Transcript

 Hey everyone, Antoine here, and welcome to the Teacher Support Network podcast. Have you ever had a student who seemed impossible to reach? Or perhaps a student who constantly acted out in your class, shut down, or refused to engage? Well today on this episode, I'm going to be talking about a simple, yet powerful tool that could help change that dynamic.

It's called the 2x10 strategy. So let's dive in and see how this simple strategy over a period of time can have a great impact on hard to reach students and students with challenging behaviors. 

So what exactly is the 2x10 strategy? Well, it's a relationship building strategy developed by researcher Raymond Bukowski, an expert in student motivation.

It gives a student a safe space to share their feelings, their emotions, and needs with a trusted adult. Research shows that when students feel personally connected to a teacher, their behaviors and engagement improves dramatically over time.

So here's how this 2 by 10 method works. First, you pick a student.

The student you want to pick is not all of your students, but a student who is hard to reach, having a hard time maintaining positive relationships in a classroom, a student who's exhibiting disruptive behaviors,  or it could be a student who's just in need of some extra emotional support from you as a teacher.

Next, you spend two minutes per day, for ten consecutive days, having casual, non academic conversations with them. That's it. No academic talk about school,  about their grades, or about their behaviors.  Just positive, genuine conversations about their interests, their hobbies, or whatever's going on in their world.

Now, you might be wondering, like, how can just two minutes make a difference? 

Well, let's talk about that a little bit. One. It can help build trust. When students know that you care about them as a person, they start to let their guard down because they feel safer around you. 

Two, it kind of shifts their perception.Instead of seeing you as just another authority figure which they have many in their life telling them what to do, they start seeing you as someone who actually listens and values their opinions and what they think. 

Third, it can allow a student to feel heard who may otherwise feel unheard by others, particularly adults.

So it gives them consistent positive attention, which hopefully over time will allow them to respond differently than they normally would with you. 

Let's go a little bit deeper and get a little bit more practical about how you can use this strategy in your classroom immediately. Here are some tips and ideas I have for you.

First, like I mentioned before, choose a student. Think about one student who challenges you the most. Maybe they're defiant, withdrawn, or struggling socially. Start with them. 

Next, find the right time to engage with them. It doesn't have to be formal. You can have these quick conversations during morning arrivals, transition times, recess or lunch, or as they're packing up for the day.

You know your schedule and you know those times that can work. It doesn't have to be extremely formal. Find a moment when it feels natural and just be consistent for the full 10 days. Then when you have the time, just keep it light and positive. This is key. No talk about behavior, grades, or discipline.

Instead, ask fun casual questions like, “What's your favorite movie? Your favorite activity? Your favorite sport? Do you play video games? Which ones? If you can travel to any place in the world, where would that be and why?” If you have older students, like, middle and high school, you can use humor, talk about what's going on in pop culture, things like that.  Just remember to listen.

The goal is to show them that you see them as a person, not just a behavior problem.  When we talk more specifically about some students with disabilities and special needs and non verbal students, for instance, you can use visual aids or pictures or even a choice board to help communicate with them about their preferences and needs.

Make sure you share something about yourself in the conversation that's age appropriate and can add to the conversation, so they get to know about you as well. Remember the key is consistency. I'm going to go back to that. Be consistent over these 10 days, even if they resist at first, stick with it.  The connection will come.

Finally, keep track of what you're learning about the student and how you can use it to further engage them in the future. So after 10 days, I want you to reflect and just ask yourself, have they opened up more? What have I learned about them? Do they seem more engaged? Have their behaviors started to shift a bit?

I mean, even if the change is small, it's still a step in the right direction. You're building and strengthening a more positive relationship with that student over time. So keep at it and keep this in mind. You don't have to stop after 10 days. Keep building on a relationship you already started with the student and watch it grow over time.

All right. So let's do a quick recap. So the two by 10 strategy is simple, but powerful and how it can help you build relationships and address challenging behaviors with students who need it the most. In just two minutes a day for 10 days, you can see a huge shift in behavior, trust, and engagement from a particular hard to reach student.

So now I challenge you, pick one student and start tomorrow, or even start today, and give it 10 days and see what happens. 

Then come back and share your experience with me in the comments section at the bottom of the show notes page for this episode. I'd love to hear how it works out for you and your students.

Before you go, please subscribe to my newsletter so we can stay connected and I can continue to send you stuff so that you can receive weekly doses of practical strategies, tips, and resources and I can help inspire and support you on your teaching journey.

That's it for today's episode. If you found this episode helpful or you know anyone who can benefit from the message, please share it with a fellow teacher. Until next time, take care!

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram,