I’ve long said that the foundation of personalized learning is strong relationships between teachers and students.  Yes, we want to tailor curriculum and tasks to the unique developmental range of each student.  Yes, we aspire to provide differentiated and small group instruction based on what our formative assessment is telling us about our students’ individual learning needs.  But going deep on the technical aspects of our instructional practices is not enough.  Even more essential than those personalizing pedagogies is the longstanding and simple need for students to know that the teacher is genuinely invested in his or her success and growth.

Strong relationships in the classroom are not an accident.  Sometimes major structural shifts are required.  Many schools organize the master schedule around advisory periods as a strategy to expose students to a curriculum whose stated purpose is to help students explore interests, deepen relationships, and reflect on challenges and strategies for overcoming adversity.  In other schools, students are organized into “houses” or small learning communities where they progress through courses as a cohort, often over several years.  This allows students to feel a sense of belonging and identity within the broader context of our often large school campuses.

Many schools are deliberate about ensuring every student has meaningful, supportive relationships with adults on campus.  Many teachers would be familiar with the practice of relationship mapping, where adult staff systematically review the list of all students to discover which students may be experiencing school without a strong adult relationship or mentor amongst the adults on campus.  Other schools are more deliberate and systematic in ensuring all students have access to a mentor on staff, whether it be the principal or a member of the custodial team or front office team.    

Even in a school setting where relationship building is not a core priority of administration or even amongst colleagues, there are many strategies teachers can use within their own classroom to promote a sense of belonging amongst students.  Most teachers invest some amount of time at the beginning of the school year to get to know their students.  Some of the more common practices are questionnaires and student scavenger hunts designed to reveal details about the lives of fellow students.  This is a good start, but too often these efforts are not sustained and tend to remain superficial.  A stronger approach is to create a classroom where academic discourse and meaningful reflection and sharing is a regular practice.  Dialectic journals, socratic seminars, and student-driven inquiry projects all provide opportunities for students to reveal themselves and explore there unique histories and perspectives.  Of course it can take time and a lot of practice to create a classroom culture where authentic sharing is possible – but it is always worth the effort.

Of course not all SEL needs can be met in the classroom.  Our schools will increasingly have to invest in the professional personnel and services required to meet the mental health and trauma-induced needs of our students.  Yet we already know that such specialized services will not likely be enough.  We need personalizing pedagogies in the classroom to equip our students with the tools and skills necessary to stay strong emotionally, intellectually, and physically.

It won’t surprise anyone that the start of school has always been one of my favorite times of the year.  I love the sense of a fresh start and new possibilities.  I love seeing friends and family post pictures of their kids heading back to school.

As a teacher, you know how important the beginning of school can be to launching a successful year.  When I was still teaching, you couldn’t keep me out of my classroom a week or two before classes were scheduled to start.  As principal architect of the learning space, I returned each year with new ideas and plans to make the learning experience more meaningful.  I put up new artwork on the walls, redesigned centers and access to learning resources, and worked to make the physical space reinforce the day to day practices students would experience in my classroom.  Once students actually arrived on day one, my highest priority was to learn students’ names as quickly as possible – it made a huge difference in building relationships quickly, and my students were always surprised when they came in the door on day two and I greeted them by name.   Yesterday, I saw a teacher who was taking time to not only learn student names, but encouraging students to share the story of their names.  It’s a great practice to get students talking on day one while simultaneously celebrating each student’s unique history.

As a principal, the first day of school was an all-out celebration.  We brought the entire staff into the school entryway to welcome students as they came in the front doors.  Student leadership posted welcoming messages all around the building.  In Santa Ana, our principals have a similar approach, with students being welcomed by cheering administrators, school mascot themed selfie-stations, and relationship-building activities throughout the day.  Some schools literally roll out the red carpet.

And when you think about it, having our students come back to school really is a celebration.  Without them, we don’t have a school, or a job, or a profession.  They are quite literally our raison d’etre.  Imagine how our schools would be transformed if every student really felt that sense of belonging and importance on a deep level.  Imagine if every student, every day, knew without question that the adults on campus were over the moon just to have them there.  This first week back at school is when the energy and enthusiasm is perhaps at its highest – it’s the time we come closest to realizing our aspiration of truly student-centered schools.