How to Deal: Dealing with Students - It's all about the attitude

It's all about the attitude

This set of pictures is more for subs, and is a bit over the top, but it does illustrate how easy it is for a teacher to think everything is great because they don't have anything to compare it to.

Understand Your Students

Build Relationships, Not Walls

Attitude is key

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/da985f_312692eb2a6f4649b937091591ee0c48/360p/mp4/file.mp4

A quick review of how to and how not to interact with kids from ages 4-18

Take aways:

1. Your attitude is more important than the student's attitude

2. It's not personal

Specifics on:

1. Case study: Kid swears in class --> Your reaction is key

a. keep it light

b. explain about time and place (relatable if possible)

c. for students with few skills, give them options/phrases or behaviors to replace the swearing.

Either picture 2 or 3 shows an okay response to the student. (I believe Paula's Stepford Wife expression is a little over the top.)

It's okay to make mistakes

1. Don't get mad if kids point out mistakes

2. Admit it and fix it.

Admit your mistakes, but don't make a big deal about them. Many teachers think the kids are disrespectful for even asking, but they need to feel safe enough to ask about the small things, or they will never ask when they truly need help.

So how do I build relationships?

I will get further into this in a different post, but adjust your attitude from scary dictator/peasants to leader/constituents is a great start.