Through all of the research, a consistent theme persists – relationships. Creating positive relationships with our students is the foundation from which all else can flourish. My first step towards building this relationship with my students, is taking a minute to really introduce myself.
I thought for a long time about how I should do this. I could just take 5 minutes and talk about myself… but that seemed boring. I would likely just do the usual – “I go to UBC, I studied this, I studied that, I like to do this and that in my spare time.” So, instead, I created a picture presentation that gives life to the things I wanted to say about myself. Through this picture presentation, student’s get to see what I am talking about and the pictures can guide a conversation where students would also get to share about themselves. Perhaps they also have a dog that looks like mine! Maybe they also like to photograph flowers. Maybe they have some on their phone that they would like to show me in that moment.
So here it is, a link to the picture presentation I plan to use on my first day. Enjoy!
