Professional Learning Tool

Inquiry Question: To what extent does fostering strong relationships with students
help increase engagement during instruction?

Goal: To connect with and foster strong relationships with students during both
instructional and non-instructional time.
Relating to the Fostering Effective Relationships
TQS:
A teacher builds positive and productive relationships with
#1, 4 students, parents/guardians, peers and others in the school and local
community to support student learning.

(a) acting consistently with fairness, respect and integrity;

(b) demonstrating empathy and a genuine caring for others;

(c) providing culturally appropriate and meaningful opportunities

for students and for parents/guardians, as partners in education, to
support student learning;

Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge

• consider student variables, including: - demographics, e.g. age,

gender, ethnicity, religion; - social and economic factors; -
maturity; - relationships amongst students; - prior knowledge and
learning; - cultural and linguistic background; - second language
learning; - health and well-being; - emotional and mental health;
and - physical, social and cognitive ability;

Strategies Connect and engage with all students within the classroom
to establish healthy and professional relationships with
students as early as possible.

Connect with students during class time, recess, field trips,

intramurals, taking an interest in what they are interested in,
and what they have to say.

Attend parent, teacher interviews with my TA to meet and

connect with student’s parents/caregivers from home. This
will provide me with further insight on what support they
are receiving and where they are coming from. It will
hopefully establish a good impression with student
caregivers.
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● Encourage and invite students into the learning by

encouraging discussion and ideas no matter if they are right
nor wrong.

Resources/ Supports ● Communicate with my TA to learn about the students’

needed learning abilities, strengths/weaknesses, and supports/life
outside of the classroom.

● Monitor if there has been an increase in participation

during my instructional time in the class.

Evidence of Success  Students begin to open up and tell me about their

night every morning while I am prepping for the day.
 Students persistently request to incorporate me into
their activities during reading time, recess, lunch, and
free time.
 4-5 students rush to invite me to read with them
every morning during Epic reading time.
 Every student made a thank you/goodbye card for me
to conclude my time with them.

Timeline Week 1: I participated in observation and note taking (no

teaching). During this time, I made efforts to engage with
students during classroom activities. My purpose was to
familiarize myself with the students and ensure they were
comfortable with me.
Week 2: Begin to supervise and referee student activities
during recess. I made this decision to ensure proper
sportsmanship was taking place during games and to engage
with students during break.
Week 3-5: My TA and I organized and planned activities
for intramurals during lunch on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.
This is extra time to be able to connect and foster
relationship with students.
Weeks 5: Participated in parent-teacher interviews
alongside my TA. I was able to have a few conversations
and briefly connect with student’s parents during this time.
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Inquiry Question: To what extent does fostering strong relationships with students
help increase engagement during instruction?
Reflection at Midway Point:

Achievements In Progress Future Considerations

- Students seem to be - I want to continue to
more comfortable
with me in the room
and engage well while
I work with them
during instruction.
- Students are starting - Certain students feel
to open to me more
and updating me
about their lives
outside of the
classroom (ex their elf
on the shelf, birthday
parties, weekends).
- Students are
consistently inviting
me to participate with
them during recess.
- I have noticed a few
students participating
more during my
instruction
(social/science) that
don’t always.
Reflection at End of Term:
- Intramurals will begin
build relationships shortly. This will be
with students to see if extra time to help
this will boost connect and engage
engagement during with a few that are
instruction. more difficult.
- Free time will be
harder to connect with another opportunity to
than the others. engage with students.
This allows me to
connect with students
while they are doing
activities they enjoy.
It is an opportunistic
time to try and
establish a
relationship.
- I want to start reading
with different students
everyday during
reading time.
Assisting reading can
show that I want the
best for them.

- I chose this inquiry question/goal because I was genuinely curious about

the effect that fostering strong relationships can have in the classroom.
Building relationships is something that I feel is so important. Teachers
need to build connections with their students. They need to feel like they
belong, safe, and empowered to learn. Without this, students do not feel
seen and have little motivation to try and do well. This is vital to student
success academically, socially, and emotionally.
- During the term, I made it my goal to work on building relationships. In
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my first week, I was unfamiliar and a little nervous to engage. Despite
these feelings, I made it a priority to start connecting right away. Talking
with my TA, I aimed to invest most of my time with the lower-level
students. This included assisting students during classroom activities,
taking an interest their interests, and engaging in conversation. This was
very successful. Reflecting on this, this was the right move at the
beginning of the practicum. With only five weeks to connect, these are
students who I needed to reach right away – especially being a new
adult/teacher who will be leading the classroom. When I began to teach
the following week, I saw a couple of these students engage in the lesson
and contribute to the discussion. This was encouraging to see and was
some early evidence that this was working.
- During practicum, I tried to talk to my TA about the student’s
strengths/weaknesses and the homelife they were coming from. This was
crucial in understanding students within the classroom. This helped me
pinpoint who I thought I needed to connect with first, who they were as
learners/people, and the behaviours that they portrayed on a usual basis.
There were a few students diagnosed with autism, low socio-economic,
and living with difficult home situations. It was a diverse classroom. This
provided me with the required knowledge to understand them and connect.
Without this, I believe it would have been harder to foster the
relationships.
- In supervising/participating in recess, intramurals, and free time activities,
I believe that the students began to trust me. I showed them that I am not
just interested in making them do work, but that I enjoy being around
them. I believe it showed students that I am their ally within the
classroom.
- Now, this doesn’t mean I tried to be their friend. It was never my goal to
connect with students by being their friend. I do not think I made this
mistake during my time in the classroom.
- Reflecting on journey in grade 2/3, I believe I accomplished my goal to
foster effective relationships with students. Every morning students cannot
wait to tell me about their night, the upcoming weekend, or just a random
thought that they came up with. Throughout my instruction, I did notice an
increase in engagement from students. It wasn’t all the time, or the same
students, but it was there. The students I was having trouble connecting
with eventually came along as well.
- I don’t think I can say I had a negative relationship within the class. There
was no fighting or intense power struggles. This doesn’t mean there were
behaviors or issues with the class (there definitely was) but I can feel
 Professional Learning Tool
confident that I made a positive impact on the relationships I made. In the
last week of practicum, students keep asking why I had to leave and
wanting me to stay. This was touching to hear and will dearly miss being
in grade 2/3 at Elm Street School.
.