Teacher-student relationships are crucial for the success of both teachers and students
(Teacher, 2013). If a teacher wants to be successful at what they do, these relationships should
be one of their top priorities. Developing this relationship takes effort on both ends. The student
needs to have a certain amount of respect for their teacher as a professional and the teacher needs
to be a leader to all students.
There are complications of a first year teacher trying to develop these relationships. They
may be too close in age, try and be too close of a "friend" or lack experience. There has to be a
happy medium that the student and the teacher need to know. All students do not have to like
their teacher but they need to respect them as a professional. The teachers don't have to like all
their students but still need to be an appropriate leader.
A strong and positive relationship with students is also very important for classroom
success (Teacher, 2013). There are plenty of resources and techniques that teachers to use to
strengthen their relationship with each individual. When a teacher uses special approaches to
develop a stable relationship, in return, this can help the student become more committed to their
schooling and participate more as well.
There are a few techniques that teachers could use to help their relationships. Teacherstudent relationship should be based on the general principles teachers follow at work, such as
fairness and honesty (Teacher, 2013). Being fair and honest are very important in a classroom
setting. Teachers need to model the behavior they expect to get in return. When teachers show
favoritism, that is a huge dent in fairness for other students. It was never fun knowing another
student got more attention than others.
Teachers should know the students and understand their needs (Teacher, 2013). This is
very important because all teachers should get to know their students whether it be their cultural
background or just their personality in general. Knowing a child's interests could be important as
the teacher could implement activities into their lesson plan based on interests. It also helps the
teacher teach effectively when they know specific skills that an individual may need. It's
important to know how all the teacher's students learn and at what pace so that the teacher knows
how to have a "success environment".
Teachers should use effective discipline models (Teacher, 2013). Knowing how to deal
with behaviors that arise in the classroom can develop relationships and trust easily as well.
Staying calm is one of the biggest skill a teacher can exert into a classroom. Whenever you are
calm with any situation, so are the students. Sometimes as little as ignoring a behavior could
make the child stop or even proximity control. Once students understand the teacher's discipline
techniques, that will gain a higher respect for each individual.
Classroom work should be interesting and fun (Teacher, 2013). This is one of the most if
not the most important factor to place into a classroom. Keeping it fun! Student's attention span
isn't the greatest and mixing up lesson plan ideas and material always keeps kids coming back
for more. This can develop a great teacher-student relationship because it will always keep the
students on their feet not knowing what to expect everyday at class. What teacher wouldn't want
their students coming to class with a big smile on their face asking, "Can't wait to see what we
do today,"?
Although there are a lot more helpful techniques to establishing a positive teacher-student
relationship, these were just a few important ones that every teacher should bring with them, into
a classroom. Success is based off of the interactions between students and their teachers. If the
teacher has a negative attitude everyday and is always grumpy, not many kids are going to want
to come to class and therefore grades begin to fail.
