Dthe BUS
hers can struggle with the ing a friend and an enforcer
smacking; rulers are long gone, the classroom can span from Facetative overseers. But what sort of for learning? And more importantly, teachers and professors?
up to him in more ways than one, and that was really cool," she says.
Student-teacher relationships can also vary depending on the type of class or department Pat McCahon, Overland Park senior and creative writing major; says his major requires a closer relationship with his teachers because of his major.
Writing is a sensitive subject to teach McCahon says. If a teacher seems distant from a student, the self-esteem the writer needs just isn't happening, he says.
"Not everyone is born to be writer," McCahon says."Hell, maybe I'm one of the unlucky few,but,it's that relationship with the teacher that makes me unafraid to try harder."
But classroom wants and needs are not just the students' concern.Teachers and professors also have their own ideas about what works best for students and what sort of relationship is most beneficial for students and teachers. Steve llardi, professor of psychology, often looks back on his own college years to remember what he wanted from his professors.
"The professors I remember the most are the ones who reached us with an infectious passion," he says. "They cared about my development as a person."
Illardi says that teaching is an ever-evolving process and he constantly adapts to find out what works and what doesn't in his classroom. He says making himself available to students outside of class and setting up expectations are effective strategies for creating a healthy student-teacher relationship.
"To me, the most meaningful moments every week come from time with students,"
he says.
Joey Sprague, professor of sociology, fears that our education system is becoming more passive, where material is merely unloaded onto students who are then expected to understand the information without much engagement. She says the key to a healthy student-teacher relationship is mutual effort and hard work.
"The most effective relationship is one where everyone has responsibilities.The teacher has to be responsible for knowing the material and presenting it in a way that promotes learning and the students have to take responsibility for being actively involved in their learning and asking for her help when needed," she says.
But Sprague says when a relationship passes friendly and becomes friendship, boundaries are crossed and goals are misconstrued.
"I think teacher-student relationships should remain professional," says Sprague. "I'm very nervous about people who cross the line."
The line between an open, friendly relationship and a friendship is easily blurred when a teacher invests his or her time and energy into a student. When someone takes an active interest in students' well being, it is difficult to avoid getting personal.
Sometimes it can send the wrong message, say Harrington, professor of research in education. Individual attention can be misread as special attention, he says.
Harrington explains that a major issue in education today is the question of what exactly is being taught. An education consists of more than textbooks and chalkboards and tends to venture into more inexplicable
Photo illustration by Jerry Wang
Becoming friendly with a teacher—to the point of fist jabbing with ease—can help students in their studies and relationships.
lessons that often aren't entirely based on academics. Teaching is more than just the transmission of information and it is the intangible effects, Harrington says, that really make a difference to a student's relationship with a teacher.
"Those have to do with attitude, approach, values and ethical style, which are hard to grapple with."
Those sorts of attributes are the ones students often remember most about a class or teacher—their eye contact, the way they phrase their questions or their overall presence in the classroom. It's not necessarily the material, but the subtle messages a teacher delivers alongside it.
Joel Cowart, Los Angeles senior, was inspired to change his major because of a teacher who noticed his potential and talent in another area.
"She guided me on how to get everything I'd need to succeed as a physics major and on the many programs that were available to me. I love her to life!" he says.
Regardless of whether a teacher's style is more passive or interactive,or whether a teacher becomes a friend,it is the everlasting effect that makes the biggest difference in students' lives
"At the heart of the matter, you can tell if someone cares or not," Cowart says. JP
Student-teacher relationships in the movies: some inspirational, others just plain inappropriate
Notes on a Scandal (2006) A young, married art teacher takes it too far when she starts an affair with her 15-year-old student.
Rushmore (1998)
Complications ensue when a 10th-grade private school students falls in love with a teacher, only to find out his lifelong mentor is in love with her too.
Billy Madison (1995) Billy falls for his sexy third-grade teacher when he gets a redo of his K through 12 education.
Dead Poet's Society (1989)
A prep school English teacher uses a secret poetry society to teach and inspire a group of boys to think for themselves.
Freedom Writers (2007) Based on a true story,a high school teacher shows her inner-city classroom the value of tolerance and education through the use of daily journaling.
January 22, 2009
11