interactions

It was interesting to see that today's prompt was about student-teacher interactions, because my cooperating teacher and I had a long conversation about this today.  I had asked her if she had any particular classroom management plan that she used with her class and she was telling me that mostly she just works really hard to establish a strong rapport with students, and that that tends to take care of most behavior problems that arise.  While I'm not sure that in my own room, I would rely solely on student-teacher relationships, I do recognize how strong her relationship is with her students and how important that is to the way she (and teachers in general) run the room.

Today Ms. Jorde and I were correcting student work for a get to know you project.  We were reading responses to different prompts, while the students were working.  I was surprised and impressed that Ms. Jorde started calling students to our table away from their work to come tell her more about what they had written.   She asked questions and showed really authentic interest in what the kids had to say.  I hadn't even thought to distract the students from their work, but it turned out to be a nice way to initiate conversations and learn a few things about the kids.

I was struck many times today by my own interactions with students.  I kept feeling like my back and forth with the kids is not yet genuine, it felt forced and a bit awkward.  I know that I tend to be a shy person, and that small talk is always challenging for me, but watching Ms. Jorde I really see how effective this can be for bonding with the students.  I know that part of why it probably feels more authentic to listen to Ms. Jorde is not only her experience, but also the fact that she knows these students really well (she looped her class from last year). I am hoping that as the days go by I can find more of these small, one on one ways to connect with the students. It is clear that it makes a huge difference!