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Intentional Connection: What Matters Most


The 2014-2015 school year remains a blur in my memory: a hazy conglomerate of assessments, melt-downs, and grading. Of course, the school year also introduced me to more than 100 unique adolescent faces to appreciate. Those faces emerge out of the haze as the silver lining of teaching in a state that devalues teachers in this anxiety-ridden educational era.

Even though I still believe that creating meaningful connections with students is a strength of mine, I began this summer with a piercing guilt. I questioned whether I knew my students well enough to serve their needs; I wondered if they felt like they were a person in my class, not just a name on my roster.

And then, I decided to attend the U3Unconference at MNU, which featured Dr. Michael Wesch. His message hit home: teaching starts with creating communities. He challenged me to learn my students’ superpowers. He urged me to start my planning with the question “Who?”, not “What?”. He inspired me to ask my students who they wanted to become and how I could help them. He demanded that I ask myself how my students should change because of the time I spend with them. He knew exactly what I needed to hear.
My self-serving summer guilt morphed into goal-orientated motivation as I attended the second day of the Unconference, in which I spent time with a small group of elementary and alternative education teachers exploring the topic of meeting student needs beyond the intellectualFrom this professional conversation and my individual reflection, this blog post was born. What is more important is that I am committing myself to an intentional planning process to connect with each student, just as I plan the instructional components of my class. After all, research shows teachers who develop connections to students are more effective than those who just deliver pedagogically sound lessons to those who happen to be in their rooms.

Any good teacher knows to begin with the end in mind, so my planning process started by envisioning May 2016. I confronted the questions Dr. Michael Wesch posed, and allowed myself to visualize those last days of the 2015-2016 school year, which invariably transported back in time to first days in August. As an English teacher who spent hours of her childhood in libraries and years of her life with her nose in a book, I designed a metaphorical set of book ends:

August 2015
1.    Write a letter to me in response to my letter to you.
·         While you can approach the letter any way you would like, you must address the following questions:
·   Who are you? What do you like/dislike? What’s important to you? What are your superpowers (what are you good at)? What’s your kryptonite (what are your weaknesses/what’s hard for you)?
·   Who do you want to become by the end of this school year? By the end of high school? By the end of your life? How I could help?
2.    Draft six-word memoirs from your letter.
·         You will use key words/phrases from your letter to create several six-word memoirs to capture who you are as we work on improving word choice. 
3.    Select your best six-word memoir: Juxtapose it with a picture (self-created or found--but no words).
·         I will create a class video featuring your six-word memoirs, as well as my own.
4.    Place your six-word memoir in an envelope that you will receive back in May.

May 2016
1.    I will hand back your envelope.
2.    Write a letter to me explaining how the year has changed you/how you would revise the six-word memoir.

I know that this set of bookends is just a start on my journey to be more intentional about student connection. But, I think it’s a solid base on which I can build authentic relationships.


So, what are your techniques for building connections with students? I’d love to hear what I can place in between my book ends!


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