Do you really Care about Students?

Care about Students

This was my internship and I was teaching a class at my local public school. There was this activity taking place at the hall but, interestingly, was not free. At the appointed time of the show, my students ran out with money in hand to pay to the teacher standing at the door. Non-paying students were not allowed outside their classrooms. From my room, this tanned boy was the only one left. The supervising teacher would not let him out and I felt she was a bit harsh on the kid. Moved to mercy, I offered the kid to “loan” him the money. He gladly agreed arguing that he had forgotten his money at home. He promised to pay the next day. I knew that this was money that was not coming back. The supervising teacher knew that and she reluctantly took the money from the kid and let him go.

As educators, we are given the chance to make an impact on the lives of our students. It largely depends on us what this impact will be.

  • Take Interest:

Students are not sitting there only to have terms and concepts shoveled into their heads. The formation has to be complete and integral. You need to genuinely be interested in the complete formation of your students.

  • Motivate

Show interest in their achievements. Motivate them to doing their best every day. Learn their names as soon as you can and call them accordingly. Be interested in their home context. Call in their parents periodically to keep them informed. Take some time from your class to give advice and guidance.

  • Build Relationship

It is important to note here that kids will hardly learn from someone they don´t like. So it is imperative to build a strong relationship with your students. Help them through the process and make them feel that you are there to help. Do not be harsh on them like my supervising teacher was with this kid. Respond with an empathetic tone and always be there whenever a student needs to reach out for help.

Let´s be honest, they will probably not remember that lesson in which they had to write twenty sentences from vocabulary, or that class in which they had to answer a study guide. What they will take with them is how much we care about students and how we demonstrated it. This builds a nice learning environment in the classroom.

What other ways do you think you could show care to your students? Share your thoughts below and keep the conversation going.