Educator-Developed Micro-Innovations to Strengthen Student-Teacher Relationships

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Ten
  In Roundtable Session: I Did It My Way: Teachers' Reimaginings of Policy and Practice on the Ground (Table 11)

Abstract

Strong student-teacher relationships have been linked to higher student engagement and achievement, but during Covid-19, many schools faced mass absences, large-scale disengagement, and a drop in students’ grades. For several high schools within one New York City school network, existing lines of communication between students and teachers were not enough. This paper focuses on a critical network-identified problem of practice: Developing strong student-teacher relationships during and after the Covid-19 school closures. In this project, we used a phenomenological approach to interview educators and document their micro-innovations – adaptations and other changes in structures and practices that are new to the contexts in which they developed. Our findings offer ways educators might adapt or develop their own micro-innovations that improve student-teacher relationships.

Authors

• Bianca Licata, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Thomas C. Hatch, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Presenting Author