Techniques September 2012 - 49

CareerTech VISION 2012— Student Engagement and Success

knows my name
phoTo courTesy of isTock.com/skynesher

and teaching poorly.” Many times teachers and administrators make the mistake of becoming friends with students, and when they do, it usually does not end well for either the student or the teacher. That is why it is important to build relationships with students that show them that we care for them as people but also include boundaries.

A Framework to Build Relationships
There are nine areas that we feel can aid educational personnel develop personal, yet professional, relationships with students. These nine areas include building traits of excellence, simplicity, consistency, humility, fairness, openness, security, kindness, and stopping bad behaviors
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before they start in our classrooms and school culture. These traits can allow students to experience a school that definitely has their best interest at heart, while at the same time pushing them to high academic standards. In our experience, we have found that each area can impact student success inside and outside the classroom. By becoming aware of how we interact with students and by readjusting our actions, we move from being the “sage on the stage” to a place where students can have a constructive, safe place to grow and learn. At Moore Norman Technology Center, we try to use these nine areas as a framework to build relationships. As we look at personal professional relationships, it is important that we ask ourselves some very

important questions that can have a huge impact on how we interact with students. These questions include: “What would happen if every adult in our buildings acknowledged every student every day?” and “What would happen if we really believed that every student could learn?” When we, as educators, stop and spend time thinking about our actions and how these actions impact the culture of our classrooms, we can truly change the lives of our students. When students understand that teachers have an expectation of excellence in a consistent atmosphere, students understand the work they are doing is worth something. Moreover, in a world where differentiation is a must, it is important for schools to realize it is possible to have a culture of excellence while providSeptember 2012

Techniques

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Techniques September 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Techniques September 2012
