Relationships are Everywhere!

Eric ShipmanClearwater Middle School

Relationships are Everywhere!

Eric ShipmanClearwater Middle School

Learning Forward Kansas Conference 2016

Resources

• Megan Meyers- Administrative Coordinator Elkhorn South High School • ECET2 Seattle—Presenter

• Kagan and Kagan Cooperative Learning • Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004, New Directions for Youth Development• Johnson, 2009, The School Community Journal• Schaps, 2004, Community in school as key to student growth• Community Tool Box. “Building and Sustaining Relationships.”

University of Kansas, 2015.

Self-Reflection Activity

• What is the greatest relationships you’ve had in your life? • How much “work” did it take to build that relationship?

• How much time do you take to build relationships throughout the school year? (none, little, some, a lot)

• With students? • With colleagues?

• Are you anyone’s greatest influence?

Stand Up, Pair Up, Share Up • Students stand up & walk around (no stalking or snuffing

anyone)• Teacher states “hand-up, pair-up, share-up”.• Students put hand-up & do a high 5 with a student close to them.• Teacher prompts students with a higher level question that

students discuss & explain with partner.• Repeat as needed• Modified Kagan Cooperative Learning Strategy

Stand Up, Pair Up, Share Up

• Stand Up, Move Around, GREET EVERYONE nonverbally• When I say “hand-up” you will find someone else close to

you, high five and introduce yourself in less than a minute.

What is it that you like most about yourself?

If you weren’t in your current career, what would you be?

If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

Why Build Relationships?

• Building relationships with students increases students engagement

• Building relationships with teachers leads to greater teacher engagement

• Building relationships with the community increases parent engagement

Evidence…..

Is it worth the time?• 1,800 students • 10th-12th grade• One-on-one interviews and focus groups• Data from this study confirmed “relationships as key

ingredients in successful teaching and learning.”• Students feel disconnected and desire strong personal

relationships with teachers.

Bernstein-Yamashiro, 2004, New Directions for Youth Development

A NUMBER OF STUDIES…..• have demonstrated that teacher support may have the

most direct effect on student engagement.• Show students’ perceptions of teacher caring as being

significantly linked to students’ internal control beliefs, school interest, and academic support.

As cited in Johnson, 2009, The School Community Journal

RELATIONSHIP EVIDENCE…

WHEN STUDENTS ARE SUPPORTED, SCHOOLS ARE SAFER!

• Less substance abuse• Less violence• Less behavioral problems• More likelihood of having

positive attitudes toward themselves and others• More likelihood of having

high academic expectations

RELATIONSHIP EVIDENCE…

As reported by Schaps, 2004, Community in school as key to student growth

Building Relationships…..10 Tips

1. Greet Others 2. Respond to their Mood 3. Listen when they talk 4. Learn about their lives 5. Share your life

6. Regularly use Compliments7. Have lunch with them 8. Be consistent 9. Deliver Consequences with

Empathy10. Learn how they want

celebrated Does this list only work with Teacher/Student relationships?

http://juiceboxesandcrayolas.blogspot.com/

Blog from 3rd and 4th Grade teacher

Building Relationships….an 11 Step Program

1. Build Relationships one at a time

2. Be Friendly and make a connection

3. Ask people questions 4. Tell people about yourself5. Go places and do things 6. Accept people the way they

are

7. Assume other people want to form relationships too

8. Overcome your fear of rejection

9. Be persistent 10.Invite people to get involved 11.Enjoy People

Community Tool Box. “Building and Sustaining Relationships.” University of Kansas, 2015.

How to Sustain the Relationship

• Pay attention to people • Communicate openly • Appreciate each other• Extend yourself….go out of

the way

Community Tool Box. “Building and Sustaining Relationships.” University of Kansas, 2015.

• Volunteer to Help• Provide Challenges • Back each other when things

get tough

Fixing Messy Relationships

• Take time to listen • Put yourself in their

shoes• Look at the their

“truths” • Separate from

emotions

• Continue to appreciate and respect

• Speak from your heart • Don’t Give up your

principals • Hang in there when things

get hard• Decide if it’s a Battle or

the War

Community Tool Box. “Building and Sustaining Relationships.” University of Kansas, 2015.

Example 2 Minute Activities

• Greetings in the Hall• Stupid Jokes/and Innocent Pranks • 2 x 10 Activity

• For 2 minutes per day for 10 class periods have a personal conversation

• Random Questions….Pancakes or Waffles • Story Telling with Yarn

Ice Breaker and Team Building Activities

• Team Juggle • Peek a Who • Circle Delight • Clocks• Team Writing • Tracks

Team Juggle

This is a great activity for a homeroom period and/or the first days of class to help build community.

Description: Have the class get into a circle. Hand one tennis ball to one person in the group. Have them call out a person’s name and toss the ball. That person will do the same. Keep this up until everyone in the group has had a chance to toss and catch the tennis ball. The ball then travels back to the person who started. Attempt the activity and add a second, third, and finally fourth tennis ball.

Peek A Who?Another great activity that helps students learn each other names or simply build morale. Description: Divide the group into two teams. Have two people hold up the blanket or tarp in the middle of the groups so they cannot see each other. Each team should choose a person to stand in front of the tarp facing the other team. On the count of three the tarp is dropped to show the two people facing each other. The first person to say the correct name of the person standing on the other side wins the round.

