Connect with Each Student
Greet all students
Use eye contact will all
Ask each student about his or her life
Laugh with students
Solicit student opinion on the effectiveness of activities, tasks, and assessments
Give students a voice on appropriate issues
Ask students for help with classroom tasks
These are fantastic suggestions that enable the teacher to gain referent power in the class and build a close knit classroom community. Every day the teacher took ten minutes of class time for news sharing time. This allowed the students to discuss their lives outside of class and ask each other questions. It allowed the teacher to better understand the students interests and get to know them on a personal level. It also helped manage the class time because there are many times the students have 'important news' that they are itching to get of their chest and until they do are unable to concentrate on the work of the day. The teacher used a talking ball that was passed which signified the person with the floor. All other students had to actively listen and could raise their hand to ask questions, but comments had to be left for later. The students loved this activity and the day we missed it they consistently asked, "When is news?" I will definitely use this idea to start each mornings' class.
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