Teacher Student Relationship Teaching Resources

Build a positive teacher student relationship this school year with teaching resources created by teachers to help you communicate effectively with your students and ensure they feel safe and comfortable communicating with you.

From printable forms that allow students to share their learning preferences with you to printable gift tags to celebrate student birthdays, this collection of teacher-created resources is packed with resources and ideas from our team of expert elementary and middle school teachers.

Are you looking for fresh ideas and tips on how to build a positive teacher-student relationship? Read on for some advice from the experienced teachers of the Teach Starter team!

What Is a Teacher-Student Relationship and Why Does It Matter?

We realize the name may say it all here, but let's probe a little deeper. Yes, this term refers to the refers to the dynamic and interaction between a teacher and a student.

But it's so much more than that! The relationship between you and each child is made up of the communication, mutual understanding and the connections that have been established between the two parties. This relationship plays a crucial role in the learning process for your students and has a significant impact on everything from their academic performance to their engagement with your instruction to their overall well-being.

You've probably noticed this section of Teach Starter's vast collection of teaching resources falls under classroom management.

That's because a teacher-student relationship really sits at the heart of your classroom management planning. If you can't create a rapport with your students, the rest of it likely falls apart.

On the other hand, a teacher-student relationship that has been built up to ensure your students feel valued and heard in the classroom, as well as safe, can go a long, long way toward making the year a positive one for you both!

Just like any two people who spend time together, a teacher and a student need more than a shared amount of time and space to be successful. Here are just a few of the ways a solid teacher-student relationship will help you and your students:

1. Increased student motivation — A student who feels cared for by a teacher and likes that teacher is more compelled to engage in class activities and individual work. 
2. Fewer absences — When students have a positive relationship with a teacher, studies show they are also more likely to attend school.  
3. Improved student trajectories — Connecting with your students now has been shown to positively impact both their current and future academic achievement, even years after leaving your classroom. It really does just take that one teacher to make a difference. 
4. Better teaching — It’s true! Studies show that teachers who have good relationships with their classes engage in more high-impact teaching practices.

So how do you make this happen? And what do you do if you hit a rocky patch with a student? Read on for tips on building and improving student relationships!

How to Build a Relationship With Your Students

The relationship between you and your students starts on the very first day of school when they walk into your classroom, and like most relationships we have in life, it takes work!

Here are some important things to remember:

1. Respect must go both ways. Simply saying please and thank you, for example, shows you respect them as humans.
2. Apologize when you make mistakes. It's a great way to role model the behavior.
3. Don't be afraid to have a little fun when it's appropriate. You are not their friend, but you are human!
4. Show an interest in your students' personal lives. Ask about their pets, their sports games or even that video game fascination.
5. Ask how their day is going or how their weekend went. 
6. LISTEN!
7. Remember that children who misbehave are not (usually) doing it simply to make you angry. Look for the root cause, and seek help if you need it. Students will often struggle academically when they have unmet basic needs.
8. Incorporate social emotional development into your instruction. This will help your students build their own relationship skills.
9. Be consistent.
10. Don't play favorites. You may have a favorite student on the inside, but students should never be able to tell.
11. Differentiate instruction. It's something you should be doing anyway, but it is also part of showing students they are supported in your classroom.
12. Find what's special about a student, and build on it.
13. Institute a morning meeting to build a class community.

Even your classroom bulletin boards can play a role in building a positive relationship with your students. 

How to Improve the Teacher Student Relationship

OK, but what if you're past that initial phase, and you and a particular child are not working well together? It happens. Sometimes you need a little help to get things back on track.

1. Take time to reflect. We're certainly not saying it's all your fault, but it's important to sit back and reflect on what the relationship has been like so far to see if there are any ways you can improve how you approach the student.
2. Seek the feedback of other members of the staff. Is there a social worker on staff who the child has seen? Do you have a co-teacher, or might the child's last teacher offer some advice? An outsider may give you a fresh perspective.
3. Learn more about them, and use it. You may find connection in the most unlikely places, such as a mutual love of pandas. Or you may find out that they are particularly talented at something that you can then foster.
4. Talk to the child's caregivers. Having a collaborative relationship with parents or guardians can help you identify where you might be able to improve the one you have with a student.
5. Use positive reinforcement. When a child has only heard negative things out of a teacher's mouth — even if they were warranted — a fresh and positive approach can help reframe the relationship as well as their own feelings about themselves.