher-student relationships are important for all children and youth (e.g., Murray & Malmgren, 2005; Decker, Dona, & Christenson, 2007). For example, close teacher-student relationships played an equally important and positive role in influencing the behavioral competence of both Hispanic and White non-Hispanic preschool children (Ewing & Taylor, 2009).

One study shows young students are more likely to experience positive relationships with teachers who share their ethnicity (Saft & Pianta, 2001). Although this finding emerged, the magnitude of its effect is very small, suggesting that other factors besides ethnicity are more important in predicting the quality of teacher-student relationships.

Third, there is a "folk wisdom" that some children and youth, particularly African American students, will not respond well to the outwardly warm, nurturing, and supportive behaviors typical in classrooms led by White teachers. This idea is often espoused in books and articles, however, there is very little research evidence to supports this assertion. The prevalent view recommends warm and demanding behaviors toward African American students (Gregory & Weinstein, 2008). Here are a few studies to consider in thinking about your interactions with African American students.

In one study, African American high school students' inclination to cooperate with and trust teachers depended on students' perceptions of whether their teacher cared about them and held high expectations for success (Gregory & Weinstein, 2008). As stated by one African American high school student," ...when she talk to you with seriousness, she mean it, but then she also have a smile like 'I'm on your side.' I mean, 'I feel where you're coming from but I'm still your teacher' (Gregory & Weinstein, 2008, p. 470).

In another study, researchers conducted interviews of eight academically-successful African American high school graduates from single-parent, low income families. The students reflected on factors that contributed to their achievement. All of the graduates reported that having a supportive and warm mentorship relationship with a teacher, coach, or school counselor contributed to their academic success. In some cases, the mentors were very persistent in their efforts to help the students succeed (Williams & Bryan, 2013).

Student and teacher stressors

Student Stressors

Positive teacher-student relationships can offset some of the normal stressors that students experience as they grow and develop. The transition to middle school can be a stressful time for children; middle school students often show declines in motivation, self-esteem and academic performance (Feldlaufer et al., 1988).

Students who perceive greater support from their teachers experience less depression and have more growth in self-esteem between the sixth and eighth grades (Reddy, Rhodes, & Mulhall, 2003).

Students who perceive their teachers as respectful, eager to support their autonomy, focused on setting realistic and individualized expectations for performance, and offering nurturing and constructive feedback are more motivated in school (Wentzel, 1997). More specifically, if a student believes "my teacher trusts me" or "my teacher calls on me to give the answer," he or she is more likely to be interested in class, more likely to conform to the positive social norms of the classroom, and more eager to master the academic material being taught (Wentzel, 1997).

Teacher Stressors

Like other professionals in demanding roles, teachers may experience depleted energy and increased stress or "burnout." Physically and emotionally exhausted teachers struggle to sustain strong relationships with students (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Teachers are developing people and their psychological health is crucial to their success in the classroom, especially their ability to create high quality relationships with students (Rimm-Kaufman & Hamre, 2010). Teachers need to take time to care for themselves and receive support from others to improve their capacity to work with students.

During difficult times, an important source of support for teachers is the adult community within the school (Bryk et al., 2010). Increased collaboration and communication among teachers and other educational personnel can provide the social support needed to reduce feelings of stress and to renew teachers' energy. Teachers who feel positively about their own ability to cope with challenging situations and to form close relationships with others are more likely to provide higher quality environments that improve student outcomes (Brown, Jones, LaRusso, & Aber, 2010). There is a growing body of research showing how important it is for teachers to tend to their own psychological health and well-being.

In this closing video, teachers and students describe qualities that make a great teacher.

Where can I get more information?

Several books designed for teachers may be useful in promoting teacher-student relationships. Most of these books address the needs of children in early and middle childhood:

Charney, R. (2002). Teaching children to care: Classroom management for ethical and academic growth, K-8. Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.

