Unconditional Positive Regard helps students feel cared for, appreciated, heard and valued.
Unconditional positive regard connects with the concept of “unconditional teaching”. Traditionally, schools have promoted a kind of conditional acceptance when they elevate achievement and obedience rather than building community and relationships. Unconditional teachers accept students for who they are, not what they do.
We accept them for who they are!
I make sure to tell my students that I care about them, regardless of what they accomplish or achieve in our academic work together. I also show them that I care about them, no matter what.
Sometimes unconditional positive regard is just as simple as how we greet our students when they are late to class: how I greet them can communicate either my unconditional care or my lack of regard. If I don’t have unconditional positive regard, I might roll my eyes and sarcastically say, “Nice of you to show up.” This response tells students that I care about them only as long as they meet my expectations. Otherwise, they are an inconvenience. Even if I don’t mean to communicate this, small moments add up. If students comes to my class and I roll my eyes, if they go into the hallway and are told to take off their hat, if they sit down at lunch and are warned to speak more quietly, then the cumulative message of school is that orderliness is the most important thing.
Instead, I can greet my student with “Hey! It’s great to see you today. Settle in a minute and then I’ll catch you up.” When we work from unconditional positive regard, the message is that I value you for who you are, not what you do or how you do it. This doesn’t mean that I won’t address attendance issues later, but my priority when my students arrive isn’t to scold them about compliance. My priority is to greet them in a way that says they matter and that their presence is more important than how fast they got here.
Unconditional positive regard connects with the concept of “unconditional teaching”. Traditionally, schools have promoted a kind of conditional acceptance when they elevate achievement and obedience rather than building community and relationships. Unconditional teachers accept students for who they are, not what they do.
We accept them for who they are!
I make sure to tell my students that I care about them, regardless of what they accomplish or achieve in our academic work together. I also show them that I care about them, no matter what.
Sometimes unconditional positive regard is just as simple as how we greet our students when they are late to class: how I greet them can communicate either my unconditional care or my lack of regard. If I don’t have unconditional positive regard, I might roll my eyes and sarcastically say, “Nice of you to show up.” This response tells students that I care about them only as long as they meet my expectations. Otherwise, they are an inconvenience. Even if I don’t mean to communicate this, small moments add up. If students comes to my class and I roll my eyes, if they go into the hallway and are told to take off their hat, if they sit down at lunch and are warned to speak more quietly, then the cumulative message of school is that orderliness is the most important thing.
Instead, I can greet my student with “Hey! It’s great to see you today. Settle in a minute and then I’ll catch you up.” When we work from unconditional positive regard, the message is that I value you for who you are, not what you do or how you do it. This doesn’t mean that I won’t address attendance issues later, but my priority when my students arrive isn’t to scold them about compliance. My priority is to greet them in a way that says they matter and that their presence is more important than how fast they got here.