Circle Delight A good activity to help build teamwork and talk about the importance of communicating under pressure. Description: Split the group into 2 equal teams. Everyone gets into 1 large circle with the 2 teams alternating position in the circle. Each team has a ball. Use 2 different colored balls for easy identification. Decide which team is the chasing team and which team is the escaping team. On “go” the teams pass the ball to the next person in the circle that is a member of their team. The balls can only move in one direction and the teams may not interfere with the other team’s attempts to pass the ball. When the chaser catches the escaping team’s ball the game is over and can start again. To add competition use a timer to determine which team can pass the ball the longest without being “caught”.

Clocks

This activity works on listening, communicating, and also team leadership. Description: Put your group into 2 equal circles and give each student a number. Have the students hold hands with an adult between the two circles. The adult then calls out a number and raises a scarf or bandana. The students will need to rotate either direction without letting go of their hands to get that number next to the teacher. When the person who’s number was called is next to the teacher they may break hands and grab the scarf. Play to a set number of points.

Team Writing

Description: Have the students in groups of 6 (or how ever many strings you have). Their goal is to write on their marker board but they cannot touch the marker. Instead each group member is to hold onto the end of a string. The strings are attached to a metal washer that has a dry erase marker inside of it.

Tracks

Equipment Needed:3 tracks or PVC pipes cut in half lengthwise, different size balls, 2 buckets Description: Create teams of at least 4 members and have them line up on one side of the room. Each team will be given 3 different PVC tracks. Teams will move the balls from one side of the room to the other. The first person may only touch the ball to initially put the ball onto their track. The group members must then pass the ball from one track to the other without touch the ball with their hands. If the ball falls to the ground they must restart from the beginning. The team is done when all the balls are in the bucket on the opposite side of the room.

Academic Activities that Build Relationships

• Win, Lose, or Draw• Master of Memory • Video Games • Musical Wipe Out • Aurasma Scavenger

Hunt

• Math Around the Room

• Kahoot!• Beat the Buzzer • Crazy Carnival

Contest• Homerun Derby

Math Around the Room

• Students stand up at boards posted around the room to work on practice problems.

• They all work on the same problems, but students standing next to each other are able to assist on the problems.

• The teacher is able to be in contact with every students and every student gets instant feedback from the teacher

• The activity helps the teacher build relationships but also helps the students build relationships with each other.

Kahoot!

• Kahoot! is an online trivia activity that students compete with each other.

• Teachers can create their own Kahoot or use other educator’s Kahoot’s with their students

• There are also a mixture of “fun” topics that teachers could use with the extra time in class.

• I encourage teachers to use Kahoot with the assignments they already use in class.

Beat the Buzzer!

• Teachers use questions from an assignment or key ideas at the close of class to quiz students.

• Students can compete as a team or individually depending on the size of the class.

• A great way to incorporate excitement into a lecture or class discussion.

Crazy Carnival Contest

• Using a set of questions students or an assignments students earn tokens that they can use in a carnival game.

• They can work as a team or individually. • After a set period of time (could be multiple days) the

students then exchange their tokens to play a game. • Bean Bag Toss, Dart Balloon Pop, Pyramid Dart Gun Shoot, Snow

Ball Fights

Homerun Derby

Homerun Derby is another “game” that students compete in that allows movement in the classroom. It allows students to have fun and provides motivation for learning.

• After correctly identifying a question students get an at bat. They can either swing and try to hit a homerun or take a double.

• Teams compete to earn the most runs.

Win, Lose, or Draw

• Using a list of vocabulary words, key people, key events, or ideas students compete to illustrate the words while the class attempts to guess.

• Students can be placed on teams and elect an illustrator

Master of Memory

• Answers to a list of questions are “hidden” in QR codes which are printed and hung around the room

• Students “race” to match the QR codes to the correct questions on a list or worksheet.

• Students work in groups and can only scan 1 QR code per round.

Video Games

• There are a variety of easy to create video games that can be used in place of a regular assignment .

• Students could also compete after completing the assignment.

• Great site: classtools.net

Musical Wipe Out• A review game that allow

students to move around. • Similar to a cake-walk student

move until the music stops. • A number is drawn and that

student must answer a question. If they answer incorrectly they are “wiped out”. A correct answer allows them to wipe someone else out.

Aurasma Scavenger Hunt

• Aurasma is an app that creates Augmented Reality.

• Students search the classroom for hidden videos and then answer questions based on the videos.

• A great activity to use student created videos.

School Wide Relationship Builders

• Clubs and Activities • Incentive Days • Social Networking • Diversity Days

Clubs and Activities • Student Activities are the key to eliminating

behavior problems, low achieving students, and school violence

• We must create clubs so that students have a way to be involved in our schools.

• The organizations can be based on students’ interests but isn’t a requirement if an adult is passionate about the activity.

• Examples: Archery Club, Varsity Knitting, Quidditch Club, Varsity Ultimate Frisbee, Comic Book/Anime Club, Bowling Club

Incentive Days • Incentive Days give students are reason to

achieve. • Many students lack the support from and have

not developed the intrinsic motivations necessary to achieve.

• Lip Sync Competitions, Dentition Days, Dodge Ball Tournaments, Student Faculty Competitions, Talent Shows,

• Allow all students to attend and if necessary have a reward to participate in part of the day.

Social Networking • Schools need to develop

relationships by utilizing social networks with the community.

• Policies about teacher’s use of social networks need to be reviewed and examined.

• In today’s world people expect communication to come to them not go and find it!

Diversity Days

• Diversity Days promote difference culturally, ethnically, religiously, or simply in personalities.

• Allowing older students to create displays based on their interest and explain these interest promotes community.