Relationships

Brandie had this quote on her blog that I thought was so great I had to steal it.

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel” – Carol Buchner

In PSI, we were told to “beg, borrow and steal” from other teachers and I just couldn’t let this one slip by. I think it is fundamental part of teaching but sometimes people forget about it. We teach children, not robots and how we make them feel could impact them for the rest of their lives. I find it amazing what people remember from their early school years. I don’t remember much of what we learned but I sure do remember my teachers. I think I remember the nicer ones more than the ones I did not like too much. This semester one of my prof’s asked us to remember a teacher that made you feel bad. She said “I’m sure you’ve all had that experience” but I could not think of a teacher that said something to me that make me feel bad. I’m sure that would be one thing that would stick with someone forever. I’ve recently heard that when my dad was in school his teacher said that no question was a dumb question. So my dad asked a question because he wasn’t sure about something and that teacher made some comment about his question and basically really embarrassed my dad. This memory has stuck with him forever and impacted his life. I think for a long time he did not want to ask a question for fear that his teacher would make fun of him again. It also impacted how he treated his kids in that he made sure we knew that we could ask him anything and he would never consider it a dumb question. I know people say things sometimes that they don’t mean to be hurtful and end up hurting others but I think it is really important to consider other people’s feelings when you make comments.

I think this quote also shows how important it is to establish relationships with the students. Students that know you have an interest in them outside of the classroom walls often show more interest in you as a teacher and often show more respect as well. I think it is really important to spend the first few days of school learning about the students and finding out about their hobbies and interests. That information can be used in the classroom to make lessons more meaningful to the students.

I’d like to thank Brandie for sharing this quotation and reminding us that teaching is not only about the “stuff” but more importantly about the individuals we teach.