Virtual Professional Learning Module

Peer Relationships

Student to student relationships are key to building student’s social engagement. Allowing students time to converse, learn and grow alongside each other fosters these relationships. Some activities that foster these relationships are social reading, group work and discussions, peer evaluation, and utilizing technology for collaboration with blogs or classroom Twitter feeds.

 

Student-Teacher Relationships

Wanders et al. (2019) discovered that “Students who perceive their teacher as caring, listening, fair and understanding are expected to be more motivated to interact, discuss and participate in class” (p. 269). These positive interactions encourage students to feel safe in the classroom and in expressing themselves within the classroom.

 

Social Responsibility

Civic engagements and social projects provide opportunities for students to expand their learning outside of the classroom walls. According to Wanders et al. (2019), “Societal involvement is considered an important condition for becoming an active and responsible citizen who contributes to his or her community and to society as a whole” (p. 277). This understanding of social responsibility has led to schools across the country implementing character-building lessons and service-learning projects to engage students’ social learning. 

 

Confidence in Activities and Procedures

Students who are aware of and understand classroom procedures find comfort in the expected. By establishing clear guidelines and procedures for classroom interactions and sticking to them, students know what is expected of their behavior and feel more comfortable expressing themselves within the classroom.