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http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/08/03/innovative-classroom-490/

I found this article that was talking about 8 things every classroom teacher can do to make their room and style innovative. It was very interesting and the thing I liked the most was that the article began by reminding us that innovation cannot be graded or tested! We need more of this!

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I found this article as a reflective tool that positively challenges one's innovative mindset.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/checklist-for-education-innovators-suzie-boss

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Lisa Hansen               My notes from The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

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Lisa Hansen               My notes from The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

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Blog: A a compilation of some of the key points and takeaways page by page from '"The Innovator's Mindset".  Good for understanding key points and important take aways.

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My notes from The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

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George Couros's new book, The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity is a profound l...

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One of my favorite TED Talks by Ken Robinson - "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

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Here is an article that goes over how to encourage creativity and innovation in yourself and your students

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Here is an article that goes over how to encourage creativity and innovation in yourself and your students

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Ashley

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/faculty-development/encouraging-creativity-and-innovation-in-yourself-and-your-students/

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Ways to Teach Creativity in the classroom

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Ways to Teach Creativity in the classroom

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https://www.livetiles.nyc/blog/20-clever-ways-teach-creativity-classroom/

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This feels like a renaming or identifying of something we are already doing all the time, crafting a mindset within ourselves and our learners that encourages different ways to approach problems

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This feels like a renaming or identifying of something we are already doing all the time, crafting a mindset within ourselves and our learners that encourages different ways to approach problems

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How a collaborative environment sustains innovation -Megan

http://digitalpromise.org/2014/07/31/a-teacher-driven-approach-to-21st-century-learning-in-meridian/

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Growth Mindset for Learners- This is a great video series for learners on what it means to have a growth mindset. My kids LOVE it!

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ClassDojo and Stanford's PERTS Research Center teamed up to create the the first season of The Mojo Show. The five-episode video series (along with a few incredible activities) highlight the power of having a growth mindset, and how any student can learn this skill!

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ClassDojo and Stanford's PERTS Research Center teamed up to create the the first season of The Mojo Show. The five-episode video series (along with a few incredible activities) highlight the power of having a growth mindset, and how any student can learn this skill!

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A Vision for the “4 Non-Negotiables for All Schools” 

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A Vision for the “4 Non-Negotiables for All Schools” 

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I like the way George tries to sum up his vision into one sentence in this article: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/6946

-Marly

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I really enjoyed reading this article and seeing how other elementary teachers are teaching innovative strategies.

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To be honest, I was lost. Elementary teaching was something so new to me when I took a job last year as a K-12 Technology Staff Developer. And still to this day, I don't feel completely comfortable helping elementary teachers as much as I do middle and high school teachers.

I taught middle school. I taught high school. I've written curriculum for those levels, and connected with many educators who teach at those levels...learning so much along the way.

So, what did I do with this new scary K-5 area? I reached out online. I found teachers who were sharing what they were doing in their classes through blogs and social media and podcasts. What I realized the past year is that innovation in an elementary school revolves around many of the same concepts and topics as the secondary levels...but it's not always about technology.

That is the biggest misconception we have with innovation in education. Technology doesn't necessarily lead to innovation. Instead, technology often allows for new ways of teaching and learning...but only if used for the right purpose. Here are a few of my favorite ways educators are innovating at the elementary school (with or without technology):

My daughter is headed to Kindergarten this September, and I hope she gets a teacher like Matt. I've been following his blog for over a year now, and I'm consistently impressed by the work he does...but also how he approaches teaching kindergarten.

While Matt does use technology in the classroom, I don't think that is what solely makes him innovative. How about the fact that he does not use behavioral or class management charts...and doesn't give out any rewards!

I also do not use any rewards or a behavior management system in my class. I have written about my reasoning and journey to remove rewards from the class ( read here) and it really has been a journey. I started with sticker charts and a treasure box just like most teachers. I also have used many different forms of behavior charts...The big "light bulb" moment for me was when I realized that most behavior management systems are a form of control. The teacher is the one in control and I want my kids to learn to be in control. They learn by practicing and through mistakes not by being managed. I may have to work a little harder without stickers and treasure digs but in the end the relationships built and ability to customize how I handle every situation has led to a much healthier environment and happier classroom.

Matt's only classroom rule is "Be Brave ". How can we innovate our classroom rules and behavior management techniques?

