Hi Julie,
We are not there to be our students friend. We should never mix personal with professional. We would love for our students to like us, but that should not be the focus. We need to focus on educating our students and making them blossom into the best professional possible.
Patricia
Hi Marisa,
I like your way of thinking about maintaining a professional image. Thank you for serving as a role model for our students. Students need positive people to look up to.
Patricia
Hi Michael,
Students want and need the instructor to be the authoritative figure in the classroom. It is the instructor's job to display authority. Knowing what distance to maintain with your students is very important so that they see you as the controller.
Patricia
Without such distance the instructor runs the risk of being seen as lacking the authority-- experience and knowledge above and beyond the experience and knowledge of the students-- to teach.
I completely agree with this train of thought. For students, it is extrememly important to see their instuctors "walking the walk." I make it a point to follow the same classroom rules and guidelines they must follow. I make sure I am in class on time, I don't chew gum, etc. I always try to lead by example, not by simply telling them what to do.
You never want the class to see you as anything other than a professional instructor. If the students see you as a "buddy", then you have crossed the parameters of what is acceptable as an instructor. You would never want the perception that you favored one student over another.
Hi James,
As an instructor, you should make it obvious to students that you are very approachable, but the approach should be strictly professional in nature. Students need to feel very comfortable in coming to you, no matter what the situation concerns.
Patricia
Being personal but professional helps build good respect from sudents. They see you are approchable but respected.
I believe that as an instructor, you gain more respect from the students if you keep yourself as a higher authority. I have had previous instructors that are focused on being "liked" and have discussed his or her personal life with the students. As a result, he lost respect from some students and classroom management became more difficult.
Julie
Becoming to close to the student affects your judgment when grading assinments and makes it hard to matain class room control
You make a good point about Facebook. Students are quick to use it and share everything. We are living in a different time than when I was a kid.
Maintaining a professional distance from students is crucial. Most schools have a "No fraternization" policy set in stone. I have seen a few excellent instructors make this mistake and they were dismissed instantly and without question.
We are not our student's friends. We do appreciate them as individuals and care about their success but we can not get drawn into their personal life. It clouds objectivity and can lead to accusations of favoritism. Even if we are able to be their friend and remain completely objective and fair, the accusations and doubts will still be there and some may always wonder if the student really earned their grade fairly.
But.. we must be careful not to become too distant. Remain interested and listen but be careful what conversations you actually engage in.
Nor do we want them to have knowledge of our personal lives, trials and tribulations. They will quickly lose respect if we continually complain and waste valuable classroom time. Students put everything on Facebook too!
Hi Anne,
You have it! We must lead by example. Students look up to us as role models.
Patricia
Hi Diana,
As educators, we are constantly being watched. Students critique us all the time, good or bad. We must always be on our best behavior because you never know.
Patricia
Hi Roger,
As educators, we need to be our worst critic. There is improvement for everyone. We can evaluate our own professional image to determine if anything needs to be improved. If we think we look professional, and we don't, how can we teach our students to display a professional image?
Patricia
Hi Sheila,
Absolutely! Distance is extremely important whenever it comes to a teacher/student relationship. The roles are distinctively different. The teacher's role is to teach and fully manage the classroom, and the student's role is to learn and give the instructor the utmost respect.
Patricia
Teaching is a professional occupation, to inspire confidence in your students so that they trust you and are ready to learn from you, one must be professional at all times. They see us as role models; as such we must always carry ourselves with a modicum of respectability.
I also remind them at the start of the course and on occasion if some disruption starts to emerge; that they should assume that the classroom is a work environment and their behavior should reflect what would be expected of them while in a professional working environment.
I also use the same comparison when addressing tardiness, late work and excuses, in the real world it wont fly. By making it clear that in the class room I am the manager and my primary interest is in their professional development and also reiterating the fact that we are all working collectively as a team and through mutual respect and civility there will be no room for any unpleasant scenarios to occur.
It is important to maitain a professional distance from students in order to ensure that favortism is not shown to a particular student because of a friendship with the instructor. A professional distance also helps to define the roles of student and instructor. Instructors need the respect of the students which keeping a professional distance helps to create. The primary responsibility of the instructor is to teach the content marterial as outlined in the syllabus. Friendships with students is not the goal of the course.
If you maintain a professional image, you will be less likely to have problems in your class. You will gain the respect of your students.
I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT YOU SHOULD BE MORE CRITICAL OF YOURSELF AND YOUR OWN ACTIONS RATHER THAN WHAT SOMEONE ELSE THINKS OF YOU. IF YOU CONCERN YOURSELF WITH WHAT OTHERS THINK ALL THE TIME THEN YOU LOSE TRACK OF WHAT YOU NEED TO ACCOMPLISH TO MOVE FORWARD. (IT IS WASTED THOUGHT)IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH YOURSELF THEN HOW CAN YOU RELATE TO OTHERS.
