Establish: Intentionally cultivate positive relationships

Strategy: Banking Time

• Find individual time to spend with a single student (or work peer!) to engage in a relational conversation

• Student (or work peer!) selects something to do in the interaction

• Use effective communication techniques:

  • Open ended questions to facilitate conversation

  • Actively listen so the person feels heard

  • Express an interest in what the student says

  • Avoid judgement, giving advice, delivering instruction

  • Respond with empathy by putting yourself in the other person's shoes

Strategy: Secondhand Compliments Delivered Through Others

• Identify something to compliment about the student's (or work peer!) behavior/performance and relay that through another adult

  • positive note or call home

  • positive office referral to administrator

  • through another teacher, counselor or co-worker

• Compliments must be specific and sincere

  • specific:  something the person said, did or achieved

  • sincere: conveying that one really means it

Strategy: Positive Greeting and Farewells on a Daily Basis

• Positive greetings (salutations) at the door using a student's (or work peer!) name provides ongoing opportunity to personalize interactions with each student to welcome and demonstrate that you value their presence

• Positive farewells each day by offering words of encouragement, saying thank you for participation, and wishing someone a good rest of the day

Strategy:  2x10

• Spend 2 minutes a day for 10 straight days in a row engaging in a conversation that has nothing to do with an instruction or academic task (or work task) at hand to acknowledge that the student is a person and not just a student (or co-worker!).