5+Building+Relationships

=​​ Building Relationships that Foster Student Engagement =

According to Dunleavy and Milton (2009), students' experience with engagement is greatly shaped by the relationships they experience with their teachers and peers.

Friesen (2009) points out that effective learning environments require a number of different interdependent relationships, all of which promote a strong culture of learning.

These relationships are:   - pedagogical (teacher to student) ;  - peer (student to student) ;  - community (student to others outside of school); and ,  - student to the subject disciplines they are learning about.

Such relationships are critical in not only building a sense of social cohesiveness and a drive for knowledge, but also in helping students require the skills required for the work place (Friesen, 2009) . To achieve a level of deep intellectual engagement, teachers must recognize the importance of these relationships. //


 * How can we aim to build relationships that will foster intellectual engagement? ** //


 * //move away from focusing on the relationships between students and content, as this is a passive model//
 * //promote student-teacher relationships that develop students' social and emotional complexities//
 * //approach relationships "with a spirit of caring, empathy, generosity, respect, reciprocity and a genuine desire to know// //students personally", as this will help students become self-sufficient, resilient and confident as learners//
 * //promote collaborative activities in which students can engage with peer groups// "//to develop deeper conceptual knowledge, as well as important social and cultural skills"//



//​**Applying the Effective Teaching Practices Rubric **//

Friesen's (2009) "Effective Teaching Practices Rubric" is a helpful way for educators to assess the strength of the relationships that influence their teaching practices. The rubric assesses relationships in three key areas: students' relationship with the work, teachers' relationships with students, students' relationships with each other. Teachers wishing to foster a greater sense of engagement in their classrooms are encouraged to apply the rubrics, which are posted below.




 * = //"Education is about relationships. They are the key to learning success. We, as educators, must know and respect our students and help them know and respect one another as fellow learners”.

(Fried, 2001, p. 49, as cited in Friesen, 2009) // ||

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