Welcome

Welcome to the Belonging for Educators course. Almost everyone has had a teacher that has shaped their life in a powerful and positive way. These are the teachers that support us and make us feel safe and respected, and the teachers that push us to do our best work. Both our intuition as educators and educational research finds that relationships between teachers and students are crucial for students' engagement, motivation, and ultimately success in school. We’re thrilled to be sharing some of this research with you, and we hope you find it useful.

This is a new course, and we’re eager to hear from professionals like you. Throughout the course, please do not hesitate to provide feedback about how we can make this a better, more engaging course via the Give Feedback button on the bottom right side of the page.

Note: Some of this material is a bit sensitive, as it deals with issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and other stereotyped groups. We know you’re here to improve your own teaching, and we know that this material can be difficult (even for us!). We all try our best and still make mistakes, there are usually pressures outside of our control, and developing good relationships with our students is not always easy. And that’s okay - Most good things require making mistakes and working through challenges. We’re thrilled we’re able to talk to you about what we’ve learned, and we’re even more excited to hear your thoughts.