Building Trusting Relationships

Overview

Building positive and trusting relationships with learners allows them to feel safe; a sense of belonging; and that their academic, cognitive, and social and emotional needs are supported. These supportive student-teacher relationships are the foundation for fostering classroom learning as well as student engagement and Motivation. This strategy is especially powerful for students who have experienced Adverse Experiences and supports the practice of culturally responsive teaching.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how these teachers prioritize building relationships with their students. Through actions like greeting each student and showing vulnerability and care, students feel safe, supported, and valued. These strong relationships elicit positive emotions, which can lead to more learning.

Teachers can cultivate these warm, caring relationships by demonstrating that they are invested in students' learning, responding to students' strengths and needs, and co-constructing knowledge and lessons. Ensuring that the classroom is a welcoming and inclusive learning environment can also lead to more opportunities for stronger relationships. Conducting regular check-ins or conferences, giving affirmations and constructive feedback that convey high expectations and confidence in students' capabilities, and incorporating students' cultural experiences to make learning more relevant to them are all ways to create a learning community that fosters mutual respect and belonging. Lastly, developing norms or procedures as a class and maintaining consistent practices promotes student responsibility in upholding these expectations and also provides continuity.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

Learn how Thrively created a strengths-based assessment to illuminate students' strengths and passions. With these student profiles, teachers can give students the autonomy to drive their own passion projects that relate to their interests while also aligning to curricular goals. Entrusting students with this responsibility can demonstrate the confidence teachers have in them, strengthening their relationships.

Products can strengthen this relationship-building by providing tools that allow teachers to get to know their students more deeply. Having a portfolio or profile that shares each student's interests, motivations, and strengths could help teachers tailor their instruction. Additionally, facilitating increased communication between teachers and students could also improve their trust in each other.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Examples

Chapter on Developing Relationships

Techniques, like demonstrating caring and correcting students in a constructive way, that can be easily integrated

Examples

Dual-purpose Tasks

Edutopia blog on leveraging time and tasks to build relationships

Examples

Six Tips to Build Relationships

Simple ways to forge authentic relationships

Research

Cultivating Student Relationships

Module with research and strategies for building relationships with students