TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

Posted by teacher on July 29, 2011

It is most important for the students to respect you as an educator and as a professional person capable in your field. Each teacher demonstrates this professionalism each day of the school year, not just at in-service meetings and professional conventions.A beginning teacher will often have difficulty establishing himself as a leader in the classroom and in maintaining relationships that are clearly teacher-student. Often, this teacher is not far removed from the age of the high school student. The problems that result from too close a relationship will, at the very least, undermine one’s teaching. The respect of the other students will be lost as well as the respect of the other teachers. There are many people entering the teaching profession after careers in other professions. The same admonition applies here as well; be a teacher-leader.
A teacher will not like all of his students and it is unrealistic to believe that all of the students will like every teacher. Although it is not necessary that all of the students like a teacher in order for him to be effective, it is necessary for the students to respect him. Remember, students are not looking for a friend in the teacher; they have their own friends. Instead, they are looking for a teacher whom they can respect and to whom they can look for leadership. Students do not respect teachers who allow relationships to become mixed. They are too young and immature to know when a relationship as a friend ends and a teacher-student relationship begins again.
Almost every school has a part-time or full-time counselor. Refer students to these people who are trained to handle their problems. Whenever students have special problems, the counselors usually notify the teachers so the information can be beneficial in the classroom. Whenever teachers detect abnormal behavioral patterns in students, a counselor should be notified so the student can receive expert help if it is needed.

Be especially careful about trying to solve student problems that relate to the home. As a teacher you will hear one side of the story from the student. The side you hear may be honestly but emotionally told and may represent part, but not all of the truth. There are occasions when the teacher can be of significant help to parents who recognize a problem in their child and wish to correct it. Students can be helped immensely when the teacher, counselor, and parents work together. Understand, however, that it takes a great deal of understanding, training, and a certain ability to deal with people, to affect a student’s life in a positive manner. Honest but poorly aimed attempts at counseling may create more problems than previously existed.