Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Students and Teachers Respecting Each Other

I had an interesting conversation with one of the children with whom I work. We were discussing respect and he asked me “How can students respect teachers when they do not respect us?” I asked him exactly what he meant. He told me that in gym class, the teacher divides the students into two groups. His group sits towards the side of the teacher and he cannot see over the heads of the other students to see the teacher. Therefore, he cannot see nor hear the teacher’s instructions. Due to the fact that he cannot hear the teacher’s instructions, he asks questions of the other students, who also cannot see or hear the teacher. I assume that at some point, all of the students in that corner are talking. Then, the teacher apparently “yells” at them to stop talking without realizing that they cannot hear his instructions.
I agreed with him that teachers should respect children. However, I also told him that children should respect teachers, as well. I could see that he was angry because of his perception that the teacher did not respect the students. I was not in the room, so I cannot say definitively what exactly happened. As I said, I certainly agree with this student that the teacher and the student should respect each other.
However, if the teacher does not know why the students are talking, how could he respect them? The teacher’s perception is that the students are being rude because instead of listening to his instructions, they are talking when he is talking.
What do you think may be a remedy here for this problem?

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