The Value of Relationships in the Classroom

“Syllabus week.” That first week of class when students expect to walk into a class, meet the professor, hear about the course, and get out early. Student expectations for the first day of class may finally be changing. But many professors are still missing an opportunity to do one thing on the first day of class that can have a BIG impact in a learning environment. That thing is building relationships.

When I was in college, professors expected you to come in, sit down, listen, and learn. There was little, if any, recognition of what was happening outside the classroom walls. The only thing students were expected to focus on was the material being delivered. Unfortunately, I still see this expectation play out today. And I think it’s negatively impacting the classroom environment.

In his book How Humans Learn (2018), Joshua R. Eyler, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University, dedicates an entire chapter to the importance of sociality. He argues that “the social world is always a part of the classroom…classrooms themselves are social spaces and essentially microcosms of the world outside their walls. All learning, then, happens in a social context because we are learning with and from one another” (p. 66). I couldn’t agree more.

That’s why I leverage the first day of class to focus on relationships. Relationships between the students themselves, and with me as the professor. Even though I know students may still add or drop the course and there might be new students next week, I reap huge rewards from this approach. I get students talking and participating. I set expectations for more active participation throughout the semester. And, because I focus on relationship-building in a safe and comfortable way, I actually see students’ anxiety about the course decrease.

I do all of this without losing the opportunity to also talk about the syllabus, the course, and who I am as a professor. Are you intrigued? I use an activity called Syllabus Speed Dating. It’s interactive, engaging, and it can be tailored in a variety of ways to work for you. Check out the full explanation in the video below and then give it a try in your own classroom. Let’s starting using “Syllabus Week” for more than just reviewing the syllabus.