Building Bridges: Engaging Students at Risk Through the Power of Relationships (Building Trust and Positive Student-Teacher Relationships)

by Don Parker

Research shows that discipline problems are prevalent in public schools and continue to be one of the greatest challenges in education. In Building Bridges , author Dr. Don Parker shows educators how to address this issue head-on. He shares an array of evidence-based strategies to build teacher-student relationships and create a welcoming learning environment that fosters student engagement, motivation, and achievement. Support students at risk by creating a positive school culture and building
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Develop the Mindset
Chapter 2: Show That You Care
Chapter 3: Establish a Culture for Learning
Chapter 4: Don't Take Bad Behavior Personally
Chapter 5: Create an Effective Classroom Management Plan
Chapter 6: Connect Through Content
Chapter 7: Use the Back Door
Chapter 8: Take an Ecological Approach
Chapter 9: Develop Empathy
Chapter 10: Teach Life Skills and Give Students Hope
Chapter 11: Build Students' Self-Esteem
Chapter 12: Get to the Root of the Problem
Chapter 13: Communicate With Your Heart
Chapter 14: Open Up
Chapter 15: Seal the Bond and Provide Effective Feedback
Epilogue
References and Resources
Index

200 pages, Perfect Paperback

Published May 3, 2019

Reviews

[Matthew Sypniewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I met Mr. Parker during professional development days at my school. He is a nice guy, sincere, he means well. But that does not make his book solid gold. Like many modern teaching books it emphasizes building relationships with students to help deal with their problems. This is a good idea in theory. But the book is just that, theory bit is not based in any reality I know, sure academic based studies are nice but in the day to day its flaw is that its written from an administrator's viewpoint, not a teachers. It has some food for thought but the actual execution and ignoring that teachers as humans have a life and cannot "Be positive" 24/7 cause we have our own challenges, and a lot of those is the red tape that we get bogged down with as required by the job, under the current dreadful conditions. Positivity becomes toxic when you have a profession fraught with burnout due to horrid conditions and many other factors like the current rights of teachers in some states and you have another great set of ideas that can't work in the current climate of the profession. The examples of success forget the show the actual failures that are inherent to "making relationships" with students. Again the public wants the teacher to be a selfless plaster saint, as opposed to a professional. The boundaries in the book get blurred on how a teacher is supposed to be able to form close relationships with so many trouble students. While I feel we must try this book emphasizes relationships too much without having a frank discussion of all the pitfalls to this endeavor. Its not real world enough.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish - this was for professional development and I did not find it helpful at all. It never actually answers the question it raises.