013: Building Relationships with the Elementary Child

When it comes to building relationships with your students, what comes to mind? Do you feel lost or overwhelmed by the concept when not given any actionable steps to enact it within your classroom setting? You are not alone. Buzz words are all the rage in education, but you won’t get very far without tools to help you understand how to build relationships with different types of students in the varying settings that occur throughout the school day.In today’s episode, we’re discussing the various ways that you can intentionally and mindfully engage with your students to build relationships. From your morning greeting, through the work cycle and recess, to gathering opportunities and the afternoon goodbye, there are countless tips and tricks that you can implement. Building relationships takes time, and you won’t know what works for you and your students until you give it a try. So, tune in, take notes, and turn your classroom environment into one that is full of trust, growth, and learning, with minimal strife.What’s in this episode:Why concrete steps are important to the implementation of educational concepts (for both the teacher and the studentHow perceived laziness or lack of motivation is usually just a lack of understandingThe importance of breaking down big picture activities into smaller stepsObserving who your students are and what they like, and incorporating informal conversations into daily interactionHow to intentionally engage with students during the day’s work cycle (and avoid negative attention loops)Opportunities to listen and engage in conversation and play, without dominating or leadingThe importance of shared experiences (e.g. read aloud time, singing songs)Why you should start and end the day with moments of strong connectionFor full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit trilliummontessori.org/podcastConnect With UsVisit our websiteFollow us on InstagramConnect with us on FacebookThe Montessori Classroom Bootcamps will be open for enrollment July 21-29. Classes begin August 1.Elementary Classroom Planning Bootcamp for 6-12 with Letty RisingClassroom Setup Bootcamp for 3-6 with Seemi Abdullah