Building relationships with students is so important but building relationships with diverse students can be especially difficult. Here are a few tips to help you build relationships with diverse students.
Get to know them
You can learn so much about your students from just talking to them. Listen more than you talk. Talk with your students about their interests and hobbies Listen more than you talk. Let your students share with you. As you listen, they will let you in. Be yourself. Don’t try to impress them with what you know about their culture, just be you. If you are willing to listen they will teach you about their culture through their conversations with you.
Learn about their culture
Seek out information about your students’ culture. Your students may be willing to tell you about their culture but continue to seek out information on your own. Read books and articles that detail parts of their culture you’d like to understand. Steer clear of pop culture, instead look for facts and information from reliable sources.
Be self-aware of stereotypes and biases
Please don’t make the mistake of believing what you hear in the media about certain cultures. Once you get to know your students, you will find that most of the media stereotypes are false. Be aware of your own biases. Get to know people for who they are not what you’ve been taught or heard,again you will likely find that what you thought was correct about a group of people is wrong.
Just be yourself
The best way to build a relationship with your students is to just be yourself. As you get to know your students you will realize that you have way more in common than you have differences.
Get to know your students, learn about their cultures, be self-aware of your of stereotypes and biases and be yourself, these are the just a few ways to get build relationships with diverse students.
