Fair and Firm before the Friendly
I am big believer of being fair and firm long before I get any bit friendly with students. It is very important that they see me as a strong capable instructor. I want to deliver quality instruction and being the students friend usually takes away from the teacher respect. There is something to be said for a student being to comfortable with the teacher. It is always much easier to be less strict than to be more strict.
Regards,
Scott
I believe you can be fair, firm and friendly at the same time. Too often, I encounter students that do not know how to handle disagreements or conflict in a positive, cooperative and professional manner. I try to demonstrate/model to students that you can disagree without being disagreeable.
I agree, I have several times when a student is testing me if I stick to my rules and let them know I am the Instructor and I care about their educational experience, they respond better. Of course there is always that student no matter what you do they are going against you. In the beginning I took it personally, but know I just do the best I can to teach and guide them for the real world (work environment) the rest is up to them.
I agree with being firm and fair. Firm being very important at the start, and fair continuing throughout the semester. Students may inititally act like they don't appreciate this, but I know from my own experience as a student that i did.
Hi Ellen,
I like the secret you are keeping from your Spanish speaking students. We have to be able to have an inside scoop so that we are not blind sided. I concur, it is better to start off strict than to try to become strict later.
Patricia
I find both of your posts interesting.
I come from a family of teachers. They all agree that you have to be a bit more strict at the beginning of a course than you do toward the end to establish your respect from the students.
As for the students who speak Spanish, I took Spanish in high school. I can't speak it well, but I can understand most of a conversation. I have not told my students this. This way, they feel they can speak freely and I get an inside grasp of what they are really thinking about my class.
Biggest issue I've run into are student's who are speaking to each other in spanish and won't stop gabbing. Seems to be an issue with the cell phone generation, coupled with a language issue.
