The relationship between teachers and students

I – Interviewer

M – Marion

I: The relationship between teachers and students is not always an easy one. Marion, what can teachers, and students themselves, do to get the most out of lessons?

M: Well, there are a few things to remember. The first rule has to be that all rules can be broken. It’s no good having a fixed rule in the classroom if, for example, a student has a relative who is ill. A good teacher will learn to judge each situation carefully. If someone hasn’t done their homework, it’s worth stopping for a moment to ask why. There could be any number of reasons but it would be a mistake to believe that the student is lazy without asking them to give a reason first. The same is true of bad behaviour, anything could have happened the week, the day or even the hour before a lesson.

Sometimes teachers are guilty of expecting too much too soon. In a classroom situation, it takes time to build up a relationship of trust – and this works both ways – people need time to get used to each other. It can be very harmful to move too fast.

There are several things a teacher can do to help develop a healthy working relationship in the classroom. And here it is useful to have a few rules. For example, asking pupils who put their hands up, not those who shout out the answer. This helps pupils to understand that they will get a positive result if they follow the rules.

Once the class is aware of how things should be done, the teacher should, from time to time, recognize this with praise. Teachers should find out which pupils need this to be done in front of the class and those who prefer a private comment to show that their efforts have been noticed.

Even one word can make a difference. Think about it, if a teacher says, ‘Will you read this, please?’, they are giving the students a choice. Just changing ‘please’ to ‘ thank you’ at the end of the instruction shows the student is expected to do something.

If I could go back to bad behaviour for a moment, I think it’s important for the teacher to understand that, very often, the student who causes trouble instead of working probably doesn’t understand what’s going on. Often all that is needed is for the teacher to spend a little time with that student, making sure he or she knows what to do.

When there are problems in the classroom, let’s say between the teacher and one of the students, it is very important that these are not allowed to develop too far. Both sides should try to understand that the problem is the behaviour – not the student. So the teacher needs to move on to something else, and the student needs to think about what has happened and not take it personally.

As far as punishment is concerned, keeping students behind after classes is sometimes necessary. However, as with all punishments, it should be as soon as possible after the offence. This will mean that the next time they meet, the student and the teacher start again with the relationship they had before.

A final word, then, aboput what students themselves can do. I think a bit of understanding is important – if students are able to understand the things I’ve already said, then they will see that a teacher’s life is not easy. If they realize that the teacher is not put into classroom to make their lives difficult, but to help them, then that’s a good start.

UNIT 5

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16