Building Relationships with Students: 3 UNIQUE strategies

1. When a student farts, take the blame for it.

This one is going to fast-track you when trying to build relationships with your students.

It happens all the time. Usually in a moment of dead silence. You hear it. Or sometimes worse. You smell it. And so do the kids. Whispers of “who did that?!” circle viciously. And it always seems to be one of two people:

A) Sweetheart Sally who’s so timid and shy that this incident alone might actually make her keel over.

Or…

B) Blushing Billy, the 5th grader who is sitting next to his crush but you didn’t know that when you made the seating chart and you couldn’t really tell if they were happy about it or embarrassed but in this moment you know he’s mortified.

So what do you do, stand by as utter humiliation befalls one of your young comrades? Nay. Your mission is to build relationships with students!

So when you hear “who did that??!” You say proudly, “It was me, please excuse me.”

Either they’ll believe you and have a quick laugh and move on, or they’ll know what you did and respect you that much more for sacrificing your pride for a student. You just saved the day, and that student is now eternally indebted to you.

2. Compromise with Kazoos

Assessing pitch matching is huge in elementary music. Sure, we have tricks to get students singing in small groups or with a partner, but sometimes we just really need to hear a student alone.

*Now, if you’ve already taken the blame for Billy’s fart, you might have built a strong enough relationship that he will sing for you!?

However… asking some students to sing solo is like asking me to do a layup in public. Completely terrifying.

You know what’s not as terrifying as singing a solo? Using a kazoo!

My cooperating teacher had his high school band students sight sing during lessons, and he always gave them the option to use a kazoo. Could he still assess if students were getting the right pitches? Yep! So even though you’ll have to invest in some kazoos that can stand to be sanitized regularly, what you’re really investing in is mercy.

3. Give a Warm Welcome. 100% of the time.

When a student comes in late, don’t automatically assume they are in trouble. If you greet them with skepticism and a tone that insinuates that you think they are in trouble, they’ll shut down and prove you right.

But… if you welcome them with a smile and a “so glad you made it,” they are much more likely to be on task in class AND arrive on time tomorrow. The most budget-friendly classroom community tool? Making everyone feel welcome.

Fresh starts are free.

Just to recap…. You can build relationships with students easily and very inexpensively with 3 simple yet unique strategies.

-Take the blame for their farts.

-Let them use kazoos until they are comfortable enough to sing.

-Give them a warm welcome every day.

I’m a pretty sarcastic person, but sincerely stand by this post!

This week: take a few moments to reflect on how you build trust and relationships with your students and don’t forget to subscribe to Rooted in Rhythm so you don’t miss out on anything! :)

Have a great week, and Godspeed on baked bean days!