How to Strengthen Relationships With Older Students Online
During remote instruction, finding authentic moments of connection can be challenging, especially with middle and high school students. Here are five ways to strengthen relationships in virtual settings.
Strong student-teacher relationships can be critically important to how well students learn (Quinn, 2016). To stay connected to your students when you’re teaching remotely, try a simple phone call or hold online office hours. You can also personalize your feedback with audio or video recordings—research shows that this can have a more profound impact than written responses (Ice, Curtis, Phillips, and Wells, 2007). Use your synchronous class time for interactions that can’t happen when you’re not together: discussion, problem-solving, and community building. And finally, make a little time for show-and-tell. Asking students to share something that represents them, their culture, or some activity that they enjoy doing helps them feel known.