First Dispositonal Blog: RESPECT

How do you define respect?  How does it look in the classroom?  What is the impact of respect or lack of respect in the classrooms?  How is respect best established in a classroom environment?

I define respect as a feeling students have for a teacher when they sense that the teacher knows what he is doing and has the students' well-being in mind; respect is something that is earned, not something that is forced upon people.  Respect, in my opinion, is one essential building block for excellent teachers simply because I feel like students are more drawn in by someone who they respect; they are more eager to listen and learn when someone who they respect is teaching, rather than the alternative teacher whom they could care less about.

When I made my way past middle school and through high school, I had several teachers on whom I respected and several whom I didn't.  Those who I did respect, I did because of three reasons:

1. How they dealt with obnoxious students
2. Their professionalism while still being 'down to earth'
3. Their obvious caring attitude towards both their job and their students

Clearly, when you're teaching about an abstract concept to middle and high school students who think its funny to be obnoxious and class, the ability to control the situation is of the utmost importance.  My seventh grade geography teacher, Mr. Sullivan, is the perfect example of this.  I remember times in his class in which 'class clowns' would try making a silly comment and make the class laugh - a comment that would obviously disrupt class.  However, when such comments were made, Mr. Sullivan would find a way to turn the attention around and make the 'class clown' the joke instead of his/her comment.  This was by no means degrading or anything, Mr. Sullivan would simply sarcastically congratulate the student for successfully disrupting class.  By the end of his sarcastic reply, Mr. Sullivan usually had the student wishing he/she had never made the comment in the first place - I know because I was on more than one occasion said student.  The masterfully way Mr. Sullivan defused the situation and prevented further remarks was something that I have always looked up to in awe. 

On the other side of the spectrum, I have had teachers who had no control of their classroom.  One such teacher was my Modern Literature class.  We read books in class such as F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby,' Steinbecks' 'Of Mice and Men,' and 'Grapes of Wrath.'  The teacher of this class had no control over her students, so much so that to put it bluntly, the class was a joke.  We listened to the books on tape; students took naps; everyone copied everyone's homework.  As the teacher walked in on the last day of class, nearly every boy (roughly half the class) stood on his chair and started chanting 'Oh captain, my captain!' as the rest of the class howled with laughter.  The teacher had to practically beg for students to get down - a process would took roughly fifteen minutes.  Such inability does not deserve respect.

Secondly, respect is earned in the classroom by the teacher's ability to teach the class in a professional manner, but also in a way that is 'cool.'  The more teachers know about their material, the better.  I know for me personally, when a teacher is able to make me laugh, I like him more.  The more I like my teacher, the more likely and eager I am to listen and learn from him.  Although I would argue teachers are more effective when they are indeed funny and more 'down to earth', there is a fine line teachers have to walk.  Yes, they should be funny and down to earth, but above all, they should be professional.  I had one teacher who was a hoot; he was very funny indeed.  But looking back on his AP US History class, I find myself wondering how effective his own teaching methods were.  There were several days in which we just talked about the news.  But did I learn much from these?  I have begun to question that.  Was it that, being an AP class, he wanted us to teach the material ourselves?  Was it that, because it was his last year of teaching before he retired, his enthusiasm for teaching had faded?  I don't know.  All I know is that although he was funny and entertaining, he lacked in teaching the actual material.

Lastly, those teachers who genuinely show that they care about the student inside and outside the classroom are teachers who - in my opinion - are the most respected.  When I did my Education 185 class last J-Term, I had the opportunity to work with one of the best teachers in the Crestwood School District; her name was Mrs. Balk.  It wasn't that her teaching methods were substantially better than those of other teachers.  She wasn't more prepared than other teachers or anything.  What made her a good teacher was her eagerness to learn about her students and their activities outside the classroom.  She wished the basketball players good luck; she talked about cheers with the cheerleaders; she made an effort to get to know each and every one of her kids.  This made the students adore her.  Just in the few weeks that I was in her class, I could see the love and affection that was being given and received by Mrs. Balk and her students. 

That is what respect look like in a classroom.  It is the love and affection students give to the teacher; it is their undivided attention students show when the teacher is lecturing; it is the teacher's ability to defuse a situation while preventing future disruptions.  When students begin to respect their teacher for these reasons, they begin to pay attention more in the classroom, and thus learn more.  Students pay more attention in the classroom and fully engage in class discussions.  What happens more often in reality, however, is that teachers who are inexperienced try to gain respect by scare tactics.  They think that they can force respect from the students.  There is not a better example of this than my band teacher.  As noted earlier, my band teacher would often burst out in anger and make this long lecture about how the students should respect him and his authority.  Once, he got so angry, he knocked over a stand.  More often than not, this tactic made the situation worse, as students had new material to make fun of the teacher; it practically became a game to them. 

I remember a quote that I think fits here nicely.  Its by President Lincoln; he says, "Whatever you are, be a good one."  If we are teachers and want to be teachers, than we must aspire to be good ones; we must want to get to know our students on more than just a teacher-student relationship; we must be professional, not using scare tactics to submit students into obedience; we must want to make an impact on their lives for the better.  If teachers inspire to be good teachers, than the students will notice.  Therefore, it is my firm belief that teachers who really want to be teachers - who really want to make a difference and have an impact on their students' lives - will earn respect from their students.