Rapport
In a technical setting with wide diversity of students it can be difficult to build rapport. To get a rapid start in the correct direction what teaching strategies do you recommend.
If you can respond to the smallest detail in a student’s life they have shared with you, and later ask that student about what they talked about that student knows you heard them. Students must be able to share their lives and they must know their instructor cares.
Hi Craig,
What a great way to set a comfortable and supportive environment for your students. They can settle in and discuss the events of the day and see how what they are studying is relevant to their lives.
Gary
To build rapport I start by telling the students my history on the first day of class, as well as theirs. I will joke around with them in an effort to reduce the tension. Another thing I do is announce the story of the day that I pick out from the news. This will lead to some lighthearted discussions which ultimately give me an insight about my students.
At the beginning of the first day of class, I always begin with an introduction of myself and a background of my education and work experience. However, during this introduction I share my failures and some pretty funny stories along the way that can relate to the young or older adult learner. It seems to open them up to me and they feel more relaxed.
Hi Savitri,
Good way to open up a new class with introductions and interaction. This way the students will know more about the entire class once everyone has shared what they learned from talking with two other students.
Gary
For classes about 35 students, I give students a question where they will have to find something personal about 2 of their classmates sitting next to each other. They will have to share that information in about 5 minutes depending on the class instruction time.
This works since students are not familiar who is sitting next to them.
What do you suggest for large forum classes?
Hi Arthur,
The key to developing rapport is to be able to chat with a student a few seconds about something of common interest. If you can talk a bit with students before class during breaks, or any other time that is convenient this helps to build rapport. Also, in the first class meeting where students introduce themselves you can learn about their past experiences and use this information to start talking with students. Try and talk individually with each student each day sometime during the class or lab.
Gary
