The Key to Unlock Your Students’ Potential
Do you want your students to show progress?
Do you want your students to believe you care?
Do you want your classroom attendance to improve?
Do you want your students and their parents to respond to you and your classroom environment?
If you do, remember these three words: student-teacher relationships.
“A fundamental question for a student is ‘Does my teacher like me?’ Given a rigorous, aligned curriculum, the answer to that simple question is our best predictor of student achievement,” said Alice Terry, author of “More Life Through Management.”
To care and teach well, you should know your students well too.
Associate Professor Krishnan Pagalthivarthi from the New Delhi Indian Institute of Technology commented that through an investment of an enormous amount of time, resources and energy, meaningful and sustainable student-teacher relationships are built and the bases for a lifetime of reciprocal learning are formed.
He added that this could be done by acknowledging good work through precise comments like “Your work is original,” “I was delighted to read your paper,” and “Your paper was second best in class,” instead of generic feedback like “You are great!” and “Well done!”
Michigan.gov also suggests that teachers should start the year by getting to know all the students. While it could be hard in a typical Philippine high school setting, this could be done by using a questionnaire or an exercise to get acquainted with the students’ needs, learning styles and dominant intelligences, interests and concerns. Find out their talents, and, if applicable, expand understanding by reading books on how to work with children from poverty. All by the first few weeks of classes.
Intel Excellence in Teaching Awardee and Lingkod Bayan Awardee Josette Biyo related in a speech in the 2003 San Miguel Corporation Forum about her first eight years teaching a rural school: “For lack of teachers in proportion to the number of students, I taught not only Biology, but also other subjects outside my field such as English, Music, and Physical Education. These challenges however did not dampen my enthusiasm for the job. In fact, I became more creative and innovative. I believe that teaching and learning should not be confined within the classroom.”
“Working with the children of the [less fortunate] has instilled in me the importance of service, compassion, and respect for human dignity. I have learned to love teaching, and I see it as an instrument for transforming the person and the community,” the multi-awarded director for the Philippine Science High School in Western Visayas said.
Follow her lead. Think out of the box when explaining abstract concepts to high school students. And they will appreciate you more for it.
J. Brian Nichols wrote, in the context of the Relationship Training Model, that you should share your personal information: your name, hometown, one or two hobbies, and educational attainment, among others.
He also suggested that you should show a personal interest in students like attending intramurals or contests at school, or partner with a student in an outside activity related to your field, or work with outside agencies that need student volunteers. This time outside the classroom can give you and the student more time to bond.
However, among his many suggestions, he emphasized that it could be beneficial if teachers set reasonable academic expectations.
“Students learn better not only when the situation is free from fear, but also when undesirable tension is relieved because the learning environment is arranged in terms of individual differences,” Nichols wrote. “Such reasonable expectations cause students to strive toward their best.”
What happens to students in school are oftentimes molded not only by the curriculum, but also by special student-teacher bonds. Sometimes, this even causes them to make life-altering changes. So start working on your student-teacher relationships now.
Sources:
Biyo, Josette. “The Power of the Human Spirit.” Retrieved October 7, 2007 from http://my.msuiit.edu.ph/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=1185
Nichols, J. Brian. “Improving academic performance through the enhancement of teacher/student relationships: The relationship training model.” Retrieved October 7, 2007 from
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:fRuO8SDbUHoJ:www.etbu.edu/nr/etbu/forms
/Improving_Academic_Performance.ppt how to effective public teacher student relationship&hl=tl&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=ph
Pagalthivarthi, Krishnan. “A Vision for Effective Teaching.” Retrieved October 7, 2007 from
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/link/nov2003/cover.htm
“Strengthening Teacher-student Relationships.” Retrieved October 7, 2007 from
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:1A1qaQyCIE4J:www.michigan.gov/documents/3-3_107241_7.pdf
effective public teacher student relationship&hl=tl&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=ph
