The On-Your-Feet Guide to Building Authentic Student-Teacher Relationships

This On-Your-Feet Guide provides tested strategies for building authentic relationships with your students. These authentic relationships between students and adults ensure that students know that they are valued, respected, and trusted. Authentic relationships help students grow as individuals and they help educators grow as professionals. And, there is evidence that student-teacher relationships work to improve learning with an effect size of .52, above Hattie’s average effect of .40.

An authentic relationship requires, time, effort, trust, and love. When this bond is built, it is hard for anything to eliminate that. Our goal in this guide is to help you:

• understand the importance of relationships
• identify ways to create productive relationships with students
• identify ways maintain productive relationships with students

On-Your-Feet Guides (OYFGs) provide you with the ultimate “cheat sheet” to implement effective change in your classroom while in the moment of teaching. Designed for accessibility, and providing step-by-step guidance, the OYFGs are written by experts who take research-based practices and make them doable for the busy teacher.

Each On-Your-Feet Guide is laminated, 8.5”x11” tri-fold (6 pages), and 3-hole punched.

Use the On-Your-Feet Guides
• When you know the “what” but need help with the “how”
• As a quick reference to support a practice you learned in a PD workshop or book
• To learn how to implement foundational practices
• When you want to help your students learn a specific strategy, routine, or approach, but aren’t sure how to do it yourself