Because you tell your students NOT to go to work and discuss their personal life if WE go and do it in class.
How to maintain a professional image is by doing your work and staying on top of things at all time.
Patricia,
I agree that it is important to keep personal distance. However, one strategy I use is to build professional connections with students. With tools like LinkedIn, or university networking events, you can build rapport with students in professional settings.
One tool I do not use with students is Facebook. I find that Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends, but I have a rule that I will not connect with students if I have a request unless they have graduated and are out of the system. I never want to be in a grading situation where there is a perceived conflict of interest.
With social media, it makes sense to connect on certain platforms for professional development, but to avoid others for personal connection.
The professional tools can support the professor's presence in the classroom - especially if they are publishing professional content related to the course.
Best wishes,
Rick
You dont want the students to feel like they can become your buddy. This will lead to them starting to ask you to perform inappropriate actions which may jeapordize your career.
Maintaining a professional distance from students is important because you have to hold their respect. Once the lines are blurred, and they start thinking of you as one of them, they will no longer think of you as a professional who can give them a fair grade.
Being a Registered Nurse, I have had considerable experience in what I have come to think of as "clinical caring." To become personally involved seems to me a way of taking care of one's own needs---not the patient's, not the student's. It is a balance that becomes easier with time,I've found.
This is extremely important as you are the role model for your students when they are in your class.
I believe in keeping a professional distance from the students; this way the students always see you as the instructor and not their friend. Also, for when difficulties arise (grades, failure, tardiness)it makes for less emotions on both sides.
Hi Sarah,
These are the instructors you need to surround yourself with. They can serve as a valuable tool to you, and you too can be highly respected at your institution. Let them teach you the tricks of the trade. Emulate the best!
Patricia
Hi Marion,
I concur! Students really do not need another personal relationship. They need a professional that they can emulate.
Patricia
Hi Chelsea,
Being yourself is important so that you and the student can better get to know each other. Rapport building is crucial in the education setting.
Patricia
They need to see you as a mentor and have respect for you. When you get to comfortable you will start losing thier respect to you as thier teacher and will try to treat you as a friend.
I agree - I enjoy being in the classroom with my students and my actions and demeanor reflect that. Student can tell when an instructor is putting on airs, or attempting to be the tough guy. Because I'm a new, and young, instructor and most of my students are older than me I feel that if I am myself (in the larger sense)in the classroom then learning can occur and relationships can form more honestly.
I strongly believe an instructor must portray professionalism by dress, personality, and in the way the speak. I do not believe sharing personal information or trying to be a student's friend is professional.
I am a first time instructor, what I have heard around our school is the respect the students have for certain teachers. These instructors seem to be the ones who relate very well with their students as well as have a very professional approach to instruction "they know their subjects well".
Maintaining a professional image helps you gain respect from the class. Show that you are in charge and you an an expert in your field.
It is very important to be seen as a professional and an instructor. This builds that leader mentality in the students - similar to the one they will have in the career field they have choosen. Another facotr in keeping a professional distance is that it keeps the respect factor. This will help students maintain their standing in class with assignments and a bias will not be made, keeping things fair to all students.
Teachers need to be role models for their students, to set examples of professionalism. Becoming "chummy" with students can also lead to serious problems with the students who don't get to be 'part of the club' and the teacher will completely lose their respect. It's a really bad idea to become their friend and I try to remain as distant as possible without being dismissive.
Hi Joann,
Sometimes we all get off topic a little, but we must know how to reel the students back on task quickly. Things can get out of hand rapidly.
Patricia
It communicates to the students that you are serious about your class and that they are important to you. It also demonstrates you as a role model and the expectation that you also have of them.
