I have been attending my elementary school as an intern for 10 weeks now. I have reflected on what I learned each week (FEAP 5e) using observation notes, videos, and blogs. I have successfully implemented what I learned in my coursework (FEAP 5f) into my second-grade classroom. There are some tasks I perform each day I am with the students, that do not seem to get as much acknowledgement, but are as vital as the more complicated ones. Greeting students when they come into the class and learning something about each one is a great example of those under-recognized tasks that deserves my full attention. It is my belief that doing so will promote a positive student-teacher relationship and facilitate bridging cultures in a classroom full of diverse students.
Formative Data
When I began my internship the very first week, I made it a point to memorize every student’s name. I did so by studying the seating chart I drew on a piece of paper. On the seating chart, I put the initials of each student. Throughout the day, I continued to write tidbits of information beneath each student’s name. One student could not stay still in her seat. She managed to take up a large portion of my paper with key words such as: hyper, sweet, distracted, tired, and inattentive. I was determined to get to know her better as the weeks progressed, which I did. I did not think that I would be able to do this for every child in the class, a total of 22 students. Somehow, I managed to build that relationship with every one of the students. I contribute this achievement to the fact that I purposely greeted and asked the students a personal question every morning I was in the classroom.
As the students trickled into the class, I would greet them by saying, “Good morning, ________”, It took me about 2 weeks to remember all their names, but I had it down packed by the third week. For those students who had difficult or hard-to-remember names, I would ask them who picked out their name when they were a baby and why. Students love to tell stories about themselves. Some students greeted me with hugs, others with high-fives, and others went straight to their seats. I allow the students to greet me in a way that makes them feel comfortable, to respect their cultural background (FEAP 2d). Some students may not feel comfortable hugging.
After the morning greeting, I visit each student individually and ask them questions about their week. Some would discuss family events; others would tell me about their accomplishments in school. On one occasion, a young girl looked sad. When I asked her about her week, she simply replied, “boring”. She obviously did not feel like sharing, so I did not push the issue. I looked at her shoes and told her that I had a pair just like them, and they were my favorite shoes. Immediately she started telling me that her mom took her to the mall for her birthday and let her pick out any pair of shoes she wanted. I could connect with her, and her mood lightened up throughout the rest of the day.
Lessons Learned
It’s not a difficult task to greet the students and learn something new about them. I feel like teachers may take that for granted sometimes. My CT does not. Even if she is busy making last minute changes to the lesson plan, or if she is hurriedly clipping papers together, she will greet each child as they walk in the door. I believe that is the reason the students love her so much. They are extremely willing to please her. I learned that something as simple as complimenting a student’s shoe, can initiate a conversation that will help build a lasting relationship with the student. I also learned that the same connections you make with a student to build community, can also be used to make connections in lessons, which will facilitate understanding.
Implications
Levin & Nolan (2014) believe that teachers who uphold a positive student-teacher relationship have high expectations and can hold students accountable for meeting those expectations (FEAP 2c). I share their belief. It is my goal to learn something new about every student daily. I believe it will help me become a more effective and caring teacher, while minimizing student discipline problems at the same time.
Levin, J., & Nolan, J. F. (2014). Principles of classroom management: A professional decision-making model, (7th Ed.). Boston: Pearson.