Unconditional positive regard means I care about you, you have value, you don’t have to do anything to prove it to me, and nothing will change my mind... It's as simple as getting to know our students first and foremost. Finding out what they care about (unrelated to our content- social studies), having those informal and off scripted conversations, taking deliberate steps to get to know students as they are, outside of the context of our classroom, can help me see them as whole people (not just as a US history student or a grade in the grade book). I definitely enjoy this part of teaching. I really do enjoy getting to know my students in the classroom. What they're like, what makes them tick, are they a cat or dog person, what TV shows are they currently watching, do they participate in sports and/or clubs, etc. Again, it's all about building relationships with our students, and this is a perfect example and way of doing this! An example of this would be, when I see that it's a student's birthday on PowerSchool. This allows me to engage them in a conversation about their birthday, what they're doing, are they going out for dinner, having their favorite meal/cake, spending time with their family and/or friends. Just another way to get to know my students on a more personal level.