Howes, C. & Ritchie, S. (2002). A matter of trust: Connecting teachers and learners in the early childhood classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing relationships between children and teachers. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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Improving students' relationships with teachers

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Improving students' relationships with teachers has positive implications for students' academic and social development.

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Introducing Bryanna

When I first met with Bryanna, I learned that she was teaching third-grade humanities at a charter school in Camden, New Jersey. She was teaching in an inclusion setting using the EL Education curriculum . When I began that first coaching session with Bryanna, I could see how much expertise she had in close reading strategies, social-emotional learning, and data-driven instruction. She also shared that many of her students were well below a third-grade reading level. I knew that she would have big goals and I was excited to personalize her coaching to her goals.

To begin our work, I shared a little bit about coaching, the try-measure-learn process , and how we use outcomes (goals) to guide coaching and achieve clear milestones. Bryanna chose her first outcome in the focus area of formative assessment and differentiation :

I can create a culture of feedback with my students by developing trust in order to drive their academic growth.

When discussing her goals, she shared, " I want students to hear feedback and emotionally be motivated to act on it and then I want a revision process to happen."

She continues, "It was clear early on that students were invested in being back in the classroom and with a teacher full time. I quickly learned that the needs of students were so varied that one strategy or mindset couldn't work alone. My feedback would need to be consistent and targeted for each student. The word that became my foundation and guide was: goals! The goals were varied but the steps we could take to achieve them could be universally applied."

At the end of our first session, Bryanna was already excited to try something new towards her overall plan to create a culture of feedback for goal setting. She planned to use her lesson's learning targets to create "criteria for success," or thinking steps so that students could begin to self-assess and take feedback centered around those learning targets. This began their process of learning target self-assessment .

Bryanna reflected on this process: "Students began to self-evaluate their work and progress during work time without having to be reminded of the next step-the thinking steps and criteria for success were given on their actual work or visible on the board/screen, giving the class a common language for feedback. The steps gave students the opportunity to advocate for themselves when stuck on specific parts or celebrate when they monitored their work because they could see success immediately. These strategies were very logistical in nature but it became the norm: we have work to do; here's how we are going to do it.

These components were the foundation of feedback and self-evaluation. When I first introduced each structure, I explained the purpose behind them and why they were important to include in our daily routines.

Here was our plan:

Learning Targets

Learning targets/goals would need to be super clear at the beginning of the lesson but also used in the language throughout the lesson. EL Education has strong learning targets that are standard specific, which helps the class adopt a common language for goals.

Thinking Steps

No one gets where they want to be right away - there is a process, timeline, or a set of steps to climb before we can achieve success. Steps given in lessons or within units could be agendas, timelines, thinking steps, etc. I aimed to frame thinking steps as open-ended questions to enhance critical thinking. Giving students thinking steps that can be answered with a yes/no can limit their engagement in higher-order thinking.

Checklists

One of my favorite strategies (in life and school) is checklists! Checklists organize the process and the outcome in such clear ways. They give students the opportunity to know exactly how to get the outcome they desire, understand what pieces they might be missing, and create accountability. Paired with the thinking steps (see example below), a checklist gives the class a common language of the standards, process, and outcome. Having the checklist as a visible, active part of the lesson also gives me as the teacher a chance to be specific when giving feedback."

Building on that Foundation with Goal Setting

After Bryanna created a culture of feedback using learning targets, thinking steps, and checklists, we reflected on the next step. We moved into planning out goal setting. Students would use their self-assessments to set goals using a red, yellow, and green half-sheet tracker. If they were in the red or yellow, they knew that was an area they should focus on for goal setting.

Bryanna planned to roll out this process using SMART goal setting . She would teach what SMART goals are, show her own goal to model for her students how to set a goal and make a plan, and give examples of goals. She would then allow her students to set their first goals while she conferenced with them each individually. She would do this while students worked independently during flexible time on iReady lessons or assessments.

