Blog #5 Getting to know you & Building Student Rapport

Getting to Know YOU!! 

We will be doing a few activities during our first weeks of class so that we all can get to know each other and learn, grow, and build rapport with everyone!!

Ms. Kristen Witham 

Favorite movie: Ever After

Favorite candy: Snickers

Favorite color: Pink 

A few of the fun activities we will do in class include;

• Passports – students are given time to create a passport about themselves, including relevant information and at least one piece of memorable information that will stick in the minds of others.
• Student teams - putting the students in teams creates a pattern in your mind of where they sit. It is similar to a seating plan but letting the student compete with their groups makes it seem more like an activity.
• Unforgettable Neighbor – We will work in pairs or with partners and share a memorable fact about each other. They can then share these facts with the class so there is an additional fact to help make each student’s name easier to remember. Ex: Ms. Kristen is a dancer
• Adjective Name Game – similar to the unforgettable neighbor activity, students work in pairs but have to come up with an interesting adjective that starts with the same letter as their first name, ie: Meticulous Miranda, Artsy Anna, Kind Kristen. 
• the importance of these activities will help all of us grow together and be able to work with one another in a healthy and happy way that every single one of us deserves!
  
  

Building Rapport In The Classroom!

It is absolutely so important to build rapport among the students in the classroom. This will take time. Building trust in students is a must. One way to make sure you build rapport with your children properly is by getting to know what each child likes and dislikes. Another way is by letting the children come to you and tell you specific subjects that he or she likes to learn or just let them talk to you and ask open-ended questions. Students will open up completely once the trust has been built between you and them. Building a rapport means to have a bond that is harmonious between one or more parties. It is vital in order to make a difference in each students' life to get to know them on a personal level. There are also fun ways to take notes, take surveys, and write down specific areas the children talk to you about so you can revert back to what was said at what certain time. There are always new adventures students like to explore and coming back to the week to week will offer quite a lot of changes and new experiences you as a teacher can learn from and build lesson plans around. It is always great to have lesson plans that spark specific interests for all students. I want to build a rapport with every student of strength, trust, and empathy so that we can accomplish many studies and lessons to help grow the students hourly in the classroom. I encourage all teachers to build a weekly curriculum around your students' specific interests and to always know that you are the reason for students to want to learn more and you have the ability to make one of the most everlasting effects on students' lives forever. Keep moving forward and know you are the difference for a new generation, so make it count!!