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Teachers DO Make a Difference
The Teacher’s Guide to Connecting With Students
- Judith A. Deiro - Western Washington University, Bellingham
Foreword by Bonnie Benard
January 2005 | 152 pages | Corwin
Both research and common sense verify that teachers make a difference not only in what students learn about content but in what students learn about life. Grounded in theory and research on adolescent growth and development and teacher-student interactions, this important new book gives classroom teachers guidelines, strategies, and real-life examples of how to build and enrich close and trusting teacher-student relationships based on dignity and respect. Key topics include setting high expectations for students, conveying confidence in student capabilities, creating classroom rituals and traditions, networking with family and community, developing strong interpersonal skills, identifying relational resources, and communicating appropriate caring and respect in the classroom in ways that elicit positive student response. Features teacher quotes, conversations, profiles, resources, and an inventory for assessing teacher-student relationships
Bonnie Benard
Foreword
Preface
About the Author
1. Our Changing Roles as Teachers
Changing Student Needs and the Teacher's Role
Having Healthy Connections With Young People Is Key to Their Healthy Development
Meeting Our Students' Needs: The Caring Teacher
Central Concerns for Caring Teachers
2. Making Healthy Connections With Students
What We Do To Make a Difference
How I Did the Study
Meet the Teachers
Different Ways We Can Make Healthy Connections With Students
Creating One-to-One Time with Students
Using Appropriate Self-Disclosure
Having High Expectations of Students While Conveying a Belief in Their Capabilities
Networking with Family and Friends
Building a Sense of Community Among Students
Providing Rituals and Traditions
Summary of the Ways To Create Healthy Connections with Students
3. Communicating to Our Students That We Care
Treating Students with Dignity and Respect
The Ways We Show Respect to Students
How Students Respond to Respectful Treatment
Summary of How We Communicate Caring
4. What It Takes to Revitalize Ourselves
How We Can Revitalize Ourselves
Feeling Competent Generates Emotional Rewards
Beliefs About the Role of Teacher and Teaching
Personal Qualities That Enhance Connecting With Students
Common Interpersonal Skills and Relational Resources that Enhance Connecting with Students
Support of Family, Friends, and Professionals
Summary of What It Takes to Revitalize Ourselves
5. Yeah, I Hear You, But...
The Good News
Responses to Concerns
Concluding Thoughts
Resources
References
Index
"Deiro has taken a complex topic and made it more manageable, functional, and instructive. For an institution that can be distracted by policies and procedure, this is a crucial reminder of what education really is all about."
Journal of the Association for Childhood Education International