"Goal setting was a natural progression for the work we started around thinking steps and having rubrics and checklists during the lessons," Bryanna shared. "Students were building confidence, the content was elevated, and we were out of the newness of routines and procedures. We started off analyzing our learning target progress with an easy self-assessment tool on their desks. At the end of every lesson or section, students would be asked to choose a color based on how they were feeling about their progress towards mastery of the learning target."

Here's how Brynna communicated the code:

Red: I can't do this independently yet; I'm confused.

Yellow: I know I will do this independently; I have a question OR I need more practice.

Green: I'm very confident I can do this independently; I'm ready for a new challenge.

Making Improvements to Goal Setting

In another coaching session, we discussed how Bryanna had achieved her outcome around a culture of feedback. Bryanna reflected: "I think creating a class vocabulary and class routines has allowed kids to be okay with where they are at and to celebrate their wins and create their personal goals/next steps."

Bryanna was ready to move to her next outcome around tracking progress:

I can support my students to track their own progress by having them understand and take ownership of their learning data.

Bryanna's goals were to help students track their progress with self-assessment/goal setting and to use data from assessments and goal setting to recognize and celebrate when they had achieved a goal.

As Bryanna continued implementation, we used our next few meetings to acknowledge successes, or "glows," and make tweaks where necessary. Students loved the red, yellow, green self-assessment tool and wanted to use this tool for everything-not just academics! Bryanna also found that quieter students felt more comfortable sharing their status using this tool.

"Over time, this became so routine that if students noticed others progressing faster or having an easier time with the lesson, they would discreetly use their pencil to point to yellow or red when I walked by to signal to me that they needed help. Some would be verbal with their progress. 'Ms. Costello, I'm at a yellow right now,' and then follow it up with their question or something they just didn't quite grasp," Bryanna told me.

Bryanna scaffolded goal setting by sharing the week's focus at the start of each week so students could use that to create relevant goals. For example, for a focus around the main idea of what they were reading, one goal could be "I can use two pieces of text evidence to support the main idea."

One area that needed tweaking was the organization of it all. She wanted to change the format so that everything was in one place and students didn't need so many papers. Bryanna's idea was to create goal notebooks for students. This was the start of what eventually became "goal passports."

"Our theme for the year has been 'reading takes us places!' and having students set goals in a passport just seemed like the perfect holding place for all the 'places' we could go within our reading journey," shared Bryanna. "We spent time each week creating goals based on what skills were coming up for the week.

Here's an example of the weekly plan:

1. On Mondays, we spent time with our agenda for the week of skills that we would practice.

2. Throughout the week, we could use standard language and reference thinking steps and CFS.

3. On Fridays, students would evaluate their work from the week. Inside their passports, students would write reflections on their progress. If students met their goals, they would receive a stamp in their passports!

Feedback throughout this process anchored their motivation. Students discussed their progress, and goals and connected with (and encouraged!) others. Students felt confident giving each other constructive feedback."

Final Reflections

This process of tracking progress and recognizing growth allowed Bryanna to reflect on her own growth. She not only created a culture of feedback, but she now had a classroom community of students who took ownership of their learning data and were motivated to improve!

Upon reflection, Bryanna said, "I think that students are better able to advocate for their strengths and weaknesses and they also have enough self-awareness to ask 'how do I reach this goal?' if they don't know how to get there, which is helpful in their ownership and they're super motivated by data which is awesome!"

In our final few meetings together, Bryanna shared what these systems look like in her classroom now. They don't look the same as they did in October and November.

"It's evolved with them," she shared. "The red, yellow, green was necessary at the point that I did it because they needed to be able to be reminded that they can advocate for themselves and then we got to a point where they didn't need that because they were more verbal on their own. One kid said to me, 'I think I'm okay with summarizing the problem and solution, but I'm stuck here on this call to action; how do I question them?' He picked apart the checklist and said 'okay, this is what I got and this is what I can do on my own and this is the piece I need help with....' In the beginning of the year, he was a kid who would shut down and slam his pencil and say, 'I don't know how to do this.' Now, he just evaluated the entire list on his own and is telling me what he needs from me!"

