Posts Tagged Student-Teacher Relationships

More Wasted Education Reform Money in Los Angeles Schools

On April 10, 2014 / Relationships

The front page of the Los Angeles Times on April 9, 2014 featured a huge photo of 375 empty student desks, which represented the 375 students who drop out of the district’s schools each and every week. To reduce this drop-out rate, the superintendent of the district is asking for $837 million for a number of projects, including:

More tutoring and greater access to counselors and other services for 11,600 foster youth.
More instructional coaches and training materials for teachers of 154,110 students learning English.
More assistant principals, counselors, social workers, special education workers and other support for students at 37 schools with low-performing students and high teacher turnover.
192 library aides and 15 middle school librarians.
130 new

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What Teachers Really Do

On December 6, 2013 / Effectiveness, Relationships

Contrary to popular belief, teachers are not just in the teaching profession; they are also in the relationship, marketing, and motivation professions. How can I assert that? Consider these points:

Relationships are key: Students will not learn from (or take discipline from) someone they do not like. For many people, including youth, relationships are their most prized possession. The aphorism is true: People don’t care how much you know until they know that you care.

Marketing matters: Today’s students have so many diversions that they do not come to school, sit at the teacher’s feet, and say, “Teach me.” Successful teachers create curiosity. They make learning meaningful, enjoyable, and challenging. But most of all, they motivate students to learn. In

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Create a Learning Climate to Foster Student Success

On January 7, 2013 / Articles

If learning is what we value, then we ought to value the process of learning as much as the result of learning.

By nature, people are attracted to activities where they feel free of psychological or emotional pain. Learning is promoted in a climate where people feel safe and cared for. The adage, “People don’t care what you know until they know you care,” is applicable.

When working with one middle school, William Glasser stated, “The teachers stopped almost all coercion—an approach that was radically different from the way most of these students had been treated since kindergarten. When we asked the students why they were no longer disruptive and why they were beginning to work in school, over and … >>>