-Establish a positive, sharing, supportive climate in your classroom.
-Set clear class guidelines for behavior (no put-downs is a good start)
-Model teamwork: relate to other teachers, parents, and students in a supportive way.
-Allow students to share about their family, pets, hobbies, and so on (strengths).
-Use weekly get-to-know-you activities that are casually blended into other activities so there's no discomfort.
-Model how to relate to each other in a polite way, and ask students to do the same.
- Conduct some out-of-class learning activities such as field trips, bus trips, camping, or sports so that students can be in a novel setting that often breaks down barriers.
-Build a sense of family in the classroom
-Have students work with partners and in teams.
-Choose class projects that students will get excited about; elicit their feedback.