This was a special moment for me to witness as a coach. Bryanna allowed her students to grow not just academically, but emotionally. She helped them to advocate for themselves, grow their confidence, and become more independent and self-driven learners. It was wonderful to see this develop throughout the year!

"The culture I built with my students this year, around feedback and academic growth, mirrored strategies and routines that can and will be helpful as transferable skills in other areas of life. As adults we set goals, make plans to achieve them, and understand that we meet our goals with clear action steps and often the encouragement of a support system that believes in us and is able to guide us or watch us grow.

Having Morgan coaching me through the year has been such an asset to the ways I could cultivate a strong school year. We worked together to make my ideas come to life in the classroom. She guided me to strategies for anything that I needed over the year. It was incredible to form a strong relationship with someone I could trust and count on in such a small amount of time."

If you're ready to learn more about coaching with BetterLesson, contact us today.

Let's Talk

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Create a Culture of Growth with Goal Setting - BetterLesson

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See how one teacher created a culture of feedback with her students in order to drive their academic growth.

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WASHINGTON - Teens who have good, supportive relationships with their teachers enjoy better health as adults, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. Perhaps surprisingly, although friendships are important to adolescents, the study did not find the same link between good peer relationships and students' health in adulthood.

"This research suggests that improving students' relationships with teachers could have important, positive and long-lasting effects beyond just academic success," said Jinho Kim, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Korea University and author of the study. It was published in the journal School Psychology. "It could also have important health implications in the long run."

Previous research has suggested that teens' social relationships might be linked to health outcomes in adulthood-perhaps because poor relationships can lead to chronic stress, which can raise a person's risk of health problems over the lifespan, according to Kim. However, it is not clear whether the link between teen relationships and lifetime health is causal-it could be that other factors, such as different family backgrounds, might contribute to both relationship problems in adolescence and to poor health in adulthood. Also, most research has focused on teens' relationships with their peers, rather than on their relationships with teachers.

To explore those questions further, Kim analyzed data on nearly 20,000 participants from the Add Health study, a nationally representative longitudinal study in the United States that followed participants for 13 years, from seventh grade into early adulthood. The participant pool included more than 3,400 pairs of siblings. As teens, participants answered questions such as, "How often have you had trouble getting along with other students?" "How much do you agree that friends care about you?" "How often have you had trouble getting along with your teachers?" and "How much do you agree that teachers care about you?" As adults, participants were asked about their physical and mental health. Researchers also took measures of physical health, such as blood pressure and body mass index.

Kim found that, as expected, participants who had reported better relationships with both their peers and teachers in middle school and high school also reported better physical and mental health in their mid-20s. However, when he controlled for family background by looking at pairs of siblings together, only the link between good teacher relationships and adult health remained significant.

This could be because previously reported links between peer relationships and physical health could actually reflect other, underlying factors about students' family background.

The results suggest that teacher relationships are even more important than previously realized and that schools should invest in training teachers on how to build warm and supportive relationships with their students, according to Kim.

"This is not something that most teachers receive much training in," he said, "but it should be."

Article: "The Quality of Social Relationships in Schools and Adult Health: Differential Effects of Student-Student Versus Student-Teacher Relationships," by Jinho Kim, PhD, Korea University. School Psychology, published online October 29, 2020.

Jinho Kim can be reached via email.

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Positive student-teacher relationships benefit students' long-term health, study finds

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Teens who have good, supportive relationships with their teachers enjoy better health as adults.

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In my first year as an assistant professor, I commuted to and from campus on the regional rail.

In the mornings, as I walked from the train station to the office, I planned my day by making a to-do list in my head: the scientific articles I would read, the data sets I would analyze, and-most urgent of all-the piercing insights into human nature that it was my job to discover.

Each evening, I trudged back to the station, again ticking through my mental checklist, but this time sizing up my performance against the expectations I'd set for myself that morning. Time and again, when comparing my to-do list with my got-done list, I found myself falling short.

