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Support:
The Along program was primarily designed as a digital tool to be used in a classroom setting, with teachers able to check in on their students daily. The participating mentors confirmed this by recommending that the Along tool be used in a classroom versus strictly the mentoring program. The mentoring program at my school only physically meets with mentees three times a month during designated support time. In addition, the Along program was designed to develop or enhance teacher-student learning partnerships through learning about their mentees’ interests and perspectives to enhance teacher lesson design and instruction. Once the mentors posted an Along reflection, it was instantaneously sent to their mentees for a response. During my study, the mentors utilized school email to remind their mentees to look for and respond to their questions. However, not seeing their mentees daily in class limited the teacher mentors’ ability to effectively use the reflective tool with their mentees. This led to some of the teacher mentors piloting the Along program in their classes. This enabled them to remind their students on a daily basis and make their reflection a required activity or assignment. The teachers did not grade their students on the content of their reflections, but they did require them to participate and respond. The feedback the teachers obtained from their students was positive and that the students enjoyed the ability to make a more authentic connection with their teacher. In addition, the teacher could use their students' interests or background to make their lesson design more engaging and relevant.
Next Steps:
My action research utilizing the Along digital reflective tool to improve or enhance TSRs is the beginning of implementing an Advisory program at my school. I genuinely believe that leveraging TSRs can improve student achievement and motivation for our students. The challenge remains to transcend strong teacher-student connections to enhance student growth mindset, academic grit, and self-efficacy. Along provides all teachers, regardless of social and personal abilities, an intuitive process to improve their ability to connect with their students, especially students outside their cultural lens. More work needs to be done balancing giving our students care and push. Due to the pandemic, we needed to re-engage our students in learning by reducing their stress and focusing on their social-emotional well-being. However, we need to leverage this and focus on supporting our students to take greater responsibility for their learning.
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Research
Design Process
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Thank You!
I would like to thank Napa Learns and the Napa Valley Education Foundation for the monetary support and the opportunity to conduct my action research on teacher-student relationship building. I feel the results of my research will help support all our teachers at St. Helena High School build more authentic connections with our students.
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I also want to thank my incredible cohort that has been with me every step of this journey. Your dedication to improving and enhancing your pedagogy and instruction is truly inspiring and makes me very proud to have you as my colleagues. I would also like to thank Touro University and all the spectacular teachers who supported me through my research design and implementation. Not only are they incredibly knowledgeable, but our professors model the core ideals and learning objectives of Touro University: "To Serve, To Lead, To Teach."
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