Erin's classroom re-design really inspired me to think about learning spaces throughout the schools in our district. This summer I'll be sharing how Erin redesigned her space for a new and improved learning environment.

Erin talks about her new room:

I try to keep everything at eye level for the students. Additionally, I try to stick with a color scheme that is not distracting. I believe that a brain-friendly environment is important to enhance each learner's potential. My room has a home feel so that students feel comfortable as soon as they enter. I avoid the flourscent lighting. Instead, I use the natural light. When it is darker outside, I have several lamps around the room that we use. Our room is not bright but rather has a relaxing and natural color. The aesthetics help to set the tone for our learning environment.

If you'd like to learn more about this innovative room design and how you can do it as well, check out Erin's post on it (via Scholastic) and more on her blog (with pictures!).

Todd has been a huge help for me in learning the in's and out's of Augmented Reality and Flipped learning, but his recent " Math Fair " made me actually want to go back to elementary math class again (Disclaimer: I'm a former English teacher so Math is a touchy subject ha).

You definitely need to go and check out Todd's full post on how to run your own Math Fair and what his looked like this year, but here are some highlights:

They were told they had to have at least 3 visuals and 6 ways math was involved with their topic. The term "visuals could be interpreted however they wanted. Whether that was making a poster, bringing items, making items, whatever! The point of this project was to have fun, share your passions, and show how math is everywhere. The only boundaries were the ones you set for yourself!

We had the Math Fair Thursday evening from 6pm-7pm in our Cafeteria (and on our bus ramp for those who brought "larger" visuals haha). This evening fair was mandatory. It was part of their grade. I feel it's important to have things like this, that kids were notified of over a month in advance, that they have to attend. Out of my 72 current students, only 3 did not show up (and we had over 200 adults attend this year again!) For my area, and how rural we are, those were GREAT numbers!

This year we even broadcast our entire Math Fair live via Ustream (big thanks to my wife, Liz) and it's all available for you to see HERE. I loved using Ustream because not only did it allow us to share our Math Fair with the world, but now it's a recording to share with all the parents and family members who weren't able to attend!

Todd included choice, presentation skills, and technology into a huge Math Fair that brought the community together. How can we bring our community into the learning process on a regular basis? What might that look like at your school?

Paul just completed his fifth round of Passion Time with his 10 and 11-yr old students! He is a go to resource on Passion Time, Genius Hour, and Inquiry-Based learning at the elementary level. Paul recently blew me away with a concept called " Quality Boosters " for critical feedback in the classroom.

He explained it to the class like this:

In our class, we don't care much about grades. We don't care much about who's better than whom. We care about working together to become the strongest "Me" we can each become. We welcome people's opinions about our work, because when someone takes the time to give us their opinion (even when it's negative), they are helping us improve in some way. And our goal is constant improvement! We don't care where we start from - we care where we finish. We don't care who is performing better than us. We care that we are performing to our highest level possible!

Today, we are going to watch each others' Passion Project videos and read their KWHLAQ Charts and Reflections. We are going to do so with a critical eye - one that looks for things that could be improved. We aren't going to act judgmental where we sound like we know everything and others know nothing. We won't put anyone down or make anyone feel stupid. We are going to identify areas where our peers can improve to help them be the best that they can be. We will call our critical feedback, "Quality Boosters," because our goal will be to boost the quality of each others' Passion Projects!

How can we innovate the way we give and receive feedback in our classrooms? Both as a teacher and as students? Paul's class is leading the way in not only passion time, but also two key areas for development: self-reflection and peer feedback.

Last year more than 30 countries on 6 different continents were represented as well as more than 144,000 students in the " Global Read Aloud". Pernille's idea of having students across the globe reading the same book has come to reality in ways hard to believe. Yet, the innovation in her classroom doesn't stop with the GRA. I've been looking at Pernille's blog as a go-to resource for teachers looking to "assess without grades" at the elementary level. She has a great resource put together for " limited grades" you should check out, and the idea is explained here:

How we run our classrooms directly affect how students feel about themselves. How they feel about their own capabilities and their own intelligence. I fail all the time in front my kids, not on purpose, I try stuff and it doesn't work and we talk about it. And yet, I am not perfect either. I catch myself in using practice problems as assessment, where really they should be viewed just as practice. I praise the kids that get it right and sometimes don't praise the ones that kept persisting but never reach a correct answer. I don't alway have enough time to explore all of the options so I guide the kids toward success knowing that some venues will lead them to failure. I shield them from it sometimes because I don't want to crush their spirits.

