The document discusses establishing positive student relationships and their importance for student success. It summarizes research showing students with positive teacher relationships have higher grades and test scores. The document then provides a 5 step approach to building relationships: 1) warm greetings, 2) outlining daily tasks, 3) engaging instruction, 4) recapping lessons positively, and 5) reflecting on interactions. Additional tips include finding something positive to say to challenging students and maintaining a calm and respectful classroom environment.

1. Building Positive
Student Relationships
Improving Student Success
Tony Tipton
Pine Tree High School

2. The Research
 “…relationships…more powerful and less expensive
way to improve student’s success.”
 “…students with positive attachments to their
teachers and schools have higher grades and
higher standardized test scores.”
 “Secure teacher-student relationships predict
greater knowledge, higher test scores, academic
motivation and fewer retentions and spec ed
referrals.”
Science Daily – June 30, 2009

3. The Research
 “There is a directly proportional relationship
between teacher connection to students and
the likelihood the students will learn at a
higher level and accomplish quicker.”
California State University System, 2010

4. The Research
 “A significant body of research indicates that
academic achievement and student’s
behavior are influenced by the quality of the
teacher-student relationship.”
 “…73% of students in the study who were low
achieving, perceived their teachers as
thinking poorly of them.”
Englishpage.com, 2010

5. Common Sense
 Research aside, common sense tells us that
a student who feels more comfortable in a
school, classroom and with a teacher has a
better chance of performing at their best

6. How to Establish Positive
Relationships in 5 Steps
Step 1
 The Greeting
 Warm
 Confident
 Be in the same mood today as yesterday
 NOT
 Irritable
 Grumpy

7. How to Establish Positive
Relationships in 5 Steps
Step 2
 Establishing the Relationship
 Outline the daily task every time where students
can see and read it – teacher sets the scene, not
students
 Have and follow a routine
 Give students choices about assessments and
assignments
 Be a real person

8. How to Establish Positive
Relationships in 5 Steps
Step 3
 Getting down to Task
 Have resources available
 Be organized
 Be flexible
 Pay attention to student’s interest level
 Keep it lively

9. How to Establish Positive
Relationships in 5 Steps
Step 4
 Close the Lesson and the Relationship
 Briefly provide a synopsis of how the lesson went
 Provide students with your thoughts on their
behaviors and your performance
 Be more positive than negative

10. How to Establish Positive
Relationships in 5 Steps
Step 5
 Reflect and Plan
 Briefly reflect on the personal and academic
interactions
 Plan for future lessons with these thoughts in
mind

11. Based on Instruction
 Notice that the 5 Steps are based on
instruction
 Like discipline, you can’t separate
relationships from instruction
 You are a teacher…you instruct for a living…
your relationships must be based on
instruction and the connection you establish
with students in the arena of the classroom.

12. Other Techniques
 Find something positive about even the most
challenging student and let them know it
 Show belief, trust and high expectations
 Make the classroom a “safe place”
 Not be sarcastic
 Be sure that they experience some success
each day
 Use “we” and “our” to describe the classroom
community

13. Handling Challenges to the
Relationship
 Stay calm and speak quietly
 Acknowledge and validate the feeling
 Show interest
 Give time for student to “calm down”
 Be aware of responses and don’t take it
personally
 Be prepared to truly listen

14. Characteristics to Increase
 Respectfulness  Accept personal
 Firmness responsibility for
student success
 Fairness
 Practice an “extended
 Consistency
teacher” role
 Interesting
 Be persistent
 Decision making skills
 Express a sense of
 Problem solving optimism with students
 Realistic expectations that they will learn

15. Caring
 Students want teachers who care about them
and are not afraid to show that caring
 Sometimes this is scary because we feel we
give up a sense of control when we show
caring
 Actually we gain power when we show we
care…sometimes you gain power by giving it
away

16. Sources
 http://www.csun.edu/~acc50786/Education.html
 http://anenglishpage.tripod.com/interpersonal.html/
 http://www.ncte.ie/ftai/Siobhan%20Establishing
%20positive.htm
 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/0906
30132009.htm
 http://ici2.umn.edu/elink/4k1c/c4k1c_6.html