Tips for Student Engagement

and Relationship Building

Orpheus Williams
Principal, KIPP STAR Middle School

Debon Lewis
Principal, KIPP AMP Middle School

What Works in Urban Schools

January 21, 2012
NYU Kimmel Center
www.whatworksined.org

Are you Connected? Are they Engaged?

AIM #1 TWBAT discover and discuss effective strategies to build (and/or

strengthen) their relationships with their students.
AIM #2 = TWBAT examine and refine their mindset and rationale for achieving
100% engagement in their classes.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE #1: Always pick up the mirror before you pick up the magnifying glass.--Susan
Winston

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE #2: Every word and action to a child sends a message. Tomorrow, listen to what you
say______________________________________________________________________________
to your kids and tune in to the messages your sending. Are they messages that say: You have permanent
traits and Im judging them? Or are they messages that say youre a developing person and Im interested in
______________________________________________________________________________
your
development? -- Carol Dweck

Do Now:

(60 sec) Think back for a moment to the best teachers you ever had. What about them inspired
you? Made you trust them? Made them so memorable to you? (Turn & Talk 90 sec each)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
How many of you had answers to the Do-Now that aligned with their answers? If we remember what
kids still know as true, why are these experiences so hard to reproduce?

(90 sec) Now lets turn to ourselves. Are we as good as our favorite teacher? Can we be even
better? When your students and/or kids look back and describe you, what are the first two
adjectives you would want them to use?
1) __________________________
How about the next two?

2) __________________________

3) __________________________

4) __________________________

How about two more?

5) __________________________

6) __________________________
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(60 sec) What teacher traits do you think build the strongest relationships with kids?

(5 min) Review of Saphiers 8 key teacher traits for building relationships:

o 1)

o 2)

o 3)

o 4)

o 5)

o 6)

o 7)

o 8)

Fairness
_____________________________________________________
Appearance
_____________________________________________________
Humor
_____________________________________________________
Courtesy
_____________________________________________________
Respect
_____________________________________________________
Realness
_____________________________________________________
Re-establishing Contact (following negative interactions)
_____________________________________________________
Active Listening
_____________________________________________________

(5 min) Review of 5 Maxwells 5 Levels of Relationship Building

(90 sec) So what gets in the way of becoming the teacher you want to be? Can you come up with at least
5 obstacles toward achieving your goals for this year?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3 variables to high student engagement [J-FACTOR, RATIO, HOW YOU MOVE]:

+ (5 min) J-FACTOR

Quiz

1. The J in J-Factor stands for ________________

2. At 4:30 PM (or whatever your end time is) every day, what percentage of your scholars will be
smiling?
3. Which of the following have you witnessed in your old school?
a. Principal doing somersault in the cafeteria
b. Deans jump roping while blowing whistles in the hallway
c. Scholars competing to out hop each other while wearing crazy socks
d. Teacher dressed as Dr. Seuss
+ (5 min) RATIO

Maintain outstanding ratios: (positive interactions to negative ones, time we spend

talking/thinking to the students talking/thinking, work we do in a class period to the
work done by students, guided practice to independent practice; structured, deliberate, and rigorous
feedback on academic work/progress to no feedback, higher level questioning to lower level questioning,
varied questioning techniques to static questioning, independent choices to guided choices, in class
interactions to out of class, specific praise vs. corrective comments, etc)

The Ratio in Action

a. Opening routine (entrance, do now, hw check) no more than 20% of class
i. 45 minute class 9 minutes
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ii. 75 minute class 15 minutes (although it seems logical that this should still be
~9 minutes)
iii. Remember this includes completing entrance do now, going over do now, and
whatever HW checking routine exists
b. Intro to new material/guided practice ~ 25% of the class
i. 45 minute class 11.5 minutes
ii. 75 minute class 18.75 minutes
iii. Remember this means SMART aims/objectives
c. Independent Practice equal to or greater than 30% of the class
i. 45 minute class 13.5 minutes
ii. 75 minute class 22.5 minutes
iii. At least 5 keys here:
1. As mentioned above SMART Aims
2. Lesson plans that clear map out IP
3. Teachers are using this time to work with individual and small groups of
kids
4. Stamina needs to be built and taught
5. Super clear routines and expectations also need to be in place.
d. Review of Independent Practice/Evaluation/closure ~ 20% of class
i. 45 minute class 9 minutes
ii. 75 minute class 15 minutes
e. Transitions, HW distribution, exit, etc ~ 5%
i. 45 minute class 2.25 minutes
ii. 75 minute class 3.75 minutes

+(7 min) The Head Fake HOW YOU MOVE

Transparency around Time

o _______________________________________________________________
o _______________________________________________________________

Pacing
o _______________________________________________________________
o _______________________________________________________________

Momentum
o _______________________________________________________________
o _______________________________________________________________
5

Routines
o _______________________________________________________________
o _______________________________________________________________

Space
o _______________________________________________________________
o _______________________________________________________________

(3 Min) PUBLIC VICTORY-PRIVATE VICTORY

What 2 - 3 ultra specifics (both tangible and intangible) will you commit yourself to
in order to build your capacity for better student relationships and student engagement?
J-Factor
1) _______________________________________________________________________
2) _______________________________________________________________________
3) _______________________________________________________________________

Ratio
4) _______________________________________________________________________
5) _______________________________________________________________________
6) _______________________________________________________________________
How You Move
7) _______________________________________________________________________
8) _______________________________________________________________________
9) _______________________________________________________________________

*Q & A via email

o Debon Lewis (dlewis@kippamp.org)
o Orpheus Williams (owilliams@kippnyc.org)
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