Wednesday, September 8, 2010
How Does a Teacher Attain Respect In the Classroom
The late UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was a great example of a person who could command respect simply by being an outstanding role model. He led by example and that was how he was able to gain the respect of his basketball players but at the same time he showed his athletes the respect they were due. Coach Wooden described how we should respect others best in his own words "Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights." Respect is treating others in a manner in which you would like to be treated yourself. This could be applied to a classroom setting simply by setting an example to the students how they should respect others. The students would then understand what respect looks like and how it should be administered in school. Students don't have to be silent and motionless behind their desks to show respect of their teacher. That type of respect is more of a form of fear which is not a healthy relationship between the teacher and their students. If a student lives in fear of their teacher they are not going to ask questions about what they don't understand in the class. This does not lead to healthy learning. Instead a student should feel comfortable enough with their teacher that they will ask questions if they need to.
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Hi Mat, (I'm Jim's student aid, in case he hasn't "virtually introduced" me to your class; he gave me permission to check out/comment on your guys' blogs)
ReplyDeleteOk, so, treat others as you want to be treated (the golden rule), and your coach Jon Wooden example raises the bar even more: sacrifice your own needs/wants for those of someone else - this was Jesus' main message too (whether you're a Christian or not). These ideas that you have stated are SO important! So how do we incorporate them into our classroom? How do we teach our student to put their own needs aside and look to those of their classmates, ESPECIALLY when our schools today are so driven by competition? It's an 'every man for himself' kind of world in education when we're all focusing on making the grade, getting a high ACT score, making it look like we volunteer enough to count as decent citizens....when on earth will we ever have time to put others' needs before out own? Well, you personally cannot overthrow the whole system, but you choose what your own teaching/modeling will be like to cultivate this kind of respect in your classroom...it's great that you are thinking about these things.