TEACHERS are so influential in the eyes of everyone, especially so in the lives of students. Regarded, not only as second parents, but more as models and partners in molding minds of the youth.
Teachers should mingle within the society, and more so with their students, but, there must be proper approaches.
Although for some, teachers who are seeking or establishing friendship with their students may be misinterpreted to be outside the norm.
That's why in some cases, though just nominal, the teachers' behavior is regarded as a breach of ethics.
The challenge is how to maintain the gap, between the teachers, who are considered as experts and their students, considered as beginners, in preserving order in the class and the respect for authority in the teaching and learning processes.
There are instances that when you crack jokes in a huddle with your students, they easily become complacent. That even make them so relaxed, and the result: recitations and even assignments are not seriously considered by them.
In a recent study, it showed that students learn best that which is relevant to their lives, and teachers should cope up with the recent developments affecting the lives of the new youth or the "soon to be Millennials".
Millennials are the aged 18 to 34, or today's young adults who look different from past generations.
Teachers must understand the individual behavior of their students. The student's life of spending almost 5 to 7 hours a day for five days a week in school, for almost ten months, is a great time for teachers ti upgrade the youngster’s skills.
We can confirm that students’ disruptions occur frequently in classes that are poorly organized and managed, where students are not provided with appropriate and interesting tasks.
So the key is, teachers need to continuously monitor the student in order for him or her to be aware of any difficulties the student is having.
Teachers should make efforts to be on friendly terms with as many students as possible. Befriending students is a simple matter of being available to them as often as possible and sharing experiences. Joining all school extracurricular activities and formal functions provides additional opportunities for teachers in engaging conversations with students.
Personal interaction with the students provide more realistic understanding of the needs and wants of your students, than lessons learned from hours spent through the internet, also aimed of learning relationships.
The difference of age between teachers and students does not play a lot in establishing rapport.
In these times who among us does not have a facebook or twitter account. Or simpler, who does not own a cellphone.
With the present open and vague global communication, everyone can reach anyone in a click of a finger. So you don't need to strive hard in creating or establishing friendship or communicating to anyone, teachers and students included.
Let's befriend our students. In doing so it may lead to the discovery that some students have exceptional talents or personalities that do not reflect to their academic standings.
There are also those, who really need a push in their pursuit for education. You can also encounter some personalities who are simply difficult to understand and you may not like at all.
And with those different positives and negative preferences, you have to search for means on how to be influential in upgrading classroom behavior.
Being fair at all times is so critical in teaching for you might be interpreted as unfair if some certain students with whom you have established friendly relationship may be construed as more favored.
But remember that the principle of fairness should always prevail in all educational environments. Fairness as defined as the quality of treating people equally or in a way that is right or reasonable, should be extended to all students, considered as a dear friend or merely an acquaintance in school.