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Simple things can make a significant difference in our classroom environments, yet we should be intentional about them. Every year we should strive to make it the best year students have, and if we all did this, school would only progressively get better for our students.

Below are some really simple ideas that can help shape an amazing year for your students.

1. Greet kids at the door. - There is a massive difference between walking into a room and being welcomed than seeing a teacher sitting at their desk prepping for the day. This sets the tone for the entire day and reminds kids that we are privileged to have them show up each and every day.

2. Play music to liven up the day. - This might be something that I am a little biased on, but the environment of a room that I walk into that has lively music playing, as opposed to one that is quiet reminds me of warming up for a game as an athlete. Music can often bring a smile to people entering the room and is just an awesome way to start the day.

3. Go out of your way to make your first interactions positive. - At some point, kids make mistakes. As a principal, I would go out of my way to connect with kids, before they were sent my way. A student that knows they are valued will make the tough conversations a lot easier later on. This time spent is an investment in the child, not an expenditure.

4. Call parents early...Make sure they know you care about their kid. - I learned this awesome tip from a former secretary at my school. It is an awesome call (and far too often surprising) when parents hear from their child's teacher and the conversation is ONLY a positive one. This is a definite investment in an emotional bank account, and lets parents know that you genuinely care about their child.

5. Have ideas what you are going to do, but always tailor it to the students in front of you. - Be flexible. What you did last year might not work this year because these are different kids. Don't over-plan; ask questions and learn about your students.

6. Design the classroom with your students. - We spend so much time decorating the classroom before students show up, and then we call it "our room". Something as simple as decorating the classroom together, not only gives students ownership of the space, but it also helps to show that you care about their opinions (while also saving you a ton of time!).

7. Find out the passions of each student and tap into them. - One of the best way to work with people is by finding out what they love and tapping into it. The teachers that spent time finding out my passions, made me feel like they had a genuine interest in who I was and what I loved.

8. Find out their dreams, and try to help them move closer to those goals. - We spend a lot of time thinking about where we want students to be, and not enough time asking where they want to go. Success is deeply personal and if we know students' goals and dreams for both in and out of the classroom, and help them work towards achieving them, our impact will last long after their time under our care.

9. Have them ask questions every single day, and help them find those answers. - As stated in "The Innovator's Mindset", if a child leaves schools less curious than when they started, we have failed them. Let's ensure that we encourage our students, through different endeavours, find the answers to the questions they pose and are curious about, not just what we are expected to teach.

10. Love them.- This might sound a little lame, but teaching is a tough job. So is being a kid. There are so many things that kids deal with while growing up, that they just need to know that someone cares about them. Go out of your way to show that enthusiasm for them as people, not just who they are as students.

I would love to know the "little things" that you do in your classrooms to make a big impact. No matter when you are starting your year, I hope it is a great one!

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10 Easy Ways To Create an Amazing #ClassroomCulture This Year

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Simple things can make a significant difference in our classroom environments, yet we should be intentional about them. Every year we should strive to make it the best year students have, and if we all did this, school would only progressively get better for our students.

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What strategies can we use to ensure that EVERY student feels valued contributing to the learning process?

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What are the little things that a teacher can do to help you feel welcome in their classroom?

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Listen to my interview with Jim Sturtevant (transcript):
[This post contains Amazon Affiliate links; if you make a purchase from Amazon after going there through my links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks.]

I'll never forget what one of my college professors told me when I was studying to become a teacher. She said the number one factor in our effectiveness as teachers would be the relationships we built with our students. She felt so strongly about this that she paused, looked around so she could make eye contact with every person in the room, then repeated it: "More important than anything else you do as a teacher is the relationship you build with your students."

I kind of didn't believe her. I mean, I understood what she meant in theory, but I was pretty sure that planning interesting lessons and having a clear set of classroom guidelines were at least as important as "relationships." I appeared to be listening attentively, but inside, I thought she was a little off the mark.

