Get Your Students Hired
Very important as student "word of mouth spreads". Instructors who have "favorites" will lose respect with their current students as well as create a bad first impression with their incoming students. Keeping that professional distance is vital as classroom management is fused by this professional distance.
Hi David,
We most certainly must lead by example. We must be the professional that we want our students to become.
Patricia Scales
It is my job to assess the students and guide them in the right direction. The first and main way I do this is to show them how professionals look and behave.
I have learned a great deal from this module and course. Part of me wishes I had taken it a bit earlier, but I can see I learned more relating it to experiences I have had in the classroom.
When they think you are their friends, you are not respected as an instructor. The students will think its ok to do whatever they like in your class.
This is certainly an important point. School is just the beginning, you want to be providing a good role model so that students know how they should hold themselves when they begin in the professional world. Providing a bad example, not only shows little respect for the students, it give them the impression that is how it is in the real world. Certainly not the case.
I almost got caught in the friend trap in this area a few quarters ago.
It's difficult when students share the same likes, watch the same shows, and are close in age to me. However there is a huge difference between you and a student...and that is time and experience--You owe it to the student to keep your distance because at the end of the day our goal is to get them to the same level as ourselves (if not higher).
My personal opinion is the above but that serves you as a teacher as well. We should keep in mind our endeavors and maintain respect for ourselves and our work alongside of giving our students respect.
Instructors need to keep their relationship with the students in a professional manner. By not doing so leads to students thinking there is favoritism in the class. I also feel an instructor will lose the respect of the class because the students think the is a buddy. And Buddies help other buddies out. No how much you like or dislike a student you have to everyone the same or you could get into some big trouble down the road.
Hi Gordon,
You shot straight to the chase. You have it! The instructor's role is certainly different from the student's role. The instructor's role needs to be held in very high regards.
Patricia Scales
There needs to be some separation, otherwise what is gained in commonality, is lost in authority.
Hi Shauna,
You are on point! We should be the professional that we want our students to become. Our students need as many role models as they can get.
Patricia Scales
You can not act as a friend because than other students might think that you give that student special treatment
Students have a different demeanor around their friends. They use a different language and have a different level of respect. It is easy to lose control of a classroom if you become friends with the students. It is our job to train them for their careers and because of this, we should expect professional behavior from them and exhibit the same behavior so that they see us as role models.
That is not professional at all. As an instructor you are not there to make friends with the students you are there to teach them so that they can better themselves in the career world. I feel it is a conflict of interest.
they need to understand that you have experience and success in your field and that you are the leader in the classroom. If you are too personal they will see you as a friend and it will undermine your authority.
great way to put it. I agree completely. Students need someone to respect in the class room, not become buddies.
Hi Joel,
I agree! Students need to know that our role is to instruct not befriend them.
Patricia Scales
Students look up to students almost as a child looks up to parents. There is a line between professionalism and friends that needs to be maintained and established.
There is no room for friendship in the workplace. Your relationship with your student should be strictly professional. Being friends with your students, hanging out after class can really cause issues. The wrong message could be sent to not only your students but colleagues as well
Hi Kamice,
I love your perspective! You think identical to myself! Let's keep things strictly professional at work! They least employees and students alike know about you personally the better off you are!
Patricia Scales
It tends to lend itself to respect for the instructor. A "buddy" relationship reduces that perception of mentor/pier distance that is vital to a healthy learning environment.