What’s up? Thank you for checking in with us! We want to discuss the ideal student-teacher relationship. This relationship is important for both individuals because teachers gain their reward intrinsically by supporting students and students, therefore, gain knowledge and experience that helps them become productive members of society. To detail this ideal relationship, here is a short story about Stu, who has to build a relationship with the Math teacher:
The school bell rang as Stu entered Dr. Marlia’s Math class. Stu has historically had trouble staying focused in other math classes. Stu thinks math is irrelevant to his life and typically falls asleep at some point during the class, but this time Stu wanted things to be different. Stu decided to sit in the middle-front section for the opportunity to engage or quietly participate during class. Dr. Marlia enters the classroom a few minutes before class begins and greets the students, including Stu, as she walks to her desk. This small gesture automatically increases Stu’s awareness and interest because he felt acknowledged and welcomed.
Stu decides to take notes and even participate throughout the duration of Dr. Marlia’s class. Stu remembers the importance of taking notes, participating and relating the material to his life from the blogs he’s been reading. These habits continue consistently until the end of the semester. Also, Dr. Marlia did her best to cultivate a classroom environment that was inclusive and interactive with her students, which helped her build a better rapport with each student.
By the end of the semester, Stu has built a genuine student-teacher relationship with Dr. Marlia because his participation in her class enabled him to connect with her regarding assignments and opportunities. Stu also decided to attend her office hours because he remembers how important building a genuine relationship with your teacher is and begins to ask her about opportunities related to professional development. He wants to be a CEO of his own business one day and wanted to see if she knew of anyone who could mentor him or any internships he could apply for. Due to Stu’s effort in her class, she is happy to help him.
This short story outlined a simple strategy for building an appropriate and beneficial relationship between the teacher and the student. Let’s keep it REAL, effort is the key in developing this type of valuable relationship. In the scenario above, both individuals put in the necessary effort to build a successful relationship. A relationship formed based on effort is extremely important because teachers are a valuable source for students to learn and develop as they progress through the educational system and nothing shows a students’ worth better than effort.
Students are also highly encouraged to connect with their teachers for opportunities that support their student and professional development throughout their educational journey. Further, regardless of the level of education that is being completed, student-teacher relationships are encouraged for better student performance. A student’s engagement, sense of belonging, level of understanding, and capabilities can improve from support, which also takes effort on the teacher’s part. Check out our first post for more about REAL teachers and REAL students, who create bright futures when they work together. As always, thanks again for checking us out and continue building towards that bright future!
Keep it REAL.
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