What Ed Said

Home About

10waystogetyourstudentsrespect
AUGUST 28, 2010
by whatedsaid tags: classroom, Education, Learning, respect for teachers, teachers, teaching

I M A TEACHER, A LEARNER, AN INQUIRER AND NOW A BLOGGER.

EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION

Sign me up! I loved the discussion that grew out of my 10 things teachers should UNlearnpost. It was inspired by the Yoda clip and I deliberately did not elaborate on each point, so as to provoke thinking and responses. I have posted separately about most of the points on other occasions anyway. One of the points which raised problems for some people was my suggestion that students are notobligedtorespectteachers.Idothinkmutualrespectbetweenanyhumanbeingsis important. And I understand that there might be differing cultural expectations when it comes to respecting teachers. But I still think its important for teachers to think about whether and why they deserve respect automatically.

SEARCH
type and press enter

TAGS

#edchat 21st century Blogging blogs change classroom concepts creativity

Curiosity edublog awards

educational reform Flat

Education

Classrooms

global interaction Hebrew hole-i n-t h e-w a l l IBAP conference ICT India inquiry inquiry learning
By whatedsaid | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

10 ways to get your studentsrespect (for those who dont think it comes automatically) 1. Respect your students. Donttalkdowntostudents.Modelmutualrespect.Dont have double standards. Give what y o ud like to get back. Know every childs story and treat each as an individual. Cater for different learning preferences, strengths and weaknesses. 2. Have a class agreement, not top-down rules. Ask what helps them learn and what hinders learning. Use that as a basis for establishing an essential agreement as to how the class will run and what behaviours will be evident. Have everyone sign it. Put it up on the wall. Refer to it constantly. 3.Bepartofthelearningcommunity. Dont be the boss of learning. Encourage kids to take ownership of their learning. Be an inquirer too. Dont pretend to know all the answers. Learn with and from your students. Divide your groups in a variety of random ways, so that everyone learns to work with different people.

Jay McTighe k i t c h e n g a r d e n PYP project zero

concepts PYP PLN Reflection schools skype soles and

teacher PD teachers

Learning

somes student directed learning SugataMitra

technology Thinking thinking routines

toondoo Twitter visible thinking voicethread

teaching

web 2.0
RECENT POSTS Lifecanchangeinaninstant LaBibliotecaInteractivadeBaos Learningtoday Whatsyourstory? Whatdoeslearninglooklike?

4. Acknowledge their physical needs. Allow students to drink water and even to eat if they hungry. Dont try and control when they go to the toilet. (If your classes are engaging, they will only go when they need to.) Provide opportunities for standing up and moving around during learning.

Thankyouforteachingme Itsnotaboutwinning Ifitworksforus

5. Be fair and reasonable.

Globalconnections
Dontshowfavoritism.Expecteveryonetosticktotheagreement.Dont allow put-downs between students. Accept legitimate excuses and even some that might not be. If the homework comes a day late because they had something else to do, its not the end of the world. 6. Have a sense of humour. Laugh with your students but never at them. Laugh at yourself. Show firm disapproval if they laughateachother.Dont take school too seriously. Take learning seriously. But make learning fun too. 7.Provideasecurelearningspace. Provide opportunities for risk-taking in learning. Create a safe environment where learners dont fear failure. Be supportive of creative thinking and new ways of doing things. Make very student feel validated. 8. Be sincere.

10waystomakethelearningmatter

ARCHIVES
Select Month
6

CATEGORIES
Select Category
6

VISITOR MAP
Talktostudentsinanormaltone,irrespectiveoftheirage.Studentsseethroughadultswho arent sincere very quickly. Dontpretend.Saywhatyoumean.Meanwhatyousay.Showthat you carebut only if you do. (If you dont, why are you a teacher?) 9. Be human. Acknowledge when youre in the wrong. Apologise when you make a mistake. Admit youre impatient because youre tired today. 10. Let go. Dontbeinchargeofeverysituation.AskyourselfIsitimportant?before you react. Dont makeallthedecisions.Provideopportunitiesforchoice.Showthatyouvalueinitiativeabove compliance. 10 (ways) series 10 ways to get students to own their learning 10 ways to foster a love of learning 10 ways to create a culture of thinking 10 ways to grow as an educator 10 ways my thinking has changed 10 ways to think about your learning space 10 ways to help students develop a PLN 10 ways to attract readers to your blog 10 things teachers should unlearn

HEADER photo by mazz sackson

from 1 0 w a y s s e r i e s, Education

Spicynodes, a powerful mind-mappingtool

LearninginSriLanka

Like

One blogger likes this post.

19 Comments

leave one

enpsteacher

PERMALINK

August 28, 2010 11:10 pm

I too loved the discussion that grew out of my 10 things teachers should UNlearnpost. I was a big contributor to that respect dialogueyou mentioned, as I cannot stress enough to new teachers how crucial respect is. A huge problem with new teachers is they mistake respect with friendship.

