Kristen Duncan Blog #5-Routman Ch 2

First and foremost we as teachers have to love what we do because students can see it.  The can tell whether we enjoy them and our jobs, and when we don’t.  Before anything else in the classroom happens we have to show them we love them, we love our job, we care about their success, and we will do everything we can to help them reach their potential.  They see it, just as we see it.  It is important to reach out to our students on their levels, not always be “BIG BAD TEACHER”.  Get on their level and learn about them.  Learn about their lives, their strengths, their weaknesses, hobbies, and passions.  Not on an academic level, but on a personal level.  From there we can bond with them.  Genuinely bond with them, and care about them outside of just academics.  Students that see you care past a good grade on a math test, are going to be more apt to work and work harder than a student that is just going through the motions because you as the teacher are.  We take grades, we take test, we take from our students all the time, but we as teachers also need to give.  We have to personally give some of us to them as well.  Our stories, our strengths, our weaknesses, our hobbies and interests.  Students can bond with us and relate to us just as we want to bond and relate to them.  Student’s lives matter and our report with them needs to show that and demonstrate that at all times.  We tell them we love them, we tell them we care about their success, and tell them we want them to reach their dreams….but we as teachers need to model and demonstrate that at all times to them before they trust us and believe that!