Student/Teacher Relationships: Six Activities
Education is built on relationships.
The relationship between you and your students is delicate,
complex, and organic. Because of this, it is particularly important
for you to seek feedback in order to monitor and adjust your
interpersonal teaching behaviors.
You should continually ask yourself basic questions concerning
your professional teacher/student connections:
-
Does your interaction with students support
an orderly and disciplined classroom?
-
Do you inspire creative thought and the
desire to learn?
-
Do you model quality?
-
Do you display clear and meaningful core
values?
-
Do you bring out the best in your students?
-
Do your relationships energize others?
Objectives
-
To improve interpersonal skills
-
To strengthen teacher/student communication
-
To isolate interpersonal strengths and
weaknesses
Activity
One: Reflections
Write a short answer or
response to the following questions and statements. Note: You may want
to probe these questions with your mentor or a discussion group.
-
How
do your students characterize you as a teacher?
-
Identify
your weakest and your most productive skills when interacting with
students?
-
Does
your perception of yourself as a teacher match the perception that
most students have of your teaching? In other words, do your
students see in you the same teaching strengths/weaknesses that
you see in yourself?
-
How
do you gather accurate feedback concerning your relationships with
students?
Activity Two: Student Discussion Group. Establish
a panel of student volunteers who are willing to discuss questions
concerning teacher/student relationships. Ask the following questions
(adjusted for the age group)
-
What
should every teacher know about working with students?
-
What
do you like about your favorite teachers?
-
What
behaviors do you dislike in some teachers?
-
What
is the ideal relationship between teachers and students?
-
Are
there some things teachers do that actually stir up student
misbehavior?
-
How
should a professional teacher act?
Activity Three: Teacher Interviews.
Interview several other teachers who are willing to respond
to the following:
-
Identify three
interpersonal skills that are essential for teachers to promote
productive student learning?
-
Identify three
“tips” that teachers can do to promote healthy teacher/student
relationships.
-
Identify three
“don’ts” of teacher/student relationships
-
From the responses,
write down three to five “lessons” that you learned.
Activity Four: Self-Assessment.
When working with students, how do you assess your strength
on each of the interpersonal skills listed below? Use the following
assessment scale: 1=weak
behavior, 2=somewhat weak, 3=average, 4=somewhat strong, 5=very
strong.
5 4
3 2
1
|
Approachable
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Courteous
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Fair
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Good
listener
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Non-manipulative
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Non-defensive
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Non-judgmental
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Open/honest
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Pleasant/friendly
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Respectful
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Sincere
(No game-playing)
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Trusting
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Supportive
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Forgiving
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Consistent
|
5
4 3
2 1
|
Even
handed (No favoritism)
|
|
|
|
Activity
Five: Video Appraisal. Set up a video camera in your
classroom and record your interaction with students.
Video tape yourself connecting with students in a variety of
situations: lecturing, small groups, one-on-one, informal contact, as
students are leaving the room, etc.
After reviewing the tapes, respond to the statements below:
-
List
three adjectives to describe your interaction style.
-
Consider
how you could strengthen your interaction skills.
-
Observe
the students closely. How
are they responding to you? Are
they bored? Enthusiastic?
Attentive? Detached?
Etc.
-
Do
you interact like the teachers that you liked the best in school
yourself?
-
Do
you model professionalism?
-
How
would you characterize your body language and gestures?
Activity
Six: Observations. Observe
three to five teachers interacting with students.
Select teachers who you believe use different interaction
“styles.” Characterize each teacher by completing the chart below.
Teacher
|
Style
Adjectives
|
Strengths
|
Limitations
|
1.
|
|
|
|
2.
|
|
|
|
3.
|
|
|
|
Professional
Development Activities (Select a category listed below)
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