| Bonding | Loving |
| Ensure success for every child | Affirm their strengths |
| Model respect | Through my behaviors I show compassion and courtesy toward every student through encouraging words and creation of a safe haven; building trust from day one. |
| Encourage shared decision making | Empower students by collaborating with them, not dictating to them |
| Bring in stories | Share successes, disappointments, and failures with my students: by opening myself to my students, I show them I trust them with my life stories. I cannot expect them to share themselves, if I do not model the behavior |
| Get to know students as readers | Interview my students individually to learn about their reading attitudes and aptitudes |
| Enjoy the students in your class | Laugh with them, cry with them, share with them, be joyous with them, show them you are delighted to be their teacher. |
| Celebrate life | Love life, relish learning, be passionate about reading and other aspirations |
Ways to support bonding in the classroom:
- Converse with students about what is important to them; even what they fear
- Ask them for their advice and opinions
- Create a loving, trusting, respectful and tolerant environment
- Champion your students.
- Don’t lecture to them; share with them
- Write together
- Read together
- Laugh together
- Model the behaviors you desire your students to exhibit
