Video
Learn strategies for effective relationships building in a remote classroom.
Teacher-Student Relationships Criteria for Success
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Example
- I know all my students’ names (first and last), I pronounce them correctly, and I can spell them correctly without looking at a roster
- I greet my students by name when I first see them or talk to them
- I know who my students live with at home
- I know something that they love
- I can name a strength they have
Teacher-Student Relationships
Criteria for Success
Create Your Own
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Relationship Reflection
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Example
Instructions:
- This document is meant to be a self-assessment of what you have fully internalized about your students.
- Complete the following without referencing any rosters or documents about your students.
- Set benchmarks for yourself to see the progress over time and complete this at each benchmark. For example:
- At the end of August, I will know all names and who they live with.
- At the end of Quarter 1, I will know something they love and a strength they have.
- By winter break, I will deepen my knowledge of strengths for the 5 students whom I find most challenging.
- By spring break, I will create an action plan to improve any relationships that have been a struggle.
- Add the appropriate number of lines, and edit spacing as needed
Student Name |
Who do they live with |
Something they love |
A strength they have |
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Create your own by editing your table headings based on your own criteria for success and editing your benchmarks.
Relationship Building Action Plan
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Now that you have defined strong relationships and created your relationship reflection tool, it is time to create your plan to actively cultivate your relationships.
Components of a strong plan:
- Student survey to get their perspective on how relationships are going for them.
- A quick and effective way to do this is by asking students to rate their agreement with 2 statements:
- I have at least 1 friend in school.
- I have an adult in school who I trust and who cares for me.
- A quick and effective way to do this is by asking students to rate their agreement with 2 statements:
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- Administering this survey a few days before you intend to complete your relationship reflection ensures you have that data as a part of your own reflection.
- Identified teacher actions to actively build relationships at daily, weekly, and monthly intervals.
Check out the sample action plan below.
Student survey |
Survey my students with these questions
I will give this survey right before I plan to step back and do my own relationship reflection:
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Before school/ 1st week actions |
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Daily actions |
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Weekly action |
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Monthly actions |
Have a monthly phone call with families starting in month 2 (this can also be a report card conference when appropriate). This will ensure a consistent routine to get family input, share progress, and collaborate. |
Use the template below to create your own plan.
Student survey |
Survey my students with these questions:
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Before school/ 1st week actions |
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Daily actions |
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Weekly action |
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Monthly actions |
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Relationship-Building Activities for Remote Classrooms
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This resource includes specific tactics to help build strong relationships. We know relationships matter for kids to feel safe and to take risks with their learning. But how do we do it when we aren’t face to face?
Below is a list of activities that can be used in a remote classroom to build and deepen connections between teachers and students, and between students and their peers.
(Note: As with face to face learning, establishing clear expectations will help ensure productive engagement with these activities. For more resources for setting expectations, see session 7)
- Morning meeting or advisory circles: These classroom routines can still happen virtually. Set up synchronous digital or analog time and schedule them. This is a great space for student shares, team building, games, etc. For more resources on this work in action check out:
- Responsive Classroom’s “The Morning Meeting Book” or “The Responsive Advisory Meeting Book”
- Teaching Tolerance: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/talking-circles-for-restorative-justice-and-beyond
- The Center for Restorative Process: http://www.centerforrestorativeprocess.com/
- Online journals: Post or send a prompt each morning and allow students to share what they want in response to the prompt (without attaching a grade). Use your learning management system chat feature, or your group communication tool to create space where students can post their thoughts and respond to each other, or just to the teacher.
- Feelings check-ins/temperature checks, etc.: There are so many good ways to do these check-ins including feeling words, colors, emoji’s, etc. You can build them into a synchronous learning time, do it on a chat feature, or create a survey form that kids fill out asynchronously. See resources 5-7 for some specific examples.
- Sharing photos: Have students share a photo from their day with the group. You can use a group text feature, your learning management system chat, etc. It will give a way to make people feel more connected because they actually get to see something from each other’s lives.
- Share routine: Create a schedule where students can share something more personal to them. This can be based on a prompt, a photo, a response to a quote, or a task to find something around their house.
- Include peer check-ins as an assignment: Create a rotation schedule where kids are assigned to check in with another student daily (or different, but specific, cadence). They can choose the method to check in, and should then report back based on the assignment. For example: Share one new thing you learned about your partner, or share what your partner is doing for fun.
- Use small groups and turn-and-talks: If your learning plan includes a video platform with breakout rooms, use them. Try groups of different sizes including 1:1 to mirror an in person turn and talk.
For additional activities to use across distance learning models, check out our next 3 resources.
Activities for Classroom Community Building across Various School Models
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Activity Name |
Steps to Complete and Modifications Based on Delivery Method |
Class Quilt |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Scavenger Hunt |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Class Mission Statement |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Activities for Developing Peer-to-Peer Relationships
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Activity Name |
Steps to Complete and Modifications Based on Delivery Method |
Student Shout-outs/ Appreciations |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Find Someone Who |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Uncommon Commonalities |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Activities to Connect Students to Other Adults in School
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Activity Name |
Steps to Complete and Modifications Based on Delivery Method |
1-Minute Meetings |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Baggage Claim |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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Brown Bag Biography |
Fully Remote:
Hybrid Half In-Person/Half Remote:
In-Person Staggered Schedule:
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