Building Relationships with Students: Social Norm/Dynamic Improvement

Research has shown that positive teacher-student relationships enable students to feel safe and secure in their learning environments and provide scaffolding for important social and academic skills (Silver, Measelle, Armstron, & Essex, 2005). In this study, I examined how to facilitate the improvement of social norms and dynamics as a result of positive relationships between teacher and student and among other students. Within this study, social norms and dynamics refer to the shared standard of acceptable behavior inside the school building. Teachers who show they are supportive to students in the learning environment can positively impact their social and academic abilities , which is important for success in the of scho[LN1] ol building (Baker et al., 2008; O’Connor et al., 2011; Silver et al., 2005). Teachers are able to show their support through relationships which will lead again to their social norms/behaviors to improve. The data for this study was collected in a middle school classroom analyzed through field notes, student work samples, brain break activities, and observation notes. The results of this study suggest that positive relationships in the classroom enhance behavior and respect for the social norms and dynamics. These findings are significant to the field of education because they can demonstrate the ways in which teachers can improve student behavior and respect for individuals throughout the school building through building relationships with students.