Connecting with Students
One ingredient in teaching is the ability to convince students that there is something in it for them - that what is being taught is worth learning and can somehow be used to the students' benefit. Teachers instill that conviction through some level of connection, even if that level is as basic as tapping into the students' natural fear of failure.Ideally, of course, the connection a teacher makes is at a level much higher than the implied threat of a failing grade. The trick and the knack of teaching lies in mainting both a professional distance and a sort of caring closeness to students by a sort of mutual investment in the outcome of success. Balancing the distance and closeness is the key to maintaining the environment of professionalism.Here are some tried and true ways to connect with students and their families while maintaining professionalism:1. FOCUS ON THE STUDENTS' NEEDS FOR ACHIEVEMENTA student needs to feel confident and competent. When obstacles to meeting those needs arise, the teacher must be sensitive and either revise the approach in the instruction, or get the student some additional help. We all have that nagging inner voice that counsels pessimism. Younger students will take counsel of those fears and quickly get into bad habits of failure unless the teacher intervenes quickly with words of encouragement, praise, and confidence. Once the student gives up, the need for achievement is jettisoned as unneeded baggage.2. UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL CONFLICT BETWEEN PROFESSIONALISM AND CLOSENESSThe dichotomy here lies in one definition of the term professionalism. Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary provides one interesting defintion of the term: extreme competence in an occupation or pursuit sometimes marked by absence of originality. Applying that definition to the need to connect to the student might seem problematic at first blush. Certainly, the first half (extreme competence) is what everyone strives for; and, yes, the professional must always adhere to standards and expertise not of his or her making. Great teachers, however, recognize that there is a gray area in the relationships they develop with their students. There is, in fact, a line of demarcation that teachers never cross, but can look over in when things go awry.The professional teacher, then recognizes the limits of educational expertise. That expertise does not extend to the diagnoses and treatments best left to other professionals. For example, the teacher needs to know how far to proceed when personally connecting with either an extremely needy or openly defiant student. Each extreme has its pitfalls, and propfessionalism is quickly sacrificed when the teacher takes on a role in which she is not qualified to fill.2. FOCUS ON THE STUDENT AS AN INDIVIDUALThere is an Hispanic saying, There's only one beautiful little baby in the world, and each mother has it. Mothers (and fathers) maintain that understandable prejudice long past a child's infancy. A teacher gets involved in that phenomenon by becoming sort of a leg of the learning triangle. Picture the child's learning and acculturation as best supported through a triangle where community education is the base, and the family forms one one side.Effective teachers, then, become the third side of the triangle that leads the student to the apex of the triangle. When the teacher shows an interest in the student's success, the family has another role model for the student to look up to. Convincing the students' families that academic and personal success are the teacher's paramount interest allows the teacher to tap into another reservoir of encouragement, praise and increased confidence that will connect to the student in ways that will feed the student's needs for achievement and self-actualization.
One ingredient in teaching is the ability to convince students that there is something in it for them - that what is being taught is worth learning and can somehow be used to the students' benefit. Teachers instill that conviction through some level of connection, even if that level is as basic as tapping into the students' natural fear of failure.
Ideally, of course, the connection a teacher makes is at a level much higher than the implied threat of a failing grade. The trick and the knack of teaching lies in mainting both a professional distance and a sort of caring closeness to students by a sort of mutual investment in the outcome of success. Balancing the distance and closeness is the key to maintaining the environment of professionalism.
Here are some tried and true ways to connect with students and their families while maintaining professionalism:
1. FOCUS ON THE STUDENTS' NEEDS FOR ACHIEVEMENT
A student needs to feel confident and competent. When obstacles to meeting those needs arise, the teacher must be sensitive and either revise the approach in the instruction, or get the student some additional help. We all have that nagging inner voice that counsels pessimism. Younger students will take counsel of those fears and quickly get into bad habits of failure unless the teacher intervenes quickly with words of encouragement, praise, and confidence. Once the student gives up, the need for achievement is jettisoned as unneeded baggage.
2. UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL CONFLICT BETWEEN PROFESSIONALISM AND CLOSENESS
The dichotomy here lies in one definition of the term professionalism. Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary provides one interesting defintion of the term: extreme competence in an occupation or pursuit sometimes marked by absence of originality. Applying that definition to the need to connect to the student might seem problematic at first blush. Certainly, the first half (extreme competence) is what everyone strives for; and, yes, the professional must always adhere to standards and expertise not of his or her making. Great teachers, however, recognize that there is a gray area in the relationships they develop with their students. There is, in fact, a line of demarcation that teachers never cross, but can look over in when things go awry.
The professional teacher, then recognizes the limits of educational expertise. That expertise does not extend to the diagnoses and treatments best left to other professionals. For example, the teacher needs to know how far to proceed when personally connecting with either an extremely needy or openly defiant student. Each extreme has its pitfalls, and propfessionalism is quickly sacrificed when the teacher takes on a role in which she is not qualified to fill.
2. FOCUS ON THE STUDENT AS AN INDIVIDUAL
There is an Hispanic saying, There's only one beautiful little baby in the world, and each mother has it. Mothers (and fathers) maintain that understandable prejudice long past a child's infancy. A teacher gets involved in that phenomenon by becoming sort of a leg of the learning triangle. Picture the child's learning and acculturation as best supported through a triangle where community education is the base, and the family forms one one side.
Effective teachers, then, become the third side of the triangle that leads the student to the apex of the triangle. When the teacher shows an interest in the student's success, the family has another role model for the student to look up to. Convincing the students' families that academic and personal success are the teacher's paramount interest allows the teacher to tap into another reservoir of encouragement, praise and increased confidence that will connect to the student in ways that will feed the student's needs for achievement and self-actualization.
