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Building relationship
with students
It is obvious that a
good learning atmosphere could be
established if students and teachers like each other. As a parent of
two
children, I have the experience of how to handle and care for them. I
will see
every student as my child and will be responsible for their success in
their
education. I will let them know me in a way that is comfortable to them
and me. I will listen to them and respond to them
accordingly. I am available to them whenever they want to discuss any
problem
regarding my subject. I will allocate an extra time where each student
will
have the opportunity to talk to me when they feel the need to do so. I
want to
develop a strong relation with them to be successful in my teaching
career. I
will
arrange to have lunch with them if conditions permit. This informal
interaction
will give them the freedom to enquire about me know me as any other
person not
only as a teacher. According to Joneses
(p.78),
“a significant body of research indicates that academic achievement and
students’ behavior are influenced by the quality of the teacher-student
relationship. Students prefer teachers who are warm and friendly”. I
know that
students also like their teacher if he/she is skillful in teaching the
subject.
Therefore, I will prepare myself to be close to perfect in conveying
the
subject matter with the appropriate teaching method. In addition to
this, I
will update my self with current knowledge through reading and
training. Although
the relationship between the teacher and students is compulsory, the
teaching-learning process will not be facilitated without building
relationship
among the students.
Developing
relationships among students
I wish that students
in my
classroom will act like ‘sisters and brothers’, brother to brother,
sister to
sister. This kind of feeling among them will create a strong friendship
bondage
and an atmosphere of helping each other to learn together to achieve
their
desire to learn. I will be designing activities that will promote the
relationship of students in the class prior to the commencement of the
real subject.
- There will be
acquaintance
activities where each student will have a chance to introduce himself
or
herself to the class. Besides just telling names, I wish that each
student
briefly explain his background, experience in life and tell about his
or her
particular hobbies. Interview method of
acquaintance will be introduced where each student stands in front of
the class
and answer questions that students will ask him/her about his/her
experience
and what they want to be in the future. New students will be encouraged
to
adapt soon to the classroom situation. There will be no enforcement on
those
who do not want to be questioned, except encouraging them to
participate
gradually. Open discussions in circles will be one way of helping them
familiarize more. A topic of interest will be selected by me or by the
students
for the discussion.
- Activities that
establish cohesiveness or team
building. Cohesive groups in a classroom are characterized by warm
friendly
interactions among all members rather than isolated small cliques.
Cohesive
groups provide settings in which students feel safe, experience a sense
of
belonging, and view themselves as being liked and respected by others
(Joneses
p.135). Team building activities include: tower building, preparation
of
puzzle, group decision making etc. (Joneses,
p.140-141). Such activities will be conducted early in the academic
year to
attain team spirit in our future learning in classroom, laboratory as
well as
field practices. I believe that working in harmony will definitely
create cohesiveness
to accomplish a task. It is like a football game where each individual
in a
team contributes for scoring a goal.
- Activities for
enhancing
diverse liking patterns. When students feel liked by their peers, they
experience a sense of significance belonging, safety, and respect of
others.
Unless these basic personal needs are met students will have less
energy to
expend in learning. Therefore, in order to create harmonious
environment, I will
strive to organize activities that bring affection among the students.
My first
strategy will be to develop certain questions on a topic where they
will be
allowed to form a group of five students and choose one question that
interest
them and try to find the answer by reading books together. This
activity will
help to identify cliques and care will be taken so that isolated
students will not be formed. It is obvious that
students have their own interests. There is a spontaneous attraction
among
students to work or play together. Taking care that cliques are not
long
lasting, my second strategy will enable every student to always feel
that he/
she is part of the class and be able to interact with each other. Such
strategy
will be to group students randomly and help them work together on a
certain
problem given to them. Other activities include—wanted posters,
positive bombardment,
student directory etc. (Joneses, p.143-147).
References
- Jones
V. and Jones L.
(2004). Comprehensive Classroom Management: creating communities of
support and solving problems. 7th edition. Pearson
education, Inc. Boston, USA. 450 pp.
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