This article provides 6 Teaching Tips to help build healthier Teacher-Student relationships. One that will foster a favourable learning environment where students feel comfortable to interact with teachers.
Teachers plays a significant role in shaping a student’s personality, especially given that in a typical school year, a student can spend over a 1000 hours with their teacher. As a teacher your words and actions demonstrate the amount of care you have for your students. The more they trust you, the more likely it is that they will put forth their best effort and look forward to your classes. Even if you have the content knowledge of the subject matter you teach, a strong bond with a student positively influences their desire to learn, assimilate knowledge faster and work harder.
Teaching Tip #1: Communicating positive expectations
A number of research studies have outlined the impact a Teacher’s expectation of a student can have on their behaviour. If a Teacher communicates a positive, constructive expectation, the better a student’s performance. Projecting negative expectations can hurt the confidence of a student, and decrease their drive to do better. Communicating a positive, constructive expectation builds confidence, and this additional faith given can often boost their desire to try harder.
Teaching Tip #2: Call on all students equitably
It’s important for a teacher to recognise that children have different kinds of abilities and at different levels of competence. Providing them with equal response opportunities, and playing to their strengths if possible, gives each student the chance to participate individually. Increased participation acts as a positive reinforcement to a student and also fosters a stronger sense of belonging to the group.
Teaching Tip #3: Give hints and clues to help students answer questions
If a student seems to struggle with an assignment or class work, try to help him out with hints and clues so that they don’t feel embarrassed. This will make Students realise that its ok to not know everything, that learning is a process and they can ask and get help when they need it
Teaching Tip #4: Tell Students They Have the Ability to Do Well
Inculcate positivity and tell students that they can achieve anything and everything with commitment. This imparts a powerful message as it builds confidence in students that their educators are there to support them.
Teaching Tip #5: Correct Students in a Constructive Way
The most important lesson – and the hardest – for a teacher to learn and master is the ability to manage and control their own emotions, moods and behaviour. While this is important in general, it is even more so when it comes to correcting mistakes. No one, even children like to be told they have made a mistake and some of them can be outright hostile and defensive when it is pointed out. This is why its important for teachers to distance themselves from their emotions before providing feedback, and frame the feedback in a positive way, ensuring that students are corrected constructively.
Teaching Tip #6: Demonstrate Genuine Concern
Teachers are an important avenue of personal growth for a student, and are often a ‘safe’ person to share their troubles with. It’s important to listen to your students, empathise with them and let them see that you are genuinely concerned about their well being, be it academically or personally. Knowing that you see them as an individual is extremely beneficial in developing a strong bond.
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