‘Building relationships’ with the pupils we teach can sound nebulous and vague in contrast to crafting our explanations, implementing strategies informed by cognitive science & evaluating our curriculum.
I believe the two of the strongest way to build relationships with pupils in lessons include:
- Winning hearts: praising pupils when it is earned with real warmth & showing our classes we enjoy teaching them.
- Winning minds: teaching our subjects really well so pupils feel more knowledgeable and more intelligent.
What is one specific and concrete way we can win the hearts of our pupils and build strong relationships with them? What is a possible pitfall of this practice? And what principle underlies this practice?
One practice
At the end of each lesson, celebrate the pupil who has impressed you most with either a special shoutout, a postcard or a sticker. After the class has packed away, secure the class’ attention and say something along the lines of:
“There are a number of you who have really impressed me today. For example, Lydia, Sean and Georgia’s hands have been flying up for every question, and their answers have been incredibly precise. But, one person in this room has stood out even further. Not only have they been contributing lots, but their written work today was detailed, neat and completed with fantastic focus. The person receiving my [top shoutout / postcard / sticker] today is… [dramatic pause and scan]… Angela! Well done, Angela, you should be really proud of yourself!”
The sheer joy and delight I have seen with pupils, whether they are 11 or 16 years old, has convinced me that this is a wonderful way to end every lesson. Adapt the script to suit your teacher persona, and adapt the tone of your voice to suit the age of the class you are teaching.
The core of the practice is to be specific and selective: what exactly impressed you today and who stood out most? When you say each name, make eye contact and pause briefly to connect with that pupil. But for the final pupil, give the specific reasons first and then do an Oscar-style pause before announcing their name. The anticipation should be palpable! What is a possible pitfall of this practice?
This post is taken from the latest weekly newsletter: The Operation Education Briefing. Sign up below to receive one practice, one pitfall and one principle in your inbox every week.
One pitfall
Do not run out of time at the end of your lesson to deliver this Oscar-style celebration: set an alarm 5 minutes before the end of each lesson. I’ve taught many lessons where the bell catches up on me and this leads to a very rushed or non-existent celebration at the end. I end up shoving a postcard into a pupil’s hand as they leave, or I’ll announce that I will give two next lesson. This undermines the routine and is a missed opportunity.
I like to create alarms for every period of the school day on my phone, labelled as ‘P1: 5 minutes till lesson end’, ‘P2: 5 minutes till lesson end’ etc. I turn them on every day. (Even for periods I am not teaching, it is helpful to know I need to make my way to my next lesson, for example).
When the alarm goes off, even if I am mid-explanation, I like to end the lesson and get the class packed away. This usually takes around 2 minutes. Then I can spend around 2-3 minutes doing the end-of-lesson Oscar-style celebration while the class is still seated so that I can see them (and watch their joyful reactions), after which I can dismiss them.
One principle
Praise and celebration must be earned. When a pupil is celebrated at the end of a lesson, the entire class will be making a judgement about whether that pupil does or doesn’t deserve the celebration. After all, they were present for the entire lesson too: they know who has contributed, who has shouted out, who was being silly and who was working diligently.
So, throughout the lesson, be mindful of who you praise and when. Earning praise feels much better than being given it undeservedly because it is harder to achieve. It is also more likely to genuinely improve the habits of pupils by giving them the opportunity to rise to meet your standards. This can be done by praising specific behaviours that set the bar. For example, praising pupils who contribute in full sentences, who concentrate hard for an entire task or who follow instructions consistently. Then, when a pupil who finds any of these difficult finally meets the standard we expect, they will feel the praise is credible rather than forced. If we praise a pupil even if they haven’t quite met the standard we had originally set, we risk them thinking: ‘My teacher doesn’t think I’m capable of meeting this expectation, so they are praising me even when I don’t get there.‘ There might be pupils who do not receive any praise throughout a lesson. If that is because they have not yet earned it, that is completely fine. We should think about how to support them getting there rather than how we can praise them regardless.
An individual pupil might shout out and we should respond by making it clear this is not acceptable. But if that same pupil’s hand flies up later in the lesson, we should absolutely praise this in the moment. However, for the celebration at the end, what matters is the story of the whole lesson. If we celebrate pupils who have had poor conduct for most of the lesson but then had a great final 10 minutes, we signal to the class that working hard throughout the lesson isn’t rewarded. Reserve the celebration at the end for pupils who have impressed you the most that particular lesson. Sometimes, I will narrate, ‘Neena, you were very close to receiving a postcard – I’m sure you will get there next time if you impress me throughout the lesson, not just in some parts of the lesson.’ Every lesson is a clean slate. Every positive behaviour is recognised. But an end-of-lesson celebration is reserved for meeting standards throughout the lesson.
If you find yourself giving a postcard (or equivalent) to a pupil just because they have never received one before, that would also undermine the principle that praise must be earned.
Seating Plan Tick Sheets are an invaluable tool that can prompt you to note who has earned how much praise throughout the lesson, helping you to decide who deserves celebrating at the end of each lesson.
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To delve further in to the ideas in this Briefing, listen to the full discussions of each practice on the Operation Education Podcast.