We have to stand up for our children and we have to turn this notion around that failure is the worst thing that can happen. Failure is not the worst; not trying is. We have to keep our kids believing in themselves and having enough confidence to try something. If we don't we are raising kids that follow all of the rules, that never take risks, that never discover something new. And that failure is too big to remedy.

I urge you to look at the grading process and see what can be changed to allow for failure as a risk worth taking. I know my teaching practice changed forever when I gave a project that had no grade assigned to it.

Bill Selak has taught Elementary music and kindergarten, but currently works as a second grade teacher. As I've seen my own daughter become more interested in music, I've taken a closer look at the "eduawesome" work Bill has been doing in his school. Bill is consistently using Video and Music to innovate. Two quick examples that made my head spin:

Did you know how easy it is to Create Interactive YouTube Videos? Bill breaks it down in this post and explains how it can be used in the classroom:

Videos are traditionally linear and directive. In the classroom, videos are designed to either dispense information or teach the viewer a new skill. However, great lessons are rarely passive. Using the annotations feature in YouTube, teachers can create videos that require participation. At its most basic, students are given four choices, and they select the correct answer. If an incorrect choice is made, students watch a new video that reteaches the concept. If the correct choice is made, the initial video links a new video that shows the next step, or the next problem. Going deeper, the first video can link to several choices, and each of those choices can link to several choices.

His recent session on " Songwriting Across the Curriculum " also caught my attention as a smart way to teach difficult concepts and break it down for students. I've done this in my own classroom, creating a "Literary Device Rap Song" with teachers on our 8th grade team...and that video is still played to this day!

Victoria is a " Tech Teacher on a Mission" but as I've been following her blog for ideas I've seen innovation pop up in many more areas than just technology. She recently wrote a post on " Student Governance " and how something as trivial as a class meeting, can really lead to innovative practice:

The concept is simple: a class meeting. That's it. Seemingly, it's nothing groundbreaking. But, like anything, it's all about how you frame the learning that makes it so powerful.

As an aside, I purposefully set up a lot of unfair and unstructured environments in my classroom that allow students to design the rulings within the space. For example, the job chart is a hot mess of disorganization in September, there is no set regulations on turn-taking in our classroom comfortable reading space, and there is certainly no order as to who gets the high honour of turning off the lights when we leave the classroom. These are things that are very important in the eyes of my students as they can cause social duress... Small people, small fights.

So I use Class Meeting as a place for my students to govern their own school experience. The activity is designed to allow them to make rules within the classroom to help it run more effectively. These can include regulations that may positively impact their safety, learning, or social experience. My students run the Class Meeting session completely from start to finish. I model this at the beginning of the school year by using a loose framework of Robert's Rules of Order.

The best part about this type of meeting is the ownership students have in their classroom. Are we giving students enough ownership of their own learning...and learning space? Think about some ways we can involve them in this process.

Joe Mazza - Former Elementary Principal/Current K-12 Director of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership

Joe's work as an Elementary Principal has always resonated with me. Partially because he works at a neighboring school district, and also because it makes so much sense. Edcamp has grown to new heights in the past few years, as this grassroots movement of educators joining together for professional development on their own time has become a key part of moving our practice forward.

As an Elementary Principal, Joe was part of a group that brought the idea and philosophy behind Edcamp to our parents:

The ParentCamp experience, by design, is a hybrid "un-conference" opportunity for parents and teachers to come together and model the four core beliefs highlighted in Beyond the Bakesale. The experience levels the playing field, putting all stakeholders in a circle for actual, face-to-face discussion about what is best for kids. It's important to understand the difference between a traditional conference and the un-conference feel we worked to bring to ParentCamp.

On Saturday, April 27, 2013, @KnappElementary hosted the first Parent Camp "unconference" for parents and educators. It's called an unconference because the event relies upon the expertise and perspective of the entire room, not just the main presenter like the typical stand and deliver conference. Every adult within the session brings an important and unique perspective to contribute to sharing strategies and ideas to benefit student learning, teaching and parenting.

What new ways can we involve parents in the teaching and learning process? How can we use their voice and input, and value their contributions?

What Next?

It's been amazing to see how elementary teachers in my school district are innovating in their classrooms. As I begin to work more with these teachers in the next year I'm excited to share what I've learned from other teachers around the world.

