A Student's Need to Satisfy his/her Teacher- Week 5 K. Jones

Since being in my classroom, I have noticed that students are very eager to please. I remember reading about students needing to have their teachers approval to feel they have accomplished something or something to that effect. Students always come to my mentor teacher and I to make sure that they have done the correct thing as far as their work is concerned. When it comes to their behavior they tend to make their own decisions. While some of the students make good choices, a number of them tend not to. When one particular student didn't finish their work, she started crying and she said " I didn't finish my work". The class had to stop working because it was time for them  to go to lunch. When I told her that it was okay that she did not finish her work and that she could finish it later. She continued to cry and said "it's not okay that I didn't finish". This further clarified for me that the teachers students have had in the past did not accept that fact that students did not finish their work in the time that was allotted to them. This can also be attributed to parental involvement where the parents expect the student to complete tasks given to them and if the parent hears otherwise from the teacher, the student may be punished. The encounter that I had with this student is not the first I have had like this with students in my classroom. Students are eager to please the teacher because they want to receive academic praise but they also want to have good reports for their parents from their teachers. One students asked me "How is my report". He was referring to how had his behavior been for the day because I had told him earlier that I may have to talk to his mom. It is important to notice that eagerness to satisfy the teacher is linked to a way a child is disciplined as well as parental involvement. I think it is something great to notice because I want students to be eager to learn not just to satisfy me so they can get a good grade.