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Real Stories

                From Real Educators

How Positive Student-Teacher Relationships Create Resilient Learners


In her viral TED Talk “Every Kid Needs a Champion,” 40-year educator Rita Pierson, recounted a time when she heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” When most of us think back to our time in school, our stories tend to include the teachers with whom we had real, lasting connections. Our favorite teachers often changed our outlook on learning, made class fun, and inspired us to push beyond what we thought we could do.

How do those things happen? Through positive student-teacher interactions and relationships, which are truly the gateway to learning.

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