Foster Connections
Students who feel connected to their school are also more likely to have better academic achievement, better school attendance, and stay in school longer.
How can you connect to your students?
One of the best ways to connect with your students is having classroom meetings. These meetings not only allows you to connect with students, but also allows the students to connect with each other and build community within the classroom.
How can you implement a classroom meeting?
Step 1: Form a shape (circle, square). Teacher and students discuss, decide, and practice:
- Floor or chairs
- Where, how do you get there?
- Who do you sit by?
- What does it look like?
- What does it sound like?
Step 2: Introduce a talking piece. This talking piece helps regulate communication between students. Whoever has this piece is allowed to talk. Talking pieces may be a toy, a stick, a stone, or another small object.
Step 3: Practice using various topics to create proactive classroom meetings:
- Get to Know You and Greetings
- Who Am I
- Compliments and Appreciations
Below is a video of education professionals like yourself explaining the topics they talk about at their classroom meetings:
For more implementation on how to foster connections in the classroom, check out Starr’s
10 Steps to Create a Trauma-Informed Resilient School!