There are many elementary teachers, leaders, and learners who are innovative right now in education. And there are many who have changed education through their work in the past. As someone who is constantly looking for new ways to reach our students, I urge you to share what you are doing in your classroom and school online. Are you or someone you know innovating at the Elementary level? If so, please add it to the comments so we can all learn together.

Photo Credit: johngirton.me via Compfight cc

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What Innovation Looks Like in an Elementary School

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To be honest, I was lost. Elementary teaching was something so new to me when I took a job last year as a K-12 Technology Staff Developer. And still to this day, I don't feel completely comfortable helping elementary teachers as much as I do middle and high school teachers.

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Sam Khan's video about creating a flipped classroom environment. Love his powerful words about innovation and flipping the classroom!

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Sal Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

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Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

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Freedom to fail is so important, and something that is hard for me to teach my own children.

http://empireone.com.au/tips-harness-innovation/

I like this graphic, and I like that it encourages all ideas to be taken and recorded. They may not all get expored further, but everyone's contributions are important.

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I loved this article that a fellow teacher posted on social media a few days back about how to help learners have a growth mindset about math: https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/11/30/not-a-math-person-how-to-remove-obstacles-to-learning-math/

-Renee

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What kids can learn from Famous Inventor--- the benefits of kids learning from others making mistakes---Beth Parker

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What kids can learn from Famous Inventor--- the benefits of kids learning from others making mistakes---Beth Parker

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https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/04/01/10-ways-to-teach-innovation/

Here are some tips on how teachers and students can be innovators in the classroom. - Jenna

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Flipping your classroom aids in innovation and gives students more time to focus on things that are interesting and motivating to them!  It also compels learners to seek information independently!
https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-323260080/flipping-your-classroom-in-one-take

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What You Need to Be an Innovative Educator

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-you-need-innovative-educator-terry-heick

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Foster a culture of successful innovation by empathizing with fellow educators who are uncomfortable with risk, modeling a growth mindset, and celebrating effort as well as success.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/discomfort-growth-and-innovation-alyssa-tormala

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Great ideas to promote creativity in your classroom!

http://www.fusionyearbooks.com/blog/creative-classrooms/

Brett

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Problem finding and problem solving.  Helping learners to take ownership of their learning.

http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/2015/01/how-to-empower-students-to-take-ownership-of-their-learning.html

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Encourage teachers and students to create collaborative communities of learners that are networked inside and outside the school.  Promote teams while giving all learners time to reflect on what they are learning. - Logan
https://rryshke.blog/2012/02/26/what-schools-can-do-to-encourage-innovation/

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I loved the question on page 179, "How are you actively sharing your learning with your school and global community?" Having not only an open culture in our school but also globally will provide endless opportunities for our kiddos. Twitter has some awesome connections with KidBlog of teachers all over looking for classes to connect with. What a great way to continue the process of innovation.

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Short video about changing your mindset- Heather

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Short video about changing your mindset- Heather

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https://youtu.be/zkFVkI0g85o

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Great ways to empower your learners by having interest based genius hour.
-katy
http://www.poetprints.ca/2016/08/genius-hour-in-elementary.html

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Having the freedom to fail is important to innovation.

http://inservice.ascd.org/promoting-innovation-in-the-creative-classroom/

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Great visual to remind ourselves as educators of the steps of innovation and what we need to build into our lessons so that learners have the opportunities to be innovative. Anne

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An innovative teacher utilizes positive relationships with her learners.  Julie M.

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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.

Create a positive classroom climate

Be sure to allow time for your students to link the concepts and skills they are learning to their own experiences. Build fun into the things you do in your classroom. Plan activities that create a sense of community so that your students have an opportunity to see the connections between what they already know and the new things they are learning, as well as have the time to enjoy being with you and the other students. 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.

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.

Several research briefs and blogs about teacher-student relationships and social emotional learning in pre-K, elementary and secondary grades:

Allen, K. P. (2010). Classroom management, bullying, and teacher practices. The Professional Educator, 34(1), 1-15.

Allen, J., Gregory, A., Mikami, A., Lun, J., Hamre, B., & Pianta, R. (2013). Observations of effective teacher-student interactions in secondary classrooms: Predicting student achievement with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System - Secondary. School Psychology Review, 42 (1), 76-98.

