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Building relationships with students isn’t always simple, but it’s crucial to the well-being and academic growth of all students.
Part of the reason it’s not, in fact, ’simple’ is because every student is different and there are few universal rules for engaging students. In the same way connecting with colleagues and people in your personal life can be complicated because of different contexts, interests, personalities, and communication patterns, connecting and building relationships with students in the classroom can be equally challenging.
And a distinction should be made here between building a ‘working relationship’ and authentic relationship with students. Because of your position of authority in the classroom, a ‘working relationship’ with a students is a matter of ‘classroom management’ in pursuit of ‘student engagement.’ This approach can be efficient, but the clinical tone leaves a lot on the table for the growth of students.
If you are able to authenticate that ‘working relationship’ with genuine interest and personalization, more human and affectionate terms for that relationship can grow, resulting in the often-elusive ‘student engagement’ while also making your job—and life—easier, and your classroom a more enjoyable place for everyone to be.
Via John Evans, Dean J. Fusto
