Hi Sharon,
Faculty is really the cornerstone for the entire workplace.
Patricia
It is important because students look to you as the expert and role model. You are constantly to provide the picture of what is to come for them.
It's important to remain professionaly distant from the class, and treat each student equally. If you "favor" one student over others, you lose any sense of being the "leader". And let's face it, there will be certain students you get along with from the beginning, certain students who rub you the wrong way - or maybe even you rub them the wrong way - but you have to treat everyone the same across the board. If we are trying to prepare these students for the work force, then we must act in a way that THEY should act when they are a part of a professional team in a workplace environment.
A professional image is as imprtant to teach as the content itself. Employers want a competent and professional employee. Faculty can be the cornerstone to this.
You always want to keep control of the class and befriending student is not the way to keep control.
Sets a positive image for the students.
motovates the students to be actively engaged in learning.
An educator can get caught up in the personal lives of the student and lose objectivity.
Your job is to be a professonial at all times. Students want to learn and learning does not include learning about your life.
Hi Dennis,
We must lead by example. Students look up to us in more ways than one.
Patricia
To be quite honest. Respect
Jonathon,
I like the way you expressed your professional image. You articulated exactly what so many of us do each day. I particularly liked your use of the expression "clinical touch". As a Registered Nurse & Massage Therapist, I can truly appreciate, and will incorporate, that very wording into my teaching practices. Thanks.
Denise
Lines become blurred and the student/ teacher relationship can be undermined.
I dont feel in instructors should be friends with their students. Boundaries become blurred and the power differential can put student and instuctor in compromising positions.
Students easily lose respect if you present yourself in a non-professional manner. They want to be successful and professional. If you are not ,how can they expect you to be helpful to them?
I think it is very important that instructors maintain a professional distance, because if you allow students to get too close they may feel as if they will or can have special treatment. This will cause other students to think you have favorites in the class.
I agree that students do evaluate our behavior outside of class. Because of my training as a therapist I do not respond to a student unless they respond to me first. I do not want my students to feel uncomfortable.
Melissa
I absolutely agree. Maintaining a professional image is necessary if you wish to maintain respect among students and peers.
It is essential that you maintain a professional distance for numerous reasons:
1. To serve as an example of the most common type of relationship the students will have in the very real, professional world.
2. To demonstrate that a professional can legitimately have a genuine concern for another person (the student in in a teaching environment) without that relationship becoming inappropriately personal.
3. As an allied health Instructor for the past two years, I have on a number of occasions spoken to my students about the need to use a “clinical touch†when dealing with patients. That touch conveys professionalism, compassion and respect. The mindset of the individual is always reflected in their touch. Have the students acquire a correct, professional mindset, and the communications that proceed from that will also be correct.
Jonathan French, D.C.
09/12/2010
Maintaining a professional distance from students, means that break times are not spent socializing with students. Break times can be used to grade a few extra papers, update grade books,or preparing for the next class.
Leslie
Because you are a mentor/educator not a friend
