Think about your favorite teacher in primary school, what made them so special? maybe they were the first people who made mathematics’’ make sense or feel like taking a vacation outside those threatening equations, the wisdom and influence that teachers provide can be life-changing.
When we think about children we often focus on their academic performance, personality development, and behavior. However, a child’s social context is just as important. How they interact with peers can play a significant role in their overall development and can greatly impact their self awareness and confidence. In the classroom context, teachers have an influence on students through their social interactions and interpersonal relationships. To a large extent, this influence is dependent on how teachers manage their interactions with them.
We need to understand that as much as we want to look at the academic ability of a child, we cannot neglect the fact that teachers are important role models for many children as they play a vital role in shaping children’s attitudes, values, and beliefs.
We know that teachers can be parent substitutes and that naturally, children look up to them. We also know that there is an overlap between parenting and education especially when it comes to teaching. Children want to respect their role models and often emulate them as they feel more comfortable in new situations. As teachers, this motivates you to find ways to be effective communicators who motivate students through various methods, because these relationships are closely motivated they can lead to a more engaged classroom. Students would not only be prepared to learn but excited too, when they engage themselves in the lesson they’re less likely to need discipline during class.
Children’s classroom interactions are influenced by a lot of factors, and one of the most important factors is relationships, sometimes teachers focus more on brilliant students than those who might still be struggling to grasp what they are being taught, so we might be wondering, what different measures or approaches can teachers take to make these students understand better?
• Build rapport with your students and establish yourself as their mentor
• Building a personal connection, it leads to raising their intrinsic motivation to learn
• Observe your student classroom management
• Build effective communication with students