Allensworth, E. M., & Easton, J. Q. (2007). What matters for staying on-track and graduation in Chicago public high schools. Consortium of Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. Retrieved from https://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/07%20What%20Matters%20Final.pdf

Ang, R. P. (2005). Development and validation of the teacher-student relationship inventory using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The Journal of Experimental Education, 71(1), 55-74.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Baker, J. A. (2006). Contributions of teacher-child relationships to positive school adjustment during elementary school. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 211-229.

Battistich, V., Schaps, E., & Wilson, N. (2004). Effects of an elementary school intervention on students' "connectedness" to school and social adjustment during middle school. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 24(3), 243-262.

Berry, D., & O'Connor, E. (2009). Behavioral risk, teacher-child relationships, and social skill development across middle childhood: A child-by-environment analysis of change. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31(1), 1-14.

Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1997). The teacher-child relationship and early school adjustment. Journal of School Psychology, 55(1), 61-79.

Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1998). Children's interpersonal behaviors and the teacher-child relationship. Developmental Psychology, 34(5), 934-946.

Borman, G. & Overman, L. (2004). Academic resilience in mathematics among poor and minority students. Elementary School Journal, 104(3), 177-195.

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Volume 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.

Brown, J. L., Jones, S., LaRusso, M. D., & Aber, J. L. (2010). Improving classroom quality: Teacher influences and experimental impacts of the 4Rs program. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 153-167.

Bryk, A. S., Sebring, P. B., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S., & Easton, J. Q. (2010). Organizing schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Cassidy, J. & Asher, S.R. (1992). Loneliness and peer relations in young children. Child Development, 63, 350-365.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2010). Effects of a multiyear social-emotional learning program: The role of student and school characteristics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 156-168.

Croninger, R. G., & Lee, V. E. (2001). Social capital and dropping out of high school: Benefits to at-risk students of teachers' support and guidance. Teacher College Record, 103(4), 548-581.

Curby, T. W., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Konold, T. R., Pianta, R. C., Howes, C., Burchinal, M., Bryant, D., ...Barbarin, O. (2009). The relations of observed pre-k classroom quality profiles to children's achievement and social competence. Early Education and Development, 20(2), 1556-6935.

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Improving students' relationships with teachers

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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.

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Great article on how to get started if you are feeling overwhelmed!  --Lori V.

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If our data is correct, you're probably a teacher.

And if you're a teacher, you're probably interested in innovation in the classroom, so let's start there -- with project-based learning, for example.

Project-based learning is an example of innovation, but probably not the way you'd expect. While learning through projects is indeed innovative compared to sit-and-get, drill-and-kill, teacher-led and textbook-sourced instruction, PBL's primary innovation is probably its flexibility. There's almost no other learning trend or innovation than can not only co-exist with PBL, but also fit seamlessly and entirely within it.

PBL promotes innovation in education by making room for it.

But creating that innovation -- what does that require? What kinds of ingredients can you put into the tin, shake up, and end up with innovation?

1. Sense of Priority

First and foremost, there needs to be a sense of priority. What's most important? What must the students learn? What must we use? What must we achieve?

And note that priority here doesn't mean "rhetorical hyperbole." Real priority requires a kind of honesty that can look at a giant list of academic standards and say, "Yeah, but . . ."

Innovation requires that kind of honesty, the kind of priority that allows your team of teachers or students to see what's most important in any given circumstance, and cultivate what's necessary from there.

2. Selflessness

Selflessness is also a factor when trying to innovate. Innovation is not carrying a single idea to a predetermined destination. At some point, innovation must be inclusive. While creativity certainly needs quiet reflection and independent thought, anything done from start to finish in isolation depends on a kind of genius -- or at least inspired cleverness -- to succeed.

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

By serving a greater cause and removing your sense of self from a situation, you greatly increase the chances of a truly innovative end result.

3. Time and Energy

It goes without saying that to be innovative, you're going to need stuff. The most tempting resources typically sought for innovation are money and permission. Ironically, these are two of the least critical resources.

What you will need to innovate in education is time, and the boundless energy of a second-grader hopped up on Mountain Dew.

4. Models

Exemplar models can stifle innovation by suggesting a path that you didn't need suggested. There is a time and a place for models, and it depends on the circumstance when you'll need yours. But by looking at existing models -- cool stuff that has been accomplished by others before you -- you'll have an idea of what's possible. And of what you might be missing.

5. Willingness to Take Risks

A lot of people say they want to be innovative, to "take risks."

