Teacher-student relationship [Archives:2007/1070/Education]
Dr Ayid Sharyan (Associate Professor)
[email protected]
Department of English,
Faculty of Education, Sana'a University, Sana'a
A simple teacher tells,
An average teacher explains,
A great teacher inspires.
Are teachers the makers of the nation? Is teaching giving or taking? A teacher is like a parent in the elementary school, a brother in the intermediate or high school and an elder brother or a father in the university. Teaching is a mission, not a job. Teacher's role is to care and educate through observing, organizing, imparting and facilitating knowledge and life-based skills and activities.
A good teacher is the one who maintains warm relationship with students, listens to them carefully and respects their views and ideas. As an eternal learner, a successful teacher finds the topic he teaches everywhere. He cares for them as relatives of today and friends of the future. He never belittles them or underestimates their abilities. This may vary according to students' race, sex and grade level. Because students look at the teacher as a model to be followed, a teacher has no choice but to be careful of every word or gesture for learners scrutinize their every move. They take a test once a month but he is under a daily test.
Teacher-student relationship emerges out of the multidimensional facets of the role of the teacher as a social worker, a teacher, a preacher, a consultant, a guide, a leader, a researcher, etc. Teachers surpass parents with their words and behavior that remain as signposts for students and form turning-points in their life. Teachers shape learners' personalities, leave a lasting impression on them and affect their achievement. Research findings indicate that students' perceptions of teacher behaviors affect learning outcomes. Teacher talk, as part of teacher-student interpersonal behavior, affects students' likes and dislikes of the topic and correlates positively with their achievement. Praise, acceptance and respect for students' point of view yield high performance unlike negative feedback, reprimands, restrictiveness and criticism that harm learners' “face” or honor. Teachers who have strained relationship with students tend to show negative authority, ignoring, belittling, harassing, shaming, and excluding students' participation and involvement. Teachers sometimes say 'yes' while they mean 'no' only as a form of politeness to save 'face' which misleads the students.
A good teacher who maintains good relationship with students is the one who inspires students with his warmth, businesslike orientation, enthusiasm, flexibility, and pleasant personality. He motivates them with his consistency, organization, and focus on academic activities. He rarely comes late or unprepared. He expresses concern about the learning process through lesson planning. He looks at them as manifestations of himself. He has an ability to give a personal touch to each student. His course includes a variety of materials and learning opportunities that are life-based skills and strategies.
A good teacher does not treat the class as a whole but identifies individual students in order to help, and make them feel different. He is not grim but makes jokes (within the students' values and norms). He gives preferential treatment to group leaders, high achievers, creative artists, promising scholars, computer wizards to enhance individual differences.
A good teacher is careful to inform himself of students' previous knowledge before presenting new material. He establishes relationships between course material: theory and practice. He stimulates interest for the subject. He knows and presents the content well. He explains the principles and basic concepts clearly with happiness and enthusiasm. He stimulates class participation and encourages personal reasoning and involvement. He is readily available to answer questions. He is punctual and fair in distributing grades.
Such qualities of a good teacher promote a strong teacher-student relationship. But too much warm relation is likely to breed unhealthy conclusions and misunderstanding on the part of students. Strong relationship is necessary, but it should not exceed the limit and become a sort of euphoria. While a teacher talks or answers questions, some students misunderstand teacher's affection or cordiality. Due to youth or immaturity, they tend to read meanings to any smile or leniency on the part of the teacher. Sometimes it goes to the extent of ending in marriage; at other times, it becomes a lifelong romance leading to building castles in the air on one or both sides. Young teachers at the beginning of their career may fall in such traps and may not be able to define precise limits of teacher-student relationship; they get carried away with their emotion. However, a great teacher remains the one who inspires, influences and strikes a balance in his relationship with students that lasts for a long time.
——
[archive-e:1070-v:15-y:2007-d:2007-07-23-p:education]
