Building Relationships in the First Weeks of School

Teach Better TeamBlog, Connect Better, Engage Better, Lead Better, Manage Better

TL;DR

  • Strong relationships in the classroom are the foundation for a successful school year.
  • Be intentional with the activities you choose and be willing to be vulnerable with your students.
  • It is important to scaffold relationship building with students.

I believe that I am an outstanding teacher because I work hard every day to build relationships with my students to help them become better. My goal is that after the first couple of weeks of school, every student knows that we are a family and that I am 100% there to support them on their journey to academic success and growth as a person.

To achieve that goal, I start off the school year with a Relationship Grid. (Note: If you don’t know about The Grid Method, please stop what you are doing and check out this free course offered by the Teach Better Team to learn about this powerful teaching tool. Then come back and finish reading this blog!)

The Relationship Grid serves two purposes. One, it teaches my students how a grid works without throwing in the stress of learning science content so they can focus on the structure and purpose of the grid. And two, it takes my students through different types of relationships that they will need to develop in order to support their social-emotional growth.

My goal is that after the first couple of weeks of school, every student knows that we are a family and that I am 100% there to support them on their journey to academic success and growth as a person. Click To Tweet

Building Relationships – Part 1: Student-Teacher Relationship

The first part of this grid focuses on the student-teacher relationship. I begin the first day telling my students that everything on display in the classroom is a reflection of a part of me and can therefore help them get to know me a little bit better. Their goal is to make observations and then infer something about me as a person. The last thing they do that day is come up with at least two questions they want to ask me based on their observations and inferences.

Over the next few days, I make sure to answer all of their questions. This leads to great conversation (and some laughs!) over whose inferences were right or wrong, discovering what they have in common with me, or going into more detail because my answers led to more questions. I love this as an introductory activity because not only are my students getting to know me in a fun and interactive way, but they are also learning what a scientist does—observes, infers, and asks questions!

Building Relationships – Part 2: Student-Peer Relationship

The Relationship Grid then looks at student-peer relationships. This is where they will do things like Classmate BINGO and Partner Venn diagrams, to name a few. In Classmate BINGO there always seems to be that one category where only one person in the class fits and everyone scrambles to get to know their name! The Partner Venn diagram requires students to present their diagrams to the class using their partner’s name.

For example, “My favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry, but Mark’s favorite flavor is rocky road.” Then Mark would take his turn and say, “My favorite sport is basketball, but Alice’s favorite sport is football.” It is so powerful to give every student a chance to speak and hear their name spoken by a classmate.

Building Relationships – Part 3: Communication in Relationships

The third part of the Relationship Grid explores the value of communication in relationships (student-student and student-teacher). Activities at this stage focus on different design challenges to be completed with limitations on how they can communicate. We follow up with class discussion to analyze where the breakdown took place and how it could be fixed. These scenarios/challenges are then related to real-world situations where students identify a time when they had a breakdown in communication in one of their relationships.

[scroll down to keep reading]  

Building Relationships – Part 4: Relationship with Yourself

At this point, students are beginning to feel pretty comfortable with one another, so we move onto a deeper type of relationship. This section provides the opportunity for students to look at the relationships that they have with themselves. Metacognitive activities are the focus here. How are they setting themselves up for success in school, with activities outside of the classroom, with their families, etc.?

Because we have spent so much time establishing a safe space in the classroom, students are ready to push themselves outside of their comfort zones. This is where I really learn about my students—what are their struggles, strengths, weaknesses, academic history, goals, aspirations? And how I can help to set them up for success in the coming year.

Building Relationships – Part 5: Strengthening Relationships

Then we arrive at the last section of the Relationship Grid. Students have built a relationship with me, with each other, and with themselves. Now it is time for them to think about a relationship outside of the classroom that they want to strengthen this year. Who will it be with? Is it a new relationship? A relationship that is broken and needs to be nurtured? Is it with a teacher, friend, family member, or themselves? What are the benefits that both parties will get out of strengthening this relationship?

This is just a glimpse of what happens during the first two weeks. Hopefully, you can see just how much all stakeholders gain from this experience. If you have strategies you use to build relationships with your students, please feel free to share them with me. Let’s collaborate to do better!

About Holly Stuart

Holly Stuart is an 8th grade science and design teacher in South Carolina. Her educational passions include finding new and innovative ways to get more students interested in STEAM, student-inspired discovery through inquiry, and learning science by doing science.

In addition to her out-of-the-box thinking in the classroom, she has successfully implemented The Grid Method into her teaching practice which led to her becoming a Teach Better Team Ambassador. Holly is married to her high school sweetheart and is a mother to three children.

When not teaching, she enjoys traveling and being outside with her family. Some of their favorite outdoor activities include hiking, running, and biking. (Holly often brings her telescope, binoculars, and microscopes with her on hikes!) Her indoor hobbies include reading, coloring, and learning more about sketchnoting and drawing.