Inquiry into Relationship and Community Building 9/29 Supportive student-teacher relationships can effectively draw students into

o the learning process and (given that the content is both engaging and well developed) work towards/encourage that students desire to learn. I believe that if students are able to feel a personal connection with their teacher, developed through communication and frequent praise and direction from their teacher, than they will seek higher levels of engagement, which should naturally encourage behavior and achievement. Positive student-teacher relationships are built on a foundational understanding of the classroom being built on a desire to not only meet the students' academic needs, but also their emotional and developmental needs as well. A supportive teacher should always be excited to have their students in their classroom and that excitement should shine through their presence; teachers should be respectful, and especially so, if they expect a high degree of respect in return; teachers should strive to help their students in whatever means possible; teachers should be knowledgable, and (to some degree) aware of students' backgrounds, interests, and academic achievement; and teachers should seek to never show visible irritation or aggression towards their students. In my classes and alongside my co-teacher, we have really done a good job in engaging in many of the aspects of positive/supportive student-teacher relationships mentioned above, although there have also been a few that we could definitely improve and be more intentional towards. That is not to say that we couldn't improve in all of the stated areas, but rather, that some come a bit more naturally to me than others. First, I think it comes natural to me to be excited and take pleasure in having my students each day, regardless of where I'm at. Joe and I are very conscious in our greeting of each individual student as the come in, almost always calling the students by name and welcoming them in with a good morning or how are you (Appendix A). I think this sets up and works to build a foundation of conversation, in that we welcome them into the classroom, we want to be encouraging, and we strive to hear a response from each student. In addition, it lets the students know that we know their name, and that we care about how they feel when they enter our class. In addition, I think that it comes very naturally to me to care and to show interest in a student's background, life, and interests (Appendix B). Whether it is finding out what my students are passionate about beyond the realms of biology and environmental science; this week through conversation, I have found out that a handful of my students are very interested in art and graphic design, so I used that information to frame some of our assignments (such as graphing, our newsletter assignment, or an open-ended hw assignment (appendix C))in such a way that encourages an emphasis on creativity and aesthetics. Or for some students, getting to know about who they are/their life outside of school, allowed me to learn more about how I can meet their needs and encourage their achievement inside the classroom. Both Maria and Abdul have been showing up between a half hour and an hour late to our first period environmental science block class, and I took a moment with each over the course of the period and after the period to try and find out why they were showing up so late and encourage them to try and make it on time. In our conversation, I discovered that these two students were coming from two completely different places; Maria has been working three jobs, not getting home until 2 or 3am every night and only averaging around 4 hours of sleep a night, while Abdul has been feeling lazy recently and hasn't felt like waking up early. Scaffolding a relationship with these two students that allowed them to speak honestly to me, and in turn allowed me to understand more about their life and why they have been showing up so late to school, gave me the information to be able to speak to them each personally and encourage them both individually. I believe that I was only able to engage in this conversation because we have worked so hard thus far to manage the classroom such that it gives room for honest and meaningful student-teacher relationships. What I have been thinking about a lot, and what I haven't seen a lot of but really want to work towards, is building the classroom in such a way that we capitalize on the already existing relationships in the class and try to build a strong sense of community and accountability among the students. There

is a foundation being built on respect and accountability between the students and Joe and I, although I don't see it as clearly between the students. In my classroom, I want to work towards building an environment where students are held equally accountable for their actions by each other as their teachers. Appendix A:

Appendix B:

Appendix C: -Open ended homework: