My 13 year old daughter has talked for several years about how much she loved her 5th grade teacher. I asked her what she liked about her. Her response: “She liked US!” So simple… yet so profound. Kids gravitate to the teachers that like them. They can tell.
5 tips for building class climate:
1)Talk to kids when they walk into class.
2) Learn 1 thing about each student.
3) Praise publicly and criticize privately.
4) Apologize when needed.
5) Don’t take yourself too seriously.