How to Gain your Students' Respect

Students will always be more problematic for teachers they do not know well or do not respect. The professional boundaries of education keep us apart from students, but here are some tips to earn that respect from your students, making your job that much easier.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Patience

1. Gaining respect begins with your classroom attitude. I recommend talking to students in the time between classes, ask questions that show you're taking an interest in your lives, and share something from your own life with them. When disciplining show balance and equity, and don't be afraid to admit your mistakes when you make them.

2. Keep your cool even in frustrating situations. When kids learn how to push your buttons, they will until June just to test your limits. Do not allow one bad apple to ruin your day or become an exception to the rules. Use humor when tackling situations like forgotten assignments, late work, and sleeping or loafing in class. They happen a hundred times a day, and if you show yourself to be reasonable and relaxed in tense situations kids will respect your anger if they ever evoke it, and seek to avoid these repercussions.

3. Be honest when talking to students. Kids are always asking questions about everything other than the subject at hand, and if they can trust you to tell them the truth about things in and out of the classroom, they will begin to see you can be trusted to tell the truth.

4. Do not sugar-coat your lives. Kids will ask you probing questions about whether or not you use pre-calculus in your daily life, if voting really can change the world and if brushing your teeth 3 times a day really matters. If you decide to tell the kids what is the "right" answer instead of the truthful answer, they will be less likely to believe you, because who does everything right all the time? Tell students anecdotes about what will happen if you don't brush, or how important elections were changed due to a few votes, this will educate them, direct attention away from you, and show yourself to be honest and truthful even when it means admitting a mistake.

5. Do not be a push-over. Do not set unrealistic goals or expectations, but hold yourself and your students to the ones you do set. If you let excessive whining push back homework assignments or quizzes, you demonstrate the power of their complaining and the power they have to sway your plans and rules.

6. Always remind your students what they are capable of accomplishing. Support their unique skills and interests and show yourself to be knowledgable about what they care about if you expect them to do the same.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to play it cool, real cool.
• Do not force respect through fear. Kids will always seek to avoid anger, but they will do so through tricks and lies more often if they fear any mistake will prompt the "big guns" being drawn on them.

[gluegluedesign]

on 10/30/2009 Photo Credit
gluegluedesign.com - linkable!

show some RESPECT..

[sbergner]

on 5/3/2009 I think these are great tips. Thinking back to high school, the teachers teaching my favorite subjects who exhibited these characteristics were my favorite. And at the very least it was easy to show respect towards the ones who taught the subjects I had no interest in but had these traits or treated students with respect and fairness.