Strategies & Approaches to Engage Reluctant Students



We used our time to explore ways to build relationships and make connections with students through the lens of Dr. Jody Carrington’s work.

We exchanged activities, questions and cues to try and then reflected / refined approaches each time we met. As we did this work, students commented that “Nobody has ever asked me about ME before.” The students’ words were a reminder of why we need to stay curious and keep doing this work. Although relationships take time to build, we noticed that the commitment to putting relationships ahead of curriculum allowed us to be more productive with students academically in the long run. We both work very hard to keep the focus on relationships at the start of our time with students, and try to build that as we move throughout the year. Keeping relationships in the forefront of our minds helps our practice remain positive as we continue with the challenges and frustrations that arise while learning, both our own learning, and our students’.