NCJ Number
120862
Date Published
1989
Length
203 pages
Annotation
Student case histories and the experiences of a teacher demonstrate the importance of effective personal relationships in school and the need to acknowledge students so that they do not feel "invisible."
Abstract
The formation of a family in the school setting should be viewed as psychologically inevitable. Teachers cannot relate closely to all students, but they need to be close to some of them. Students will benefit from teachers with whom they establish close relationships and will gain from being recognized. Teachers should not assume that they can teach all students with equal success; rather, students should develop as individuals. Teacher judgments of students should be open and provisional. Adolescents base their expectations of themselves and design their behavior according to perceptions of their nature and ability. If students manipulate teachers into accepting their perceptions about themselves, they are presenting themselves as proof of the accuracy of those perceptions. Unless students change their perceptions, or something else changes them, the perceptions are likely to become immutable. Seeing students in as many different circumstances as possible adds to the available evidence about them; the greater the amount of evidence, the lesser the scope for misjudgment. Teachers will not be free to work effectively with most students until class size is reduced or until more teaching is done in small groups. Lessons should ideally be followed by time for thought and discussion between teachers and students and among teachers.