Relationship building session was conducted for students of DP year 1 on 19th of July,2020 through online google meet platform.

Over the last few years our work and personal space has been slowly evolving to exist within a growing digital society. There has been a great influence of the digital world hindering our social life Although these changes have made our life convenient but also have altered how we communicate, interact and behave.

The objective of the session was to create an understanding of the importance of communication in the process of developing relationships with teachers, parents, stakeholders, peers and reflect on our communication styles. To understand the presence of every individual around us – parents, teachers, peers who are essential elements in our life and try to make a connect with them in the physical world, respect their feelings and opinions and value the hard work and effort of the teachers.

The strategies used in the process of learning the objective of the session were- Activity and reflection based wherein the students can learn through actions and team work to learn and groom social skills. They were also given space to voice out their opinions and difference of opinion from one another to help them develop their social skills through the session of relationship building.

When we think of the word teacher, student, self it becomes quite easy to think about words associated to teacher and student however to think about the word self we sometimes feel challenged. This is known as expectation. In every definite relationship may it be a teacher, a student or a parent we have certain expectations from the roles assigned to it. However, the word self is not definite; we have no definite expectation. Similarly, this activity was run in the class and most students found it difficult to pick words that come in their mind when they think about the word self. However, it was quite easy and quick for most of them to think of words for teacher and student. They expressed that it was easier to think of words for teachers because there are set norms and expectations of their behaviour. This led us to understanding etiquettes – code of behaviour for a particular society, class or group. Relationship building is followed with a process of etiquette.

Positive relationship with a teacher helps a student focus more on studies and helps increase motivation in studies. Communication plays an important role in shaping relationships in group task or team work as well. Activity on making assembly sentences to bring awareness on teamwork, skills required like collaboration, opinions, listening skills, leadership quality etc. The students participated in the activity for “presence of mind and body” letter cancellation task.  Students were enthusiastic and were participative throughout the session. It was an interactive and reflective session wherein students were voicing their opinions as students how they can improve and maintain a healthy teacher student relationship and keep the spirit of happy mind in the school atmosphere.

 

By: Sukanya Das, DP Psychology Faculty and Student Counselor.