bn-For Teachers: Attitude and relationship

21/01/2021

Ensure that students feel comfortable

In an online classroom, a relationship and attitude can build or break a student's experience. In this environment, the teacher and the student are foreigners in several ways. There is a difference between them physically and possibly culturally if the teacher and the students are from different countries. An effective attitude thus becomes the basis of relationships that encourage learning.

Nowadays, everyone from prominent psychologists to one person who "had a moment with his god" is promoting the positive effects of the positive approach. This issue will bring you even more than 50,000 accesses to books on Amazon. But how often do you think about the power of attitude and what does it really mean in your daily life?

This means that if you are pulling away from the green light for too long and the person from behind starts horning madly, you will have a bad day. Similarly, when your child throws his chocolate ice cream cone on the ground and shouts instead of crying, "Yes, ants can have a great day, too!", Your day (and whoever witnessed it) has brightened. In this sense, the approach is essential for your mood and results in general.

However, building a good relationship is not just brushing your teeth and showing them all during your online classes. A good relationship - the one that will make you smile without thinking about it - is based on a comprehensive approach to building relationships. What exactly is a comprehensive approach? Instead of letting you guess, we created an outline.

Broad but effective classroom relationship strategies include:

  • Use a warm and happy greeting. Don't forget to say hello, say the student's name if known (or ask them to introduce themselves if it's your first class together). You may even welcome them to class and take a spectacular tour of your online classroom.
  • Spend the first 10% of the class time building your relationship, conversating. For 25-minute classes, use first 1-2,5 minutes (no need to count seconds here), for 50-minute classes, spend about first 5 minutes; to build your relationship with the student. For example, talk about the student (don't always use the same question) - ask about their day, weekend, or about whatever connected to the lesson's vocabulary, and then ask follow-up questions. Share your experience and ideas, too - as in a normal conversation with a good friend. Love your students and be interested in them and in everything concerning them. They will love you back and will always keep you as their favourite teacher.
  • Use their name. Often. Saying the student's name during class can help you remember it and create a natural relationship.
  • Be on time and stay full time of the class - not only is this probably the right thing to do, but it will also help show students that you value your time with them.
  • Reward them for a job well done. Show them that you are excited about their learning. If you've already given one thumbs-up, give them two!
  • If you know the student or you can ask him or her about his / her interests, introduce it within the lesson. In general, children are always eager to share more with their favourite teachers. Linking lessons to their interests also supports student's learning.
  • Whether your class is 25 minutes or a 10-hour marathon, take the time to say goodbye. It helps to give a moment of thanks for a great class and to encourage students to look forward to the next one.
  • And of course, it doesn't hurt to smile!

When thinking about how to build a relationship in class, remember that it also increases the quality of your online teaching. You are in control of the class and your approach will be often copied by your students.