How might strengthening relationships with students who are disengaged in my 9th grade Civics class impact their overall level of participation and work completion?

Seminar Title

How might strengthening relationships with students who are disengaged in my 9th grade Civics class impact their overall level of participation and work completion?

Engagement, Relationships, Participation,

9th Grade

High School

Social Studies

All Disciplines

How often is a student disengaged in school? What does disengagement look like? More importantly, what may cause it? Many of us spend a decent amount of time in the day working to get kids to “engage” with their learning. My classroom over the past year had felt distant, and not just because of the pandemic. When kids were there, they were so used to just quickly getting things done and then turning them in. This led to poor work quality and a lack of curiosity for my students. I knew I had to get them to dive in, but how? I studied the effects of strengthening relationships with students who seem to be disengaged in my 9th Grade Civics class. To me, relationships are the most important part of school, and I wanted to try to quantify that in a concrete way. While it may not be a cure all, it certainly helped me to engage more with each student. They knew that I was interested in them, and that they could count on me. It helped me with classroom routines. My main concept was engagement in a high school classroom, but I believe my methods could be applied in many grade levels. My research is not social studies specific, and touches on participation and work completion. Engagement, brain functioning, and relationships are the main topics. I find myself coming up with more questions than answers when I ponder these topics, and I bet you will too. If you are interested in relationship building, engagement, and why students can become disengaged, then this is the session you should join. Feel free to reflect and bring your own experiences to share.