1.

A teacher builds positive and productive relationships with students,

parents/guardians, peers and others in the school and local community to support
student learning.

Achievement of this competency is demonstrated by indicators such as:

(a) acting consistently with fairness, respect and integrity;
(b) demonstrating empathy and genuine caring for others;
(c) providing culturally appropriate and meaningful opportunities for students and for
parents/guardians, as partners in education, to support student learning;

Without a relationship with students there is no way to effectively engage individuals

within the classroom to learn. is no way to force students to learn but instead, it has to be an
open transaction where students are ready and willing to learn. The best thing a teacher can do
to help their students learn is to open the child up to the possibility of learning often created by
connections and relationships between the student and teacher. By creating a relationship with
students and taking time out of the day to listen to them a teacher will be able to better
understand the student. With this newfound understanding, a world of possibilities opens up to
create learning opportunities that the student will find personal and valuable. Like any mentor in
any profession, we learn best from those that we feel relate to us and are “on the same team.”
Students can often feel isolated especially around the middle school age when they notice their
peers are different and start to believe the world is against them. Teachers are this controlling
body that manipulates and determines a large part of their day with what seems like to the
students no rhyme or reason. By developing a relationship early on and being transparent with
students they will be more trusting of you and there will be less conflict and struggles as the
year goes on.
Within the 6/7 classroom, we begin each day with conversation asking some students
what they did last night and greeting them as they come in the door. This begins the day off right
away with developing a connection and allows for a quick chance to check-in with students that
might get lost throughout the day. There is a lot of time built into the day to make connections
with students if a teacher makes relationships a priority. The school is quite small and students
will get to know or even be taught by teachers multiple years allowing for a close-knit
community. The students are better learners for it! I came into the school as a new adult and
found the students very open to developing a relationship with me as it was the normal thing for
their school. It also helped that I grew up in the area and had similar ag-based and
extracurricular interests as many of the students. I am fortunate enough that with only 50%
days I get to spend time in more classrooms and extra time with students playing games like
basketball during recess. The students that are the most challenging during class are the same
ones that are first to come play games with me and want to talk after the school day is done.
The connections and understandings of students allow my classroom to be a more meaningful
learning environment that integrates their passions and skills while challenging them
academically.