Human Connections

I noticed that many of the students want to learn from the teacher other aspects than educational aspects. They want to get to know the life's of the teacher. Many of the students are always trying to guess my name. They are ask me how I am, one student said in the morning "how we doin Ms. Moskowitz" when I was helping his small group of 4 with a reading assignment. That same boy, said 4 times in one day "thank you" after I helped him, for ten minutes no less, unzipper his coat that was stuck. I believe that the students simply want to know the teacher cares about them. To do so, they want to know if a conversation can be had that is friendly, polite, and personal. If students can connect on this human level, than the teacher-student relationship will be improved immensely. Dramatic differences will occur in behavior and effort. For instance, as I often ask about the student's personal lives, how recess was, while at the same time consistently pushing each student to try their best, and provide ways or challenge capable students think advance their own thinking, they are excited for when they achieve success. During one of the progress report days, at the end of the day when students are ready to leave, they are handed their progress report with their letter grades for each subject. I counted 6 students who ecstatically made their way to me and expressed their grade in whatever class with exclamation. They wanted me to know they were excited for their grade because they earned it. Their effort was rewarded with a high grade and they wanted me to know. I of course told them how proud I was of them. That day, there were 6 more students telling me their grades than my MT; no student wanted to express their excitement about a grade to my MT. In no way am I criticizing my MT, rather I am trying to convey the importance of establishing a human connection with the students so effort can be maximized, grades can increase, and teacher-student relationships can deepen.