4. Promote teacher-student connectedness in the classroom.
One of the most interesting aspects of powerful teacher-student relationships is that they are forged by behavior and words as opposed to thoughts and feelings. Stated differently, it is not what a teacher feels or thinks about a particular student that forges a positive relationship with the student. Rather it is how the teacher speaks to and behaves that forges a positive relationship with the student.
Marzano & Pickering
Creating a strong teacher relationship based on trust is an essential practice that helps create a positive learning environment and may also contribute to reduce affective emotional anxiety. Affective emotional anxiety is explained by Willis (2012),
We know from brain scans of adolescents that when they are in states of affective emotional anxiety, and the amygdala is metabolically hyperactive, the pathways in the brain that normally conduct information in and out of the amygdala show greatly reduced activity. As a result, new information/learning is blocked from entering the memory banks by a metabolic blockade.
The following are some of the strategies that may promote teacher-student connectedness by,
We know from brain scans of adolescents that when they are in states of affective emotional anxiety, and the amygdala is metabolically hyperactive, the pathways in the brain that normally conduct information in and out of the amygdala show greatly reduced activity. As a result, new information/learning is blocked from entering the memory banks by a metabolic blockade.
The following are some of the strategies that may promote teacher-student connectedness by,
- Providing consistent classroom expectations and fair non-aggressive strategies to manage disciplinary processes;
- Designing instructional activities that are rigorous, engaging, differentiated, and meaningful;
- Creating opportunities for peer-tutoring and cooperative group work;
- Communicating positive messages to children and parents through notes, awards, phone calls, or e-mails home;
- Creating individualized learning goals for each student;
- Assuring that each child has an opportunity to be called on during class and/or participate through a unique collaboration such as designing a bulletin board or decorating work space;
- Role-playing ways to resolve conflicts, especially through content-based activities such as literature or social studies lessons;
- Establishing opportunities for cross-age interactions such as content-based tutoring, theater, and other arts programs, and library or study skills sessions; and
- Modeling warmth and kindness in the classroom. (Hardiman, 2012)
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT: White matter fibers HCP dataset corticospinal tract and temporal lobe. White matter fiber architecture from the Connectome Scanner dataset. The fibers are color-coded by direction: red = left-right, green = anterior-posterior, blue = ascending-descending (RGB=XYZ). www.humanconnectomeproject.org