DDHS invests in Relationship Centered Learning

Posted Jan. 16, 2023

By McKensy Buck

News Editor

Relationship Centered Learning (RCL) is now encouraged at the high school in an effort to build trust between students and teachers and to engage students in social activities while making connections with peers. 

RCL gives teachers the opportunity to expand their ways of teaching to better their relationship with students. RCL fosters positive interaction experiences, which can better most outlooks students may have at school. Turning negative thoughts into positive ones can be challenging, especially when there is already a strong negative opinion. That’s why teachers are encouraged to be as involved as they can with RCL. 

RCL utilizes lessons, activities, and learning techniques that help with one-on-one and group interaction, which may not seem effective to some, but it very much has proven to be effective. Group sharing is important because it helps students get to know each other and it provides the opportunity for bonding. Group sharing, or group work, fosters learning, which is beneficial because prior knowledge now remains and becomes helpful in the brain. All of this information leads to emotional and social functioning, which is why RCL encourages an emotional inventory instrument. To simplify that, RCL is a self report used to tell how that submitter could be feeling. What good does that do? Most teens can find it difficult to open up and talk about their feelings. RCL gives them that chance to. Being emotionally skilled can better academic performance while fostering healthier relationships. 

All the high school teachers participated in a RCL workshop in the South Cafeteria during Inservice Week, on Aug. 31, 2022, hosted by the National Educators for Restorative Practices. This workshop informed the faculty how to better communicate with students, and how to create activities that allow students to interact with one another.