What makes a relationship work? What do I have to do to make this a real thing in my Canvas class? Each of the students that I am involved with come from all different backgrounds and cultures. By having multiple personalities all together in one room the possibilities are endless on what kind of relationships will exist. I recently read an article about building positive relationships with your students and making it personal. When we do this we can focus more on them and their personal needs. I have come to realize this can be game-changing for relationship building. If I recognize their needs, it can only help me become better at helping them, working with them, and them being willing to share themselves with me. My desire to get to know my students has driven just about everything I have done this semester in my Canvas classroom. Whether it is by pushing them to new heights or letting them push me to new heights, the end result is a relationship that binds us together to achieve the best results possible. That is my goal as their “educator” for this project. Let’s see how it is evolving! Let’s cross this bridge! Let’s get these relationships built!
Week 11 really is here – Let’s build.
Monday’s Bell Ringer starts us off with a new week of building those relationships by getting to know how they think of themselves. Let’s jump in!
Instructions to the students
Student responses
Following her post about being “complicated” were her classmate’s responses and here we have a conversation. Lovely to see as the students started to relate and communicate with each other.
Another response with conversation
When I read all the responses from the students I was literally blown away.
When we have to try to encapsulate ourselves for others to see us as we want to be seen it becomes really hard to pin it down. Myself, I am not sure what one word would be me, so when they came up with one they felt strongly attached to and gave the reason why- I was truly impressed. Not just because they did it but because they felt it said something about them. They were not ashamed or worried about what someone would say about the choice they made. The way the classmates reacted and responded to one another was truly a positive action. I have always said that words have power, a lot of power. They give credence to people and their actions. Words describe, thereby giving mental pictures almost automatically. When we use words with gusto we give ourselves a “standing ovation” because we are playing to a crowd, whether silently or verbally. Everything has a connection to building that relationship I am working on with these kids.
Building continues with word power-up
Working with words continues. Recognizing that more than one word can mean the same idea was something I wanted to instill in them. I wanted them to stretch their vocabulary and use stronger words to get their ideas across. When they write, students typically stay with the same words so I wanted to work to change that.
Once again I was impressed by my student’s abilities to come up with new words. The fact is that it was challenging. I looked at the list and thought, oh my, this is hard, but they came through like shining stars. It was intriguing to see some of the same words show up for more than one entry but to be expected. The great part was not one of them went back in and edited their responses to put in words they did not come up with. They could not see what others had done till they posted. If they had edited once they were in the post, it shows me when they did it. I saw none of that happening here. I learned new words from them. Building word bridges is fun indeed.
Now that the foundation to our bridge is being built let’s move to some integral structuring.
Next assignment: I really wanted them to think not of themselves, but yet of themselves. Let’s go in and see what transpired, shall we?
Reading various student’s posts about the concept of dignity was euphoric. I tried to find quotes that fit what they were thinking and saying to me. I wanted them to know that people were very aware of the dignity issue surrounding society, and the importance it has in someone’s life. Dignity was not a concept they had ever approached as part of their make-up as a person, but after watching this short video (There were three others to watch if they wanted to), they were uplifted and enjoyed this activity.
The power of words to build bridges will give everyone a sure foundation
When reviewing this assignment I was pleasantly surprised with the student’s takeaways. I had hoped they would pick up on the ideas that were talked about within the article on reiterating your thought patterns by reusing the same idea: the power of three. Example: You are strong. You are invincible. You are relevant. However, while some did, most were like these examples shown above. Responses were impressive and made me realize that they think differently than I do, or expect them to. That was really cool. The wonder of it was the engagement that was present. For most assignments, I look to have at least 10 people actively in the DB, but this one had 14 responses. We were improving our participation. Total win.
Relational bridges continue to be built
Moving away from words now into the forthcoming election. How informed were they? Did they even care? As juniors and seniors, I felt it was of major importance for them to be involved in knowing what was happing around the country. Let’s see what kind of thinking they had.
The preface to this assignment ran along the lines of “Because you can’t vote, does this election mean anything to you and your future? Do you know who is running? Do you understand the candidate’s platform of issues? Why should this all matter to you?” Responses are unedited and I did not give any feedback. I just let them talk, and talk they did!
Student responses: and yes, I posted many of them. They deserve to be read.
There were more responses from the class but this is the gist. Did they give me really constructive responses, some did, being honest about it, overall they had a negative attitude. That saddened me. However, after reading their entries, we had some great classroom face-to-face discussions as I called them out on what they posted. At one point it became heated and argumentive in nature, and one girl, Erica said, “Ms. A, you don’t want me posting. I got lots to say, and most are not gonna like what I say.” My response was, “Go get ’em!”. She did.
Closing out: I think we built a bridge.
Overall, I was pleased. Relationships take time and we are working on it every day. Some days we have amazing success and other days are not so accommodating to my efforts. All that I have showcased here shows my student’s efforts on many levels, whether it was just vocabulary, an in-depth thought about themselves with introspection, or about the world around them through the lens of politics. Conversations happened. The goal was reached. The whole purpose of this Canvas class is to enlarge my student’s perceptions of the world, themselves, and their fellow classmates.
Did this happen this week? I do believe so.
Once again, all entries by students are with their permission. They are proud of themselves (as they should be) and they do not mind sharing with you. Feel free to comment on any of it whether positive or negative.
Older and Hopefully Wiser 