i believe that maintaining professional distane is very important in class management because this sets the tone for the class and is one of the factors that will earn your students respect.
It is ok to discuss at the beginning of class something that the class is aware of such as a birth of a child or grandchild. However you need to maintain professionalism by returning to the topic at hand the classroom.
You must give respect to the students to receive it.
I feel it it important to distinguish to your students that you are in the class room to guied them and help them succeed first and foremost. I also feel a friendship is ok with limits of course. As the director of the program I want the students to know that they can talk to me about any issue, because that may be what is holding them back in the class room. Also maybe why they are missing class. So by having a friendship lets them know that they are able to discuss issues with you that they may be struggling with.
The instructor is not there to be a friend, but to be someone who can to teach the student and further their future in their chosen careers. Once the line has been crossed into allowing the student to view you as a friend a great disservice to that student has occurred.
It can help with maintaining the needed respect as well as reducing the possible perspective of favoritism. It can also leave the students wanting more in a good way.
Many of my students have a poor academic history and are very concerned about their abilities to succeed. It is very important to get to know them and to treat them with respect and as an individual. The difficulty is that they have no previous experience with this type of professional instructor/student relationship. In addition to showing them that you care, you must always carefully balance the topics and situations that would be unprofessional and cause issues for both the student and myself. In general, I try to stay away from topics that are too personal, such as love lives, finances, etc. Fortunately, we have a department whose job it is to take care of those types of problems. I will always walk them over to the correct person, introduce them and briefly explain their problem. That way, they know that I haven't "dissed" them, but I'm staying out of the overly personal areas.
Because it is important that they see you as a professional and not as a "buddy". Keeping your boundaries clear helps to reaffirm your position as an objective and impartial instructor. Becoming too friendly with students can lead to respect issues or to unfair behavior in terms of "choosing favorites" and being lenient to certain students.
This is important for me because I look younger than I am and many of my students think I'm their age or younger. Unless they absolutely respect me and my experience in the field, it's easy to get off track in this area.
The students need to respect me as an instructor. When they see me as a friend or peer, respect is lost
Hi Duanna,
Absolutely! We should be the role model that we want our students to become! Lead by example.
Patricia Scales
*Might make it more difficult to approach students when they are not doing very good if you have a personal relationship with them.
*You should maintain an image of leadership.
*Other students might get feel like you are favoring some students.
*Might make it more difficult to approach students when they are not doing very good if you have a personal relationship with them.
I always feel there is a "line" that instructors can not cross. You can not become friends with your students as someone will always complain that they aren't getting the special attention that the "friend" is getting. You can't cross the line, ever.
Hi Jason,
You really go the extra mile for your students. I can tell teaching is your passion, and you truly want to do all you can to help your students make it. We definitely need more educators like you.
Patricia Scales
Hi Dorothy,
You have it! Your career is not worth losing over a personal relationship with students. As you are doing, ALWAYS keep the student/instructor relationship professional.
Patricia Scales
Hi Arthur,
Yes, as instructors we must keep our distance from students. Instructors should only have a professional instructor/student relationship. Any other type of relationship is UNACCEPTABLE.
Patricia Scales
I believe that as an instructor I am there to earn students' respect. Professinal distance is a must because students will take advantage otherwise. They will start to ask for exceptions to the rule, extensions on due dates and other things that could jeopardize my career.
If you become too close to the students it destroys your objectivity and makes it harder to make decisions when difficult decisions arise.
Life happens and we all will, at some point, converse with our students about non-classroom topics. One of the reasons I love teaching is because I love to talk...with my students, not at them. I was in private practice for 7 years while teaching at the same time and professionalism came into play in both environments. And in both cases I was, and still am, professional and engaged. If I tried to be too professional and set a firm boundary with my patients/students I felt there was a disconnect, like they heard me but they didn't listen. I want to know my students as more than just a name and student ID. At the same time I let them know that first and foremost I am here to help them learn as much as possible in the 16 weeks that I have them. I let my students know from the beginning where I came from, how I got to where I am, and how I can help them succeed. They know what my goal is and I show them how I want to reach it by being prepared, speaking clearly, inviting comments and questions, and giving them meaningful feedback.
