Knowing How to Know: Building Meaningful Relationships Through Instruction That Meets the Needs of Students Learning English

A growing body of literature highlights the need for teachers to know their students better, especially students from linguistically diverse backgrounds. The authors argue that teachers need to build healthy relationships with students and find ways to provide them with more effective instruction. Accordingly, they present a synopsis of what scholars know about helping preservice teachers learn about their students and what the literature reveals concerning what teachers need to be able to do to teach these young people more effectively. Finally, the authors provide some specific exercises that they have employed to help preservice teachers move in the direction of learning about and developing more meaningful relationships with students. They conclude with some challenges and directions for future research that targets ways to provide future teachers with the necessary tools, resources, and skills needed to access the cultural and linguistic strengths of their English-learning students.