Making A Positive Connection With Your Students

January 2003

Keep lecture time to a minimum: Lengthy (longer than 15 minutes at a stretch) lectures are invitations to students to mentally check out.

Move around the room constantly---do not lecture from one stop in the room: Students are more apt to stay with you if their eyes have to follow your movements.

Ask for constant feedback from the group: Make everything interactive.

Let the students "teacher" the lesson: Once a concept as been introduced, let students take turns being the teacher.

Use multiple learning styles: Let them sing the lesson, rap the lesson, move with rhythm while covering the material. Use multiple teaching strategies for the same material.

Be playful and have fun with them: There is nothing more engaging than humor. Let them have fun.

Talk to them as people, not just students: Use their names all the time in a positive fashion, not just to call them down for negative behavior.

Make all the material relevant to their daily lives. Keep reminding them about why they need to learn this---besides the fact that it will be on the test. Be sure you can answer the question---“why do children need to learn what I am teaching?” about everything you are teaching and keep reminding them. It will make it all more real to them. People naturally want to feel smart. They do not necessarily want to learn things that seem irrelevant to their lives. Keep reminding how learning this will make them smart.

Tell them what you like about them---do it often. Children want to learn from people they believe love them and like them, even when they are not perfect.