To have what we've never had, we have to do what's never been done -- and 47 other cliché quotes that show up in educator signatures everywhere.

But a real willingness to take risks means being prepared for failure. And failure might come in the form of lost funding, an article written about you in the local newspaper mentioning a "project gone bad," unflattering data, and a million other possible outcomes.

Being willing to take a risk shouldn't empower you to implement wrong-headed, half-baked ideas under the guise of an "innovative spirit," but you should be prepared to fail. Which is fine, because education's been failing long before you got here.

6. Trust

While you don't always need green lights, district "buy-in" or outright permission, you do need trust, and that starts from the students backward. They're your most vocal critics and your most critical audience.

It will be in their curious, intellectually playful demeanors and long-term academic performance that you'll see the end result of any given innovation. (If not, what's the point?) But students -- of any age -- are incredibly good at sniffing out a rat. If something is murky, sterile, boring, stifling, cliché or downright clunky, they'll let you know.

The trust of administrators, colleagues and parents certainly matters. You can lose your job or professional standing without it. But without trust from students, you're just a well-dressed, silly person with your name on the placard by the door.

And the innovation will never come.

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What You Need to Be an Innovative Educator | Edutopia

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If our data is correct, you're probably a teacher. And if you're a teacher, you're probably interested in innovation in the classroom, so let's start there -- with project-based learning, for example. Project-based learning is an example of innovation, but probably not the way you'd expect.

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CANDACE.             Building Empathy in the Classroom with Design thinking. We get asked a lot WHY we do new things or embrace new concepts this article gives a great reason for embracing design thinking.  

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CANDACE.             Building Empathy in the Classroom with Design thinking. We get asked a lot WHY we do new things or embrace new concepts this article gives a great reason for embracing design thinking.  

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https://www.edutopia.org/blog/design-thinking-empathy-challenge-discovery-sharing-susie-wise

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A great way to engage learners and empower them. Quirky.com

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One of the resources that I have the kids use to prime their pumps for innovative thinking is Quirky.com. Quirky basically has three tabs in its menu bar that say it all: Invent, Influence, and Shop. You can submit an invention, shop for inventions, and the coolest part of all, give input to influence the decisions an inventor makes as they move along their timeline toward final production. Finding Quirky was like finding a Mecca of meaningfulness. It's a real-world example of collaboration between people looking to solve a problem.

Students love to talk and give their opinions. Therefore, it's vital to leverage their nature in every subject area. For this reason, I reached out to Quirky, not just as a model for my students to explore, but to learn more closely how collaboration feeds their innovation.

Real-World Collaboration

We use collaboration in classrooms for students to grow in their ability to communicate. We also use it because what results is greater than having worked in isolation. Quirky agrees.

Edutopia: Why is discussion so important in science/STEM classrooms?

Quirky: We believe that collaboration and learning from one's peers are essential to innovation and learning. We collaborate with community members online, and community members collaborate with each other on their ideas. All of this incorporates discussion in writing, in person, and over the phone or through video conferencing. As individuals, we learn the most from our peers and counterparts. Being able to ask questions, bounce ideas off one another, and receive feedback are fundamental to the learning process. They ultimately help us grasp complex concepts much faster than we could if we were simply being lectured to, taking tests, and doing homework.
(In my own classroom, my middle school students form learning groups that create Team Charters or Collaboration Contracts that give guidance in how often they will meet and in what methods. The students meet via Google Hangout or Skype. Some agree to answer emails within 24 hours. Others agree to meet face-to-face after school. The key with student feedback groups is to have them set expectations of each other ahead of time. -- Heather)
How does Quirky leverage collaboration among its stakeholders?

Inventors submit their ideas to Quirky; Quirky community members influence their ideas through researching, voting, and commenting. These influencers help Quirky staff develop the idea into a real product through contributing in market, design, pricing, and branding.
(My own twist on this process was to have my students send each other Google Forms that asked for peer feedback regarding the name of the product, the price point, the slogan, and the level of need. -- Heather)
What social media outlets are most often used by the invention community?

Twitter and Facebook are heavily used by our community to form sub-communities and share their ideas. Pinterest is also used for sharing products and ideas.
(In fact, a number of my students also asked if they could start Facebook pages or Tumblr accounts to help get feedback from other students. In the end, we all created webpages that were used to promote our mythical products. -- Heather)
Getting Students Started

They assure me that a student doesn't have to know engineering to be inventive, but the Quirky folks did have advice on getting started in what I'm calling their atmosphere of collaborative innovation.

