*New Course Children have an overwhelming need to be and to feel accepted not only by their peers but also, by their teachers. When students feel they are seen, understood, and respected, they typically are more motivated to work harder and take more academic risks in order to achieve. While you may already be aware of this fact, you may often ask yourself how you can build better relationships with each of your students – especially with growing class sizes! This course investigates the different ways in which you can both implicitly and explicitly communicate the care you have for your students through planning meaningful assignments for various personality types, creating support systems, changing up classroom procedures, and providing thoughtful feedback on assignments. These resources and assignments are meant to encourage you to reflect on your current units and classroom procedures to discover new perspectives and help you improve upon what you already practice (and do well!) each day. Suggested for all educators K-12! Course Objectives: 1. Participants will research how improved teacher-student rapport improves student achievement 2. Participants will consider current classroom procedures and teaching units in order to find ways to improve upon teacher-student communication 3. Participants will learn how to improve rapport with challenging students 4. Participants will learn how to communicate care for students both implicitly and explicitly 5. Participants will learn how to improve written and verbal feedback to enhance teacher-student rapport 6. Participants will gain resources to help improve teacher-student rapport ON-LINE (3 credits/45 hours) In-serice credit only