Building Relationships As A Teacher

How to be a good teacher. I will tell you all the tricks that I have learned in my fifteen years as a special education teacher. Are you ready for the secret? Listen (okay read) very carefully....There is no one thing that you can do to be a great teacher! It takes a person who is willing to work hard and listen throughout their teacher college years. Listen to every college professor. Listen to every co-op teacher you have. Go to the schools in your area and observe the "best" teachers. Take notes - lots of notes. Study more. And then begin your first year of teaching. Even the best colleges and universities can't give you the knowledge that you can get from one day in the classroom.

When you get in the classroom watch your students. Listen to them. Get to know them. Make a personal relationship with your students. Learn about their families, their pet, their friends. Find out what they are watching on tv and which video games they are playing. Find out about their dreams and wishes. Let them know about you, and your family and your hopes and dreams. Then begin teaching your students.

If you have built a relationship with your students, they are more willing to listen to what you have to say. You will begin to see the lights appear above their heads. Since they are listening, they are learning.

Make learning fun. Since you have worked on the relationship with your students, you know what can get their attention. If they like a particular cartoon character or movie star, incorporate that in the learning. For example, use multiplication fact cards with their favorite cartoon character. Find erasers, or other small items that have that character to use as manipulatives. See if there are books with that character that you can read to the students. Use what you have learned by building those relationships to entice them into learning the standards they need to know.

If you build relationships with your students, you - and your students - will not have to work. Your students will enjoy coming to school, and discipline problems will disappear. Students will be actively engaged in the activities you present.

And your students will think you are the greatest teacher in the world - because you care about them. And that's how you get to be a good teacher.