Skip Navigation

Handbook for Graduate Teaching Assistants

Building Rapport

Perhaps nothing is more important to good classroom dynamics than rapport between instructor and students. Some behaviors that promote the establishment of good rapport include:

  • willingness to share personal experiences
  • willingness to admit uncertainties
  • openness to new ideas
  • ability to suspend judgment of others
  • ability to listen carefully to others' statements
  • tolerance of opposite points of view

Here are three ways you can begin the rapport-building process on the first day of class:

Encourage camaraderie

Use ice breaking activities on the first day, to help set up a supportive environment.

In smaller classes, students can share their names, home towns, academic majors, and/or a question they would like the course to answer.

In larger classes instructors might ask the same questions, using a show of hands to generate responses (e.g., "How many of you are from western Nebraska? How many from a state other than Nebraska?")

You'll get the best results when you offer personal information about yourself to get the discussion rolling. You might, for example, talk about your personal and professional background or your initial experiences with the discipline.

Use verbal cues

You can promote an atmosphere of trust and rapport in the ways you interact verbally with your students. Here are a few examples of comments that help build rapport and encourage students to remain actively involved in classroom activities:

  • Can you think of a situation in which this notion might/might not apply?
  • That's an interesting idea, tell me more.
  • I don't know either, but that's a very interesting question.
  • Can anyone help us unravel ourselves here?
  • I'm not sure I understand. Were you saying that the survey questions were too personal?
  • Can you give me an example?
  • Feels to me like we've kind of strayed from the point. Have we?
  • Let's not forget the basic problem we're trying to solve.
  • What's the first step?
Use nonverbal cues

Students react strongly to various nonverbal cues that create positive rapport in a class:

  • Show enthusiasm when listening to student responses by smiling expectantly and nodding as the student talks.
  • Keep eye contact with the student who is talking.
  • Walk toward the person who is talking, even if there is only space to take a few steps in any direction.
  • Walk around the room throughout a discussion so students will view people in different parts of the room.
  • Look relaxed by leaning against the wall, sitting on a desk or pulling up a desk or chair and joining the class.
  • Arrange students' chairs in a circle or in a configuration in which they can see each other talking.
  • Stand by students who have not contributed to the discussion. Proximity may draw them into the conversation.