I'm Listening

Book excerpt: "In I'm Listening: How Teacher-Student Relationships Improve Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening, author Beth Pandolpho extolls the virtues of strong student-teacher relationships, explains the numerous beneficial effects of these relationships, and provides a guide to building these relationships. As the author points out, many educators believe that building strong relationships with students is mutually exclusive with ambitious educational experiences and academic criticism. Not only is this untrue, but the opposite is the case. As such, this book demonstrates how educators can intentionally build strong relationships with their students. Through these relationships educators can create a classroom environment that is both welcoming to students and rigorously academic. Along with studying the research and theory that support the author's thesis, readers will also study numerous tools, strategies, and practices that can be utilized in the classroom to effectively build these relationships. Through this book, readers will learn how to create a sensitive, caring, and engaging classroom that will provide students with the support they need to develop emotionally and persevere through difficult and demanding coursework"--