But one day, something very strange happened. At the midpoint in my commute home, without any conscious intent, my thoughts began to shift. Instead of cursing my weaknesses, I thought, and even said aloud sometimes, very softly: I'm a nice person. I'm a nice person. I'm a nice person.

By the time I boarded my train, I was done with my little mantra-until the next day when I walked home. And again, after inventorying my failures, I found myself saying quietly: I'm a nice person.

What kind of person walks around giving themselves compliments? Was I a narcissist? What was going on?

It turns out that there's a technical term for this practice: values affirmation. And what it boils down to is recognizing, and reinforcing, the personal values you hold most dear.

When you affirm a core personal value, you shore up your sense of self-worth. You broaden your perspective: Instead of zooming in on your inadequacies, you switch to a wide-angle view that includes your resources and opportunities. Research also shows that the majority of adults spontaneously engage in some form of values affirmation. And the more people are in the habit of doing so, the happier, healthier, and more hopeful they are.

Over time, I made progress in my research and learned a lot about what makes most successful people special, including this: Nobody has passion and perseverance unless what they do aligns with their values.

Try values affirmation for yourself. Take a moment and think of a value you hold dear, whether it's kindness, creativity, gratitude, or integrity. Whatever it is, name it. And then say to yourself: Come what may, I know who I am. Your values are your foundation and your compass, too. Trust them, and they will lead you home.

With grit and gratitude,

Angela

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Angela Duckworth shares her experience with values affirmation. When you affirm a core personal value, you shore up your sense of self-worth.

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Improving education to meet the needs of all students requires that we deliberately engage the voices of all educators. In our experience working with schools and school systems around the world, we have found that norms can play a powerful role in eliciting the breadth of perspectives that is needed for a group of educators to tackle hard problems. And, along the way, teams that lean into norms often find that they ratchet up the "joy factor" of their collaborative work.

Norms are shared agreements about how a group will work together. They help us answer questions like: How will we treat one another? How will we engage with challenging content? What will we do if we disagree? Without having an explicit conversation about these questions, collaborative work tends to reinforce inequitable patterns that exist within an organization or society. People with less positional power than others in the room may be hesitant to speak up. People from identity groups whose voices have historically been privileged may dominate conversations. As educators, we have the power to work toward a "new normal" on our teams. But it requires intentional effort to make this happen.

Setting and Clarifying Norms

Groups approach setting norms in different ways. Some start with a blank slate and brainstorm norms together. In other cases, the facilitator may propose a set of norms that are particularly useful for fostering equitable collaboration. If the team will be exploring how issues of race, diversity, inclusion, and equity play out within their school or system, it is especially important to consider a set of norms that will make that conversation productive.

In our work guiding teams doing collaborative data inquiry, we often open by sharing the norms adapted from Meeting Wise: Making the Most of Collaborative Time for Educators (Harvard Education Press, 2014). Although these norms were originally developed to support school-based teams as they work through the Data Wise Improvement Process , we have found that they can be useful in a variety of settings, from teacher team meetings to central office workshops to faculty meetings at colleges and universities. As a general rule, limiting the number of norms to 5-7 makes it easier for teams to keep them in mind. Longer lists can send the message that everything is a priority, which of course means that nothing is.

Meeting Wise Norms

Adapted from Meeting Wise: Making the most of collaborative time for educators (Harvard Education Press, 2014). (CHINCH/SHUTTERSTOCK)

Once a set of norms has been proposed, it is essential to provide time for the team to come to a shared understanding of what each norm really means. What would it look like and sound like if a particular norm were being followed? For example, the group might agree that taking an inquiry stance would involve asking questions from a place of genuine curiosity, not of judgment. The goal of questions is to clarify what teammates are saying. If group members know that their colleagues will take an inquiry stance, then they are more likely to trust that their perspective and insights will be understood.

