I was recently shown this wonderful TEDTalk by Rita Pierson. She talks about what students need and provides another viewpoint about the teaching profession.
I posted this because I agree with what she says. Students need relationships – appropriate ones – with their teachers. As a student I always did better in classes where I liked the teacher and I am not conceited enough to think I am alone in that! As an educator I strive to develop rapports with my students and when I teach teachers, I tell them to do the same.
For many students we are the most stable adult role model they have. Without that rapport, what do they have? There is a saying “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. Perhaps cheesy but it is so true. People are more forgiving when you make mistakes if they know you are trying.
In special education it can take some time to really get the accommodations right for a student. There are standard accommodations but if you really want to customize a program to suit a student, you cannot grab something off the shelf! You try and reflect. If it doesn’t work can it work if tweaked? If not, need you start at square one with something else? And so on.
I had to laugh when Rita says that the students you have the most difficulty are always excellent attenders! Sometimes that is very true. But really, those kids are the ones you often make the biggest difference with. I won’t go as far as to say I didn’t like any students but really you have to think about the fact that if the student is showing up every day because he/she has a positive relationship with you, and you aren’t all that thrilled with the kid, then what are his/her other relationships like? Put it into that perspective and you will often find that you do in fact like the student.
