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#2:  Yes…we teachers are human. 

 Most of the truly great teachers I have ever encountered don’t truly believe in “professional detachment.”  To them, teaching is intensely personal.  Like two moths that are attracted to the same flame, the best student-teacher relationships are symbiotic couplings—both student and teacher walking together for very different reasons.

For those of us who dare to dream big, who hope for life-changing results emanating from the classroom, failure isn’t merely a flesh wound.  It is an assault on our solar plexus.  Our students often forget that we teachers have feelings, hopes, and ambitions.  And while most students are rarely malicious in their comments and actions, many of them fail to realize just how jarring and hurtful their comments can be.

Some of these actions and quotes probably sound disturbingly familiar:

“It’s not you, I just don’t like (insert subject area).”

“I have been gone for a week.  Did I miss anything?”

“Can we not do anything today?”

“This is boring.”

*Coming to class ten minutes late with Starbucks in hand.

*Student with an F asks on the last day of the semester if he/she can do anything to pass.

*A student who has low test scores and completes few homework and class assignment asks for extra credit.

If nothing else, being human means reacting to the stimuli that we encounter.  Teachers do have feelings.  Most teachers of merit want their students to enjoy their class, want their students to enjoy the leaning process, and want their students to have positive memories of their time in our classes.

Click here for tip #1.

Jeremy S. Adams is the author of HOLLOWED OUT: A Warning About America's Next Generation (2021) as...

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