Reich College of Education

The Importance of Teacher-Student Connections

This academic year has been very busy so far, and promises to be even more eventful as the year draws to a close. Being busy is not always a bad thing though, as it often provides the best opportunities for learning. This spring semester I have gotten the wonderful opportunity through my Elementary Education directed elective class, Issues of Language and Culture in Public Schools, to go to one of the local elementary schools and work with the ESL teacher. There I assist with tutoring English Language Learner students, as well as observing and helping a sixth grade science teacher. I have learned a considerable amount already going to this field experience and I am only half way through the semester! The most important things I have learned so far are how to work with students with diverse backgrounds, how to be patient when students are frustrating, and perhaps most importantly, how to find the talent in every student and help them to know they are important.

In this field experience I work primarily with the ESL teacher, therefore almost all of the students I am working with come from a background very different from my own. Sometimes I find it difficult to relate to these students for a couple of reasons: they may have trouble understanding what I am saying, I may have trouble understanding what they are saying, or simply their background is so vastly different from mine. One of the things I have had to work on the most was finding a common ground with each of these students. This is such an essential part of teaching and is absolutely critical to living up to your full potential as a teacher. It took some time for some of the students to warm up to me, which is understandable, considering I came in as a new “teacher” over halfway through their school year and disrupted their normal routine in some ways. But after working with the students a couple of times and getting to know them I was able to make connections. One student loves soccer, and while I know little to nothing about soccer, knowing this information gave me something to relate what we are learning about to in order to help him learn and retain the information we are working on. Another student loves animals, especially horses. When I was in elementary school, I was obsessed with horses, so I found it very easy to relate to this student once I found out this information because I could see a lot of myself in her.

This skill of relating to students will be essential to have in my future classroom in order to be a relatable and influential teacher. Making meaningful connections with your students and showing them you care is the most important part about teaching. Knowing my students as human beings, rather than just names on a role, will be what sets me apart from some of the other teachers my students will surely have throughout their educational career. Being able to relate the information we are learning, whether it be math, science, social studies, or literacy, to my students will be what helps them truly learn and retain the skills I am teaching. Meaningful learning takes place when students are engaged and interested, and the best way to help students stay involved is to learn how to relate to them.

The sixth grade science teacher I work with has a very diverse classroom with many students who are exited ESL students and other students with learning disabilities. This class
meets during the last period of the day on a Friday so the students are always very energetic and excitable. Because of all the energy, this class can be hard to handle and, therefore, hard to teach at times. There was one particular Friday the class was being especially rowdy and the teacher had to be much more stern with her students than she typically is. It was visible on some of the students’ faces that they were surprised and perhaps a little upset that their teacher had to be stricter with them than normal. Before the end of class though, the teacher made it clear to her students that it wasn’t that she was being tough on her students because she doesn’t like them, but because she cares about them and wants them to be successful. I remember her saying, “I get my energy from y’all. I love coming to school every day and seeing you. It makes me sad that we’ve had so many snow days lately because I haven’t gotten to teach you!” The students’ faces looked so happy that they were able to make a difference to their teacher, the way I feel she likely made a difference to them.

Making a student feel valued for something other than their intellect is essential to helping boost the students’ self-esteem and self-worth. While all students have something they are passionate about, all children want to know that they have the capability to make others happy and know that they are important to someone else. When I have my own classroom this will be one of my biggest goals, to make sure my students know they are valued for who they are and what they can be beyond just school. Academic success is very important, but, many times, a student’s true self-worth will come from things other than that. As a teacher, it is not only my
job to teach my students the material they need to know for the test, but also to teach them that they are more important to people then they will ever know.

In my opinion, being a teacher is one of the most important jobs a person can have. Teaching transcends just academia, into teaching life lessons and making a lasting impact on the world. Making meaningful connections with your students can mean the world to some students in ways you could never anticipate. Each student has a unique set of talents and gifts they bring to the table; none any better or any less than another. Some students will come to my classroom from broken homes, while others will come from families with money to spare. It will be my job as a teacher to make each and every one of these students feel included in my classroom and let them know that they are important and that they have just as much of a right to be at school as any of their peers. In my field experience this semester, I have worked with students who have just moved to the United States from another country, to those that have been here their whole lives, but still don’t believe they fit in. Everything I have learned and seen this semester reinforces one hundred fold my already standing belief that ever student has a right to learn and feel like they matter, regardless of language barriers, socioeconomic status, learning disabilities, race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, the list goes on and on. The biggest thing I have learned in the classroom this semester is that all students can learn and be successful; and success my look different to every student. In my future classroom I will strive to get to know each student so I can relate to them, let them know that I care about them, and do all I can to help every student become their definition of successful.