Keetee

When I teach hands-on training sessions, I place a lot of emphasis on relationship-building with my students. In this post, I outline five steps to make it happen and explain why it’s a good thing.

The Five Ways

1. Put in one-on-one time

Take time out during your session to give students personal attention, even if they don’t ask for it. In large classes, break students into groups and address each group individually. When you speak with students directly, rather than “at” them through lecturing, you expand their comfort zones—they’ll be more inclined to ask you questions during class and seek help from you outside of it.

2. Be prepared and confident

Knowing the structure of your class can be as important as knowledge of the material. When students get the impression you’re bumbling through a training session, they may become disinterested, question your credibility, or feel like you’re wasting their time.

3. Be available

Take every opportunity to remind students that you’re available, both verbally and through your actions. Tell students to let you know if they have further questions when you speak with them one-on-one or answer their e-mails. Avoid procrastinating on e-mail responses and automate your lessons (see #4) so that you’re free to help in class.

4. Automate

Take advantage of being in a computer lab by using the computers to teach your lesson—create documents containing step-by-step instructions that you would have otherwise lectured. Have students follow these steps while you “patrol” for those requiring help. This will prevent the whole class from being stopped by a few slow students, allow for your increased availability, and make students more comfortable with asking questions.

5. Smile

When you’re lecturing, students often stare blankly at you and give no indication as to whether they understand what you’re saying. Responding with a great big smile is one great, easy way to warm them up. If you seem happy and excited to be teaching them, they’re much more likely to feel the same way about learning.

My Result

At the end of every semester, my department asks students to evaluate their lab session. Here are a few quotes that demonstrate my success in using the five ways:

She was amazing! She was so willing to help us whenever needed and went above and beyond to make sure that we knew what we were doing and could complete the assignments!

If it wasn’t for your extra help, I never would have understood some of those lab assignments—so thank you! Allison is very knowledgeable and helpful!

Allison really wanted you to learn in the lab and would do anything to help. She made me look forward to coming to the lab each week.

To summarize, building good relationships with your students → better understanding of the material → better measured performance on everyone’s part.