EDU270: Lesson 4

What does it mean to be relational as a teacher? How will you interact with your students to accomplish this?

To be relational means a few things. On the one hand, to be relational means that the students have a good relationship with the teacher. On the other hand, to be relational means that the students can relate to me as a teacher of that content and subject. The opposite of both of these meanings is bad: if a student can't have a good relationship to the teacher and see the teacher as a relatable and familiar human being, then the students will resent and dread coming to class every day, making that day's lesson miserable at the very least, but, worse, their overall success will circle the drain. A student needs to be able to enjoy the person or the class to be successful for a whole school year.

My attempt at accomplishing this begins on day one with a very structured framework for the class. With a firm syllabus, I outline my expectations as a teacher from day one. I learned by teaching college that you can always be more relaxed than the syllabus, but you can never be harder than the syllabus. To that end, I start strongly and sternly. I deliberately come off as a firm, strict teacher because I want them to start the year with certain expectations about my class.

However, on this first day, I also make light of class, make light of school, and try to show them not to take themselves so seriously by modeling what that looks like in myself. I love using accents in lessons (Russian, English, French) and I love to find ways to sing along to things --it helps them to relax.

I never budge on my boundaries. I confiscate cell phones. I don't accept late work. I send kids to the office for breaking dress code. But I also greet them every day with a smile, make time for them, let them know that they're important. I use TV shows they know for references in lesson plans. I'm using the trendy Hamilton Musical in a lesson plan next year about The Federalist Papers. In fact, I'm memorizing the first rap and I'll perform that for the class in costume. I don't ask them to do anything that I'm not willing to do myself, including expectations on punctuality, time-management, responsiveness, responsibility, etc.

I start every class with "Hello, my lovelies" and during class discussions about literary themes, I let conversation wander sometimes (not too far). I want them to know that their ideas mean something. I want to know what they think and why. I want them to respect themselves and each other by granting time to explore those ideas, by challenging social norms and ideas they take for granted. Some of my kids say that sometimes they only learn one thing all day and it's in my class. 

Ultimately, I have fun. I want them to see that you can be successful and responsible without being stressed out. I expect a lot from them, but they have so much fun that they enjoy meeting those expectations.