If you want to have more fun teaching, gain more cooperation from students, and look forward to going to work each day, get your students to fall in love with you. People don’t give their loved ones a lot of trouble, but they don’t seem to mind constantly testing, resisting and fighting those who they don’t care for.
How do you gain this confidence from students? It is particularly difficult for substitutes to develop trusting relationships in the short time they have to work with them, but here are a couple guidelines to get you on the right track.
- Don’t try to be the cool teacher. Letting students use their cell phones or iPods in class, letting them use swear words, or ignoring other school policies is the wrong way to get students to like you. If you choose to let students ignore certain rules in your classroom, they will be confused as to why you are strict with other rules.
- Respect the students. This sounds obvious, but is harder than it sounds especially when you witness how some students act. Show your respect for the students by not belittling them in front of the class, using sarcasm or snide remarks, or getting into power struggles with them. Discipline without emotion when students misbehave. Do not lose your cool and yell, throw a tantrum, or otherwise create drama in your class.
Once you have a student “on your side,” don’t hesitate to use this power. Go to the child when necessary and say, “Would you try to do that, just for me? Thank you.” This may rub against the grain of what you were taught in your teacher training. However, a student will probably only take a risk when he or she likes or trusts the teacher.
