Building Trusting Relationships
Overview
Building positive and trusting relationships with learners fosters a Sense of Belonging, safety, and engagement, laying the groundwork for academic, cognitive, and social-emotional growth. Supportive student-teacher relationships form the foundation for classroom learning by fostering student engagement and Motivation, while also enhancing Creativity and Critical Thinking by encouraging students to explore new ideas in a safe and supportive environment. When teachers model trust and mutual respect, children develop a Learner Mindset, becoming more Curious, resilient, and open to challenges. Additionally, trust is essential in cultivating Civic-mindedness, as early experiences with fairness, collaboration, and shared responsibility shape students' understanding of community and ethical decision-making. This approach is especially critical for students from diverse backgrounds or those who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), as trust serves as a stabilizing force that supports culturally responsive teaching.
Example: Use This Strategy 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.
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.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
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