That was before I started teaching. Now I agree with her 100 percent. And even before I started reading James Sturtevant's book, You've Gotta Connect - just skimming the table of contents - I knew I had found a kindred spirit, someone who believed the same as me and my college professor, that the relationships you build with your students are the key to working wonders in your classroom.
You've Gotta Connect: Building Relationships That Lead to Engaged Students, Productive Classrooms, and Higher Achievement
by James Sturtevant, 278 pages, Incentive Publications, March 2014
And the book definitely lived up to the promises made by that quick preview. You've Gotta Connect is full of practical, actionable advice and loaded with tools to strengthen the quality of your connection with students.

Although I recommend you read the whole book, here are a few take-away lessons from the book that can improve the way you connect with students right now:

1. Drop the nostalgia. One big barrier to connecting with students is our nostalgia for the past, the way we constantly compare our current students with the (better) ones we used to teach. "Do you remember earlier teaching years when parents were more involved and students were less hostile? Do you wish you were in that other school where you taught before - where you had fewer discipline problems and struggled with fewer slackers? Do you pine for last year when you got through all the material with students who behaved pretty well and seemed to enjoy learning? I don't know any teacher who does not have bouts of nostalgia. But hear me now: you've gotta let go of it! This nostalgia interferes with connection to present students. It keeps you from seeing THESE students - their needs and gifts" (52).

2. Tell your own stories. When you share parts of your own personal life with students, they get more comfortable sharing their own, and this is how connections are made. "Try to tell some sort of a personal story about once a week. It doesn't have to be long. It does not have to be earth shattering. When you get a lot of feedback or stories of their own, you know you have struck gold!" (202).

3. Learn their culture. Students live in a very different world than the one we lived in at their age. "You are, by definition, not 'one of them.' You don't need to and should not be 'one of them.' If you want to connect to them, however, they must immediately sense that you value them" (81). Sturtevant urges us to learn about students' musical tastes, the movies and T.V. shows they're into, and the slang terms they use. "These actions show you care enough to pay attention to their world, even if it pulls you a bit out of your comfort zone to do so" (86).

4. Keep prying. Keep persisting. Be patient. With students who are slower to warm up, we need to put our egos aside and just keep trying. "Gentle, focused nudging of a reluctant student toward being comfortable enough to open up a bit" is what will ultimately get you there, but don't rush it: "Be cool! You have time, perhaps all year. The goal is to have a strong relationship as soon as possible, but accept that it may not happen until late in the game" (88-89).

5. Run toward trouble. Connecting with students isn't just about smiles and funny stories. "Troubled times are the best times for connection," Sturtevant writes (226). "Be on the lookout for difficult times, blowups, setbacks, failures, hurt, and disappointments," resolve problems in a constructive, respectful way, and your connection to those students will be stronger.

You'll get a lot of insight by reading You've Gotta Connect on your own, but it would also make an excellent book for group study. Sturtevant has included dozens of hands-on tools you can use to develop and examine your own practice, like the "Environment Stealth Check" worksheet, which asks you to sit in your teacher's lounge and tally up the number of positive comments you hear about students versus the number of negative comments you hear, or the "Anatomy of a Conflict" worksheet, where you break down the components of past conflicts and get a clearer understanding of how you might have handled them better. These reproducible tools help you take the theories and ideas Sturtevant presents and apply them to your own teaching.

I also had the privilege of interviewing James Sturtevant for my podcast. In our conversation, he talks about how to deal with students who resist his attempts to connect, what it looks like when he has to reprimand a student, the research that shows the connection between teacher-student relationship and learning, and how people who aren't naturally extroverted can still build strong relationships with their students.

You can listen to the interview using the player above. A full transcript is also available if you aren't able to listen, but James is a pretty entertaining guy to listen to, so it's worth the time if you can make it happen.

James Sturtevant teaches social studies at Big Walnut High School in Sunbury, Ohio. You can find him at his website (his latest post is on reverse engineering your connection with students) or on Twitter at @jamessturtevant.

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Are You Really Connecting with Your Students?

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James Sturtevant's book, You've Gotta Connect, is full of practical, actionable advice and tools to strengthen the quality of your connection with students.

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What kinds of things do you already do to build positive classroom culture?

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3 Ways to Make Meaningful Connections With Your Students

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Edutopia blogger Nick Provenzano believes there’s more to teaching than dispensing curriculum, and he shares three practices that lead students and their families to trust him on a personal level.