When ground statements in evidence is first introduced as a potential norm, we have sometimes seen educators express concern that this means the group would only welcome statements that could be backed by formal research or hard numbers. But when discussing this norm, we encourage groups to hash out what they mean by "evidence." It can feel much more authentic to define evidence to include specific and descriptive statements from team members' own lived experiences or their observations of their students. Sharing rich stories about classroom experiences can be an essential step in dismantling inequitable practices in schools. Once a draft set of norms is in place, it is time to ask: Are there any norms in this list that we can't live with? and Do we need to adjust any norms to make them more useful? Personally, we have learned so much by asking teams these questions. For example, initially the third Meeting Wise norm was simply assume positive intentions. We explained to school teams that if someone said something that "rubbed them the wrong way," the listener should assume that the statement was coming from a good place, rooted in a shared desire to do the best by all children, and perhaps then take an inquiry stance to better understand what was said.

However, as educators discussed this norm, they told us that it could be exhausting to assume positive intentions when their colleagues spoke or acted in ways that were insensitive or hurtful. To have meaningful conversations, people needed assurance that if they were negatively affected by someone, they could say so and know that the speaker would be willing to own that impact. This adjustment became so prevalent that we revised the norm to be assume positive intentions and take responsibility for impact, and we now make it clear that everyone in the group is expected to act on feedback about how their statements are being received. Teams that agree to this norm commit to maintaining a growth mindset, meaning they give individuals an opportunity to address their blind spots and they resolve, as a team, to learn their way into working together more effectively.

When discussing a draft set of norms with large teams, we often allow time for people to turn to the person next to them and check in about how they feel about the list. Making time for one-on-one discussion of norms can ensure that everyone has a chance to explore concerns they may have before sharing with the broader group. When it is time for group discussion, the goal is to get to a place where people feel comfortable enough that they are willing to "play along" with the list for a few meetings.

Upholding Norms

The initial norms conversation is not over until the group has discussed what they will do if a norm is not being followed. Some teams have a lot of fun at this point, doing short role-plays where they deliberately violate a norm and test out different ways of addressing it. For example, someone could start checking email on their phone and the group could test-drive a few ways of reminding one another about the norm to be here now. Using humor in a low-stakes situation can help a group come up with playful ways to hold themselves accountable when it really matters. We've seen people agree to raise an eyebrow, tap their chin, or even hum when they feel a norm is being broken. It may be silly, but these types of agreed-upon gestures can get the job done: They provide a way for the group to hold itself to its shared promises.

Generally, though, the simplest, most straightforward way to uphold norms is for team members to speak up if they see a norm being violated. Reminding a colleague about a norm can feel uncomfortable, which is why it is so helpful to practice doing so as part of the norms-setting process. It will be easier to uphold norms during a real meeting if team members rehearse saying statements like, "I've noticed that we've been hearing from about half of the team during this discussion, and keeping in mind our norm of hearing all voices, I'm wondering if we might open up space for others to contribute." And let's face it: There is a very real power dynamic at play if a teacher is thinking about pointing out that his principal is breaking the start and end on time norm by showing up to a meeting 10 minutes late. It is critical to agree ahead of time how the group as a whole will uphold the high standards they have set for themselves. If calling out someone in the moment feels like too much of a stretch, appoint a team member to serve as the "norms checker" for each meeting. This can take the pressure off individuals to decide how and when to point out norm violations.

Keeping Norms Alive

In order for norms to make a difference in how a team works together, the team needs to revisit its norms continually. In fact, while it's important for a group to agree on norms when the team first forms, norms are most useful once the group is far enough along in its work for the "honeymoon" stage to have ended and disagreements to arise. If we don't keep our norms alive, they will be of no use to us when we get to this point.

