Rapport Before Instruction: Why Connection Comes First
Every school has that class that teachers quietly dread. In a certain secondary school, it was JSS 2B. Lessons began with noise, ended with noise and were mostly noise in between 😅. Teachers raised their voices, sent learners out and filled the punishment register. Then a new English teacher, Mrs Okafor (a pseudonym), took over the class. She did not shout. On her first day, she stood at the door and greeted each learner by name. She noticed that Emeka (a pseudonym), the loudest boy in the room, carried football boots everywhere, and she asked him about his team. She smiled, she listened, and she held firm to the few rules she set. Within a month, JSS 2B was a different class. A colleague finally asked her, half joking, "What did you do to them?" Her answer was simple: "I got to know them before I tried to teach them." What Is Rapport, and Why Does It Matter? Rapport is the sense of connection and mutual understanding between two people. Tickle-Degnen and Rosenthal...