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5 Simple Ways to Connect with Students and Build Relationships

Being connected with students helps teachers maintain positive  classroom management and behavior.

Being a teacher these days is not even remotely easy.  The nonsense we have to deal with from developmentally inappropriate standards to endless meetings and data to no lunch or bathroom breaks are nothing short of lunacy.  Throw in an unruly class with some serious behavior problems and you have a recipe for early retirement.

The trick is to make what happens inside that classroom with those kids as joyful as possible so that the rest of the crazy in our profession will be easier to manage,  We must try to shelter our students and ourselves from the stress and pressure.

We all know that achieving that classroom nirvana of peace and productivity requires an authentic connection with our students. When our students feel loved and understood, they feel safe.  Safe enough to take academic and social risks.  Safe enough to try and fail.  In a close knit, loving environment, failure is part of the process, not an embarrassment.

But how do we form those genuine, loving relationships?  There are many layers to that question, but I have complied a list of some of the ways I try to connect with kids in my class.

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