To ensure that norms are top of mind, some teams display them on a table tent during each meeting. Others print their norms in the header or footer of their meeting agenda so they are available for easy reference. When we are working with a group, we periodically include a "norms check-in" as an agenda item. During this time, team members can rate themselves on how well they think they are following each norm and choose a norm to focus on for the remainder of the meeting. It can be useful for team members to share their thinking with a partner or with the whole group. We'll often hear a team member say, "Please, everyone, remind me if I'm not taking an inquiry stance-I know that one is so easy for me to forget!"

Especially in a larger group, it can be useful to gather and discuss evidence on how well the group thinks each norm is being followed. For example, a quick survey about norms might reveal that half the group thinks that the norm be here now is being followed "almost never," while half the group thinks it's being followed "all of the time." Identifying that kind of discrepancy in perception can lead to a useful discussion about what that norm looks like, because the data suggest that group members are thinking about it differently. Revisiting norms frequently helps people monitor their participation in meetings and develop common language to discuss how the group works together. A simpler way of collecting data is to have the "norms checker" gather and share evidence on how well norms are being followed. For example, this person could be charged with reporting back to the group about the number of people who arrived on time to a meeting or the number of times each person spoke. When the norms checker shares the data at the end of the meeting, it will be understood that they are not being "negative"; they are just doing their job.

One of the most effective tools we have found for keeping norms alive in a group is the plus/delta protocol. This is a simple method that takes about five minutes at the end of a meeting and gets everyone involved. The group is asked to identify "pluses," things that worked well in the meeting, and "deltas," things to change for next time to improve how the group works together (the Greek letter delta is also a symbol for change). This dedicated time for reflection is the perfect opportunity to consider which norms are being followed, to the benefit of the group, and which might need more attention.

Then, at the beginning of each meeting, the facilitator presents a summary of the plus/delta feedback from the prior meeting and explains how the feedback was taken into account while planning the current meeting. For example, if a delta is that the group struggled with the norm to hear all voices, the facilitator might explain how they will be using a discussion protocol designed to address this. Instead of problem solving through open discussion, for instance, they might start by having everyone silently write ideas for addressing a challenge on sticky notes and then work together to sort the ideas and discuss interconnections. When team members see facilitators making changes as a result of deltas, it's amazing how substantive and constructive their feedback can become.

Leaning into Joy

When norms that support equitable participation come alive, people start to feel like they can bring their full authentic selves to their team's work. They can spend less time silently fuming and more time laughing out loud at how many reminders everyone needs to live up to the expectations for inclusive teamwork that they have set for themselves.

Trying to improve education is emotional work because the problems we are trying to solve are so difficult. If there were straightforward solutions to problems, we would have found them already. We will only make meaningful improvements in teaching and learning for all students if we bring in everyone's perspectives and hear voices that historically have been less audible, even silenced.

At first we may discover that our colleagues have different assumptions about how a meeting should run and what it means to function as a team. That's why it's so important to bring tacit assumptions to the surface and come to a shared understanding of what it will look like to work together effectively to help all students thrive.

Guiding Questions

➛ How could norms, implemented intentionally, guide the work of a school or district team you're on?

➛ Which of the Meeting Wise norms would be most applicable to your team? Are any noticeably missing in your team's work?

➛ Based on what you read, how could your team respectfully "norm check" one another to ensure accountability?

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Setting and sticking to shared agreements can transform team dynamics.

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For National Poetry Month, introduce students to spoken word poetry and explore its power to give voice to issues that impact our communities.

Democracy & Civic Engagement

Most teachers are willing to tackle the difficult topics, but we need the tools.

- Gabriela Calderon-Espinal, Bay Shore, NY

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How to Bring Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom

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For National Poetry Month, introduce students to spoken word poetry and explore its power to give voice to issues that impact our communities.

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What we do in a Circle

Slide 1

Created by Rochelle Lentini, USF
Adapted 2004
Created using pictures from Microsoft Clipart®and Boardmaker®

Slide 2

Everyone can go to circle and sit on their seat.

Slide 3

I can sit nicely and look at the teacher.

I can also listen with my ears and try to do what the teacher says.

