What is #Significant72?

In his ground-breaking book, Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over  800 Meta-Analyses Related to Achievement (2009), Professor John Hattie set out to identify which  strategies and innovations have the greatest impact on student achievement in schools.  Hattie synthesized findings from over 50,000 educational research studies on 236 million school-aged students. He  ranked these from largest effect to smallest effect. In a typical year of instruction,  Hattie suggested that a student grows .40 of a standard deviation, equating to 12 months of growth.  Among the top ten interventions listed in his original findings was teacher-student relationships.  Teacher-student relationships have an effect size of .72, yielding almost two years expected growth over one year. A significant impact by any definition! 

In his best-selling book, Wolcott not only lays out the research on how to develop positive relationships between teachers and their students, but he shares stories, strategies and ideas to bring the research to life in a manageable way in  any classroom.

The Book

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Are the teacher-student relationships in your classroom and your school yielding two years growth in one year of time?

Significant 72:
​The Relationship Mindset Movement

Over the past five years over 400 schools throughout the United States and Canada have placed #ConnectionsB4Curriculum and have implemented Significant 72 in their  schools.  The movement begins with a commitment from administrators and staff to consistently set time aside throughout the school year to intentionally   develop relationships between the teacher and the    students as well as establishing strong relationship between students. These educators understand that students can only learn and achieve optimal success in a  psychologically safe environment.  

How does "
​Significant 72" work?

"Significant 72" begins yearly  when staff set aside the  first three days of school (72 hours) to begin developing strong teacher-student and student-to-student   relationships. During this time, the motto is #ConnectionsB4Curriculum.  All instructional time during this critical period is   spent accomplishing the following: ​
1. Teachers begin learning about each child in order to develop meaningful instructional opportunities and provide students an optimally challenging learning experience.

• What's each    child's  S.T.O.R.Y.?

2. Students begin learning about their teacher.

• What is my teacher's S.T.O.R.Y.?

3. Students begin recognizing similarities with one   another    and start getting to know each other on a personal level in order to develop the psychological safety needed for them to thrive in the classroom. 

• What is his S.T.O.R.Y.?  And hers? And that kid's also?

#Significant72:  Daily

When students feel a sense of belonging, a sense of safety develops. Hattie states this beautifully when he says, "The positive teacher-student relationship is thus important not so much because this is worthwhile in itself, but because it helps build the trust to make mistakes, to ask for help, to build confidence to try again, and for students to know they will not look silly when they don’t get it the first time." The psychological safety fostered in a #Significant72 classroom is the key to a student’s ability to not only survive but thrive!

Therefore, relationships should be cultivated daily.   An easy way to do this is to set aside   72 seconds (36 seconds each child) on brief "get to know you" questions prior to having students pair-share.  Older students love answering "Would you rather?" questions in much the same way. The simple act of setting time aside daily has lasting impact.

Wolcott's Whiteboard
Weekly Relationship Message

Greg Wolcott on "Building Relationships in Today's Classrooms"

Interview with Andrea Samadi on the
​ Neuroscience Meets SEL podcast

Every student has a STORY,
​do you know it?

A teacher can not teach students well if he or she doesn't know the students well. The main focus of #Significant72 is getting to know each student's S.T.O.R.Y.: 

• Strengths
• Tendencies
• Opportunities
• Resources
• Yearnings

#Significant72: 72 Minutes a Month

Teachers can take #Significant72 further by setting aside at least "72 minutes a month" for relationship-building activities.  

• Take 2: “Take 2” activities not only help teachers get to learn more about each individual student in the classroom, they help students learn about their peers. “Take 2” movements are particularly useful in helping developing empathy and igniting compassion amongst students.  "Take 2" moments can be built into every class period, whether at the start as a bell-ringer, during a lesson as a break to develop common ground before answering a question, or at the end of class as part of a wrap-up/closing.
  

 

• Take 5: "Take 5" activities help teachers learn how students interact as a group and allow individual students an opportunity to learn about their classmates through fun, non-threatening activities. Not only do "Take 5" activities foster a sense of belonging within their group, they quickly create an atmosphere in which students feel it is ok to take chances and make mistakes in front of peers. These small group opportunities should occur anywhere from daily in an elementary classroom to two or three times a week at the high school level.

 

• Take 10+: "Take 10+" activities are the final piece in developing connection within the classroom. Not only do these activities require students to work together to solve problems strategically, but they help develop the skills necessary for success in the modern-day workplace. Further, these activities give teachers a chance to see children using strengths not typically noticed during most daily classroom instruction.

"Take 2", "Take 5" and "Take 10+" activity suggestions can be found on the Resources page.

#Significant72: After Extended Breaks

A lot happens in a child's life over a three-day weekend and/or during extended time off from school.  It can be challenging for some students to get back into a routine and continue feeling safe after events such as Thanksgiving break, winter break or spring break. After these interruptions, teachers can pause to reunite students and get them excited to be back working with their teacher and friends.  Reconnecting like this is particularly important for students who have troubling home lives.

Relationship Resources

Click here to access 100's of FREE ideas  and resources to begin developing stronger relationships with and between students  in your class!

"Significant 72 has been a major influence to the development of our new school.  It was a key aspect in the creation of our mission and vision.  At Boyne PS we understand the importance of beginning the year well, celebrating each month as individual classroom communities and making strong connections to students each and every day.  The concepts within Significant 72 are foundational within our School Improvement Plans and Safe Schools Plan.  Every adult in the school commits to these ideas in order to provide a safe, welcoming, caring learning environment for our students."
Peter Marshall
Principal - Boyne Public School
​Ontario, Canada

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