DO NOT BE A FRIEND TO YOUR STUDENTS! THEY HAVE ENOUGH FRIENDS! To illustrate this point, if my friend tells me to shut up,I might slug him on the arm and tell HIM to shut up. However, if my student tells me to shut up, he or she knows there will be immediate consequences for disrespect. Yes, follow all 10 bits of sage advice on the list above, but DO NOT blend the lines of TEACHER/ student, or the necessary respect will be impossible to maintain. If you are interested in a more in-depth explanation or discussion of this idea check out my post on the topic at http://wp.me/s11oWO-398
REPLY

enpsteacher

PERMALINK

August 29, 2010 12:18 am

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and for your response found at http://tinyurl.com/2alxuxn. Just to clarify, by no means do I disagree with or dislike your list. I merely meant my post as an addendum for new, young, idealistic teachers. Thanks and keep up the good work!
REPLY

Robyn

PERMALINK

August 29, 2010 8:43 am

Great list but I dont see anything there about learning. Teachers who engage their students through embedding learning in contexts that are authentic to them, have meaningful and hopefully applicable outcomes and require deep learning and higher order thinking, combined with the belief that each and very students can achieve, will earn life-long (or even longer) respect. I still hear my 85 year old Dad talk about teachers he respected and why he respected them
REPLY

whatedsaid

PERMALINK

August 29, 2010 10:20 am

Thanks for the comment! Youre right of course, I totally agree with everything you say. I write so much about learning that I didnt even

notice! In my head, all my posts stand togetherI forget that there might be people who just read one post and so they dont see it in the context of everything else I write. #11. See Robyns comment above!
REPLY

Jeremy M.

PERMALINK

August 29, 2010 4:51 pm

A lot of it depends on what example you set. Yes, we need to show respect for students if we expect it in return, but we also need to show how we as teachers respect other teachers. This can be done I a number of ways. As professionals we dont always get along with our colleagues but we should show some level of respect. Students will pick up on snyde remarks or a rolling of the eyes, or any other form of disapproval/disrespect. We cant expect students to be respectful in anothers classroom if you yourself dont show any respect for that teacher. I think that it also teaches another important messageyou dont have to likeeveryone, but you can certainly get along with (most) everyone. Respect, at least for me, is something has to be modeled. I learned respect from watching how my dad

and mom treated others. I learned respect from teachers that treated me as a person and not a subordinate. We can talk all we want to the kids (especially younger grades) about what respect looks like, but it means very little until they actually see it.
REPLY

Akevy Greenblatt

PERMALINK

August 29, 2010 5:05 pm

I loved the list and I think you were dead on in many of the things you mentioned. Too often teachers get into a power struggle with his/her students because after all they are the teacher. They may win that battle but they have lost the war because they have lost the respect of that student and possibly the class for a long time. another things teachers forget and sometimes students as well is that the teacher needs to be fair but fair doesnt always mean equal. I would also agree with Jeremys comment that one important factor in the issue of respect is that teachers need to be role models and model respect for their students by the way they interact with others. Thanks for the post Akevy
REPLY

Robyn Fox

PERMALINK

August 29, 2010 6:01 pm

Great list, Edna. Thank you so much for everything you post. Jeremy wrote that he learned respect from watching how my (his) dad and mom treated others. That makes me think of my dad who always said you are no better than anyone else and nobody else is better than you. This is a great creed to live by, when thinking about respect..both in terms of respecting students, peers and ourselves.
REPLY

Sarah

PERMALINK

August 30, 2010 1:43 am

Very nice list. All true. And all are easy things to do.
REPLY

Judith

PERMALINK

August 30, 2010 9:57 am

What a fantastic post. I think all teachers should read this every day just to remind themselves of their responsibilities to children.
REPLY

Miss B

PERMALINK

August 30, 2010 2:27 pm

Great post. Even though reading these I thought, yes I knew that, its so good to read these from time to time, its easy to forget some of these tips when you get bogged down in the middle of term, with reports and programs etc etc. Thanks for reminding me!
REPLY

Ula Lutfiyah

PERMALINK

August 30, 2010 3:51 pm

wow, nice article.. thanks for sharing.. ^_^v

REPLY

Elena Sacks

PERMALINK

September 1, 2010 11:29 pm

I loved this post. As Judith commented- we do need to be reminded of these points as teachers from time to time. My how schooling has changed from my days as a student. I just hope children today realize how wonderful their learning environments can be compared to rigid and stringent ways of the past.
REPLY

ktenkely

PERMALINK

September 4, 2010 6:50 am

So right on Edna. I am in the camp that teachers should automatically assume that a child will respect them because they said so. Im not sure that can even be called respect, more likely it is fear. True respect is mutual between both parties who care about each other and feel safe in that respectful relationship. Great 10 list!
REPLY

Morgan

PERMALINK

September 12, 2010 8:15 am

Great post. My favorite is #9. I try to be as real and human as possible. The other day during circle time, one of my K students told me, I feel mad.I eventually got the reason- he was mad because he wanted to stay home that day with his mom. I told him, You know Alan, I was mad this morning too. I wanted to stay home with my dog. But here we are.His face lit up. I told the truth and may have hooked him for the year! #9 Be human. Never be perfect.Kids hate perfect.Perfectcreates anxiety, not respect.
REPLY

Sam Rangel

PERMALINK

November 18, 2010 3:53 pm

Excellent! Without respect, there is no way you will be able to reach your students. All the training in the world wont help you if your kids dont respect you. This is great advice for new teachers and veteran teachers alike. Ive made it one the Power Posts on my site. Thank you, Sam
REPLY

Trackbacks 1 . Education Matters in Urban Schools 2. JD's School of Thought Daily Links #9 8/28/2010 3 . R-E-S-P-E-C-T English Teacher, too. 4. 10 Ways To Get Student Respect whatedsaid.wordpress.com Todays Power Post | Success In The Classroom

Leave a Reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Name *

Email *

Website

Comment 5

Post Comment c Notify me of follow-up comments via email. d e f g c Subscribe by email to this site d e f g

T h e m e : V i g i l a n c e b y T h e T h e m e F o u n d r y.

Blog at WordPress.com.