1. Start with a Problem

Make sure that problem is something you experience every day but is not limited to you or your immediate family (the best problems are widely felt).

I had my students tour their homes and classrooms looking for inspiration. I had them create a bulleted list of irksome problems for each room. This list ended up reflecting a whole day's worth of puzzles that a student can tackle.

2. Brainstorm as Many Solutions as You Can

Don't worry about how silly or out-there they are. Use research to come up with the solution that best solves the problem and that you are most capable of making.

Have students doodle, flip through books, look at Rube Goldberg pictures. Give them exposure to the innovative thinking around them. From there, my students wrote a problem statement that helped them frame their ideas in more formal writing.

3. Design That Solution

Sketch out your solution so that you have an idea of what it will look like. Prototype your solution so that you can test it in action. TinkerCAD and 123D Design are simple 3D modeling programs that inventors of all ages can use to convey their invention. Digital sketching programs such as Paper and Sketchbook are great if you aren't quite ready to build your own 3D models.

4. Collaborate and Get Feedback from Others

Create and share your elevator pitch to gather feedback. Use feedback to refine your solution.

My eighth grade students wrote elevator speeches like this one:

I have invented something called The Smart Drawer. It is very efficient and will solve all the problems that today's society has with drawers. Whether you struggle with a disability or simply have your hands full, our Smart Drawer application will help. A sensor on our drawers reads a corresponding sensor on a floor pad that will make it open instantly when you stand on it. The Smart Drawer can even tell you when you have too many items or clothes in it to shut properly. Here's my card should you wish to reach me!

5. Present and Promote Your Creation

Inventors can create their own blogs to promote their inventions, work with assistance programs such as Dragon Innovation in Boston, or share them with online communities such as Thingiverse, Instructables, and Behance.

My students created websites using Weebly, Wix, eMaze, and Google Sites. Their pages informed and argued using text, data, description, and original 3D designs. We even wrote reviews of our products mimicking those we saw for household items on Amazon.

Making Classroom Invention Authentic

I often wonder how to involve authentic audiences in the end of my project-based learning units. What happens at the end of their learning story? Have they convinced their board of education to allow for this? Have they raised the money to buy that?

When tackling an invention unit, there are great opportunities to showcase student work to an audience greater than yourself. To begin with, your school can host an Invention Convention. Invite local STEM professionals to help evaluate the products. Submit to Quirky or to the Scholastic Klutz contest.

The goal, says Quirky, is to "make invention accessible, both by providing a means to turn invention ideas into real products and by educating aspiring inventors on the fundamentals of product development." Product development uses all the core subjects, but it begins with teachers willing to create their own atmosphere of collaborative innovation.
Editor's Note: If you want to learn more day-to-day details about Heather's Invention Unit, check out her book, DIY Project Based Learning for Math and Science, due out in fall. In the meantime, check out Quirky for their soon-to-be-released curriculum guides.

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Collaboration: Key to Innovation | Edutopia

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One of the resources that I have the kids use to prime their pumps for innovative thinking is Quirky.com. Quirky basically has three tabs in its menu bar that say it all: Invent, Influence, and Shop.

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Great video how technology help learners master their progress - Marie

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Great video how technology help learners master their progress - Marie

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Reimagining Learning: Richard Culatta at TEDxBeaconStreet

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It's all about GRIT....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkoe1e2KZJs

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Video about the Innovator's Mindset from Galileo,

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At Galileo, everything we do reinforces an aspect of the Innovator's Mindset. What does it mean to be visionary, courageous, collaborative, determined, and reflective? Hear some examples straight from our staff.

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Link to George's blog in case you want to see more of his ideas or presentations on innovation and learning! - Angie

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George is currently an Innovative Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Consultant and speaker. He is the author of " The Innovator's Mindset" and " Innovate Inside the Box " and have over 20 years of experience as an educator, in a myriad of roles from K-12.

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Great video about inquiry and innovation! - Angie

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Student Led Conferences Empowerment and Ownership

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Instructional Coaching Seeding District Wide Innovation

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Inquiry Based Learning  Developing Student Driven Questions

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Wildwood IB World Magnet School uses the inquiry-based model to put students in charge of their learning, with lessons that stem from student questions and harness the power of curiosity.