Slide 4

Sometimes it is hard for me to sit. But I can look at my "sit picture" and try to remember to sit, like all my friends, at my seat.

If I get up off my seat, it is hard for my friends to see and have fun.

Slide 5

When we are in circle, I need to have nice hands and try to keep my hands to myself.

Slide 6

When the teacher talks, I sit nice and listen.

First the teacher points to me, then I can answer with words.

When the class sings, I can sing.

When the class dances, I can dance.

Slide 7

The Circle Rules are
I sit on my seat.
I look at the teacher.
I listen, then do.
I have nice hands.

Slide 8

Circle is fun when we all try to follow the rules.

Slide 9

Scripted Story Tip:
Please note that you can use real photographs with the line drawings for children that need this level of support. For instance, next to the line drawings, you can glue or Velcro a photograph of the class sitting nicely in circle, the teacher talking/reading, the class singing, the class dancing, the child sitting, etc.

Slide 10

Cut out "sit picture", laminate, place rough Velcro on back side, and Velcro to carpet in front of child's seat in circle. This will act as a visual cue to the child. The teacher can also pick up the picture to show and cue the child to sit.

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CSEFEL: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

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The National Center for Effective Mental Health Consultation (CEMHC) addresses the needs of Early Head Start/Head Start (E/HS) staff and families for practical guidance on effective ways to promote young childrenís social and emotional development and reduce challenging behaviors.

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The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World

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It's never too late to revisit or reteach any classroom routine. In fact, here's a story from the Responsive Classroom newsletter by a teacher who started her whole year over in November!

While hopefully you don't need to take such drastic action, you probably have some everyday routines that could use tightening up around this time of year. Is it taking longer for your students to respond to the signal for quiet? Has lunchroom behavior taken a turn for the worse? Are you feeling frustrated because children aren't cleaning up as thoroughly now as they did in September? Try using a condensed version of Interactive Modeling to reteach:

Begin by offering a quick, positive, engaging reason for students to care about the reteaching.

You could try to pique students' interest: "I've been collecting some data about how long it takes us to get quiet when I give our signal. Yesterday it took about 30 seconds each time. That means that over the course of the day, we are using about 10 minutes to get quiet. In a week, that is 50 minutes! If we shortened our time to 10 seconds, we would have 30 extra minutes a week for doing more interesting things. Let's aim for 10 seconds every time today. We're going to practice now so we can see what ten seconds feels like."

Or, start from a place of empathy and belief -"I know it is hard to keep from chatting with friends during transitions. When I'm at meetings, I often want to talk to my friends when I'm supposed to be doing other things, so I know how you feel. But, even though it's hard, I know you can avoid chatting and come straight to the meeting rug when you need to."

Either of these techniques will be more motivating than venting your frustration-"I'm noticing that it is taking you longer and longer to get to the rug, and it's so unfair to make your classmates wait on you!"-even though you may feel tempted to complain.

Then, ask for a volunteer to demonstrate the routine as you practiced it at the beginning of the year.

Next, let students share what they noticed. Be sure especially that they pay attention to the "tricky" parts-voices off during lining up, quick and neat clean-up of materials during a transition from desks to the circle, or a quick response to the signal for quiet.

Have the whole class demonstrate the behavior. Pay special attention to the challenging aspects, and use reinforcing language to let students know what they did well: "You responded to the signal in about eight seconds. I saw people helping each other remember what to do, finishing what they were doing quickly, and really focusing on me quickly. I'm going to give the signal again in about 10 minutes. Let's see if we can do it just as well and quickly then."
Practice again shortly afterwards.
It's important to make re-teaching positive and to convey your firm belief that students can improve. While belief alone will not change student behavior, consistently demonstrating your faith that students can and will meet your expectations really does make a difference.

Tags: Quiet and Other Signals, Revisiting Rules

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It's never too late to revisit or reteach any classroom routine. In fact, here's a story from the Responsive Classroom newsletter by a teacher who started her whole year over in November!