establishing rapport
what is the best forum, or an acceptable forum for establishing rapport with your students outside the classroom? what has worked for you in the past and can you suggest some techniques that you have seen that are absolutely a bad idea.
Hi Catherine,
Good way to expand your rapport with your students. This is so valuable for students in keeping them in school and moving forward with their careers.
I agree with you about the socializing off campus. This is not a good practice since you want to make sure to maintain the professional distance required by our position.
Gary
I establish rapport with my students when I see them in the hallways or student lounge. I try to always make time to say Hello, and to ask them how they are doing. Sometimes I will sit down with them in the lounge and chat. My students also know that they can call me if they have a question or problem. I feel it is important to connect with the students and assure them that you are there for them when needed. ( Within reasonable hours of course.)
I have seen several methods that don't work. Like: Meeting with students off campus for socializing. Not a good idea.
Hi Sandy,
You can set guidelines for them sharing information with you. For example you can let them know you are there to be supportive to them in their student lives. This means that the things they share about their personal lives needs to be directly related to their studies. These simple ground rules will help prevent you being dumped on about situations that are not within any of your ability to help them with except to refer them to Student Services.
Gary
I teach in both the onground and the online environments and have found that there is a fine line between establishing rapport with the students and allowing them to use me as a source to vent to. Is there a kind way to let them know I am not comfortable having too much information regarding their personal lives?
Hi Billie,
This is a great way to connect with your students through the online format. You are developing rapport by distance and they appreciate the fact that you are trying to do so. Keep up your great efforts.
Gary
I now teach in the online environment. Because I have weekly journal that my students submit, I use this to help establish a repport between the student and myself. They can talk about anything, and I just let them know that I read the entry by my response to them. I may offer advise or just let them know that in my lifetime I have had a similar experience. We can also use the discussion area responses to let students establish a rapport within the class because they have similar thoughts and values about many things.
I've not explored establishing a relationship outside of the classroom. At the core of good classroom experience (online or live) is the phenomenon of rapport. I think that I have to be more mindful of making sure I am reaching out to students (good communication) in the online environment as there is no real way to “read†student (get feedback) as quickly as one can in a live classroom setting. I think that there is truth in the fact that the interactive nature of the teaching process is built on a social relationship between teacher and students. I was reading an article the other day on student feedback of their learning (education) experience. The gist of the commentary was that although learners mentioned well-designed textbooks and a good curriculum as positive forces, their true enthusiasm is reserved for their teachers and the relationships the teacher establishes with them. In my experience, rapport absolutely enhances learning in that students are more likely to enjoy the class and put more effort into the course.
Hi James,
I'm not really sure what you are asking in terms of establishing rapport with students outside of the classroom. Can you expand on this?
Outside of the classroom I meet with my students on an individual basis in my office to discuss their status in the class and if needed help them with their job searches, etc.. That is my only contact outside of the classroom. In the classroom I work to establish rapport through interaction with them in discussions, and small groups.
Gary
