Caitlin Miller 11-19-13 EDPS 297 Assignment 3 Option 1 Close professional relationships with students is important to have for

students. This kind of relationship will affect their motivation, engagement and achievement. Close relationships with students take a while to build but first you must have the right mentality. As a soon to be high school English teacher I feel there needs to be an authoritative strategy approach to classroom management. With this approach you encourage students to be thinkers on their own and have an understanding that there will be a give and take relationship shows the student you care about them, not only in the academic setting but also outside the classroom. I already have established this kind of relationship with the students I have in my practicum. I have known these students on a personal level, so they know they can talk to me about anything, while still keeping that professional level with them. One example of that would be; I gave a lesson about poetry, these students knew that I wanted them to think independently and bring to the class their ideas. On the same level, one of the kids in my practicum, who I knew personally as a friend, killed himself last week. Many of the students from my practicum site reached out to me. This authoritative strategy led them to know that I care about their academic work but I also care about their lives outs ide of the classroom. This kind of classroom strategy increases student motivation. This personal relationship tends to help the students extrinsic motivation, which is the motivation that comes from other external resources. The way I see this working is when the teacher and student have an understanding that class is going to be a give and take, the student has the bond with teacher and

wants to do well in the class. They know if they participate and/or do well in the class they will be rewarded by the teacher with a good grade and praise. This makes the students self-esteem go up as well as, helping their academic standings. I have seen this in the classroom I work in. I had this give and take relationship with my students, we worked on poetry together and then when it was time for them to write on their own and get feedback, they were more than ready with a good first draft. After I gave them suggestions they came back with an even better final draft. The students were able to achieve a good grade and have that feedback from me. That praise increases their motivation to do well on other assignments. Close relationships with your students also increases engagement. Engagement is when the student becomes aware and ready for the learning process to be their responsibility. When you have a close relationship with the students, you get to know their life outside of the classroom. This is important because then you are able to take concepts they learn and put it into relatable real-world situations. The real-life situations make the students more excited to learn. I saw this when we were doing our scam projects. We were able to talk about commercials that have impacted their thinking. They were motivated to make their scam project about something that applies to them such as an athlete making a scam about helping athletic abilities. They were able to put their learning about how commercials target them, and use that to make their own targeting commercial. Finally close relationships in the school setting can be related to achievement. If the student feels close to the teacher enough that they can go through the stages of being motivated and then engaging in their own responsibility for learning they will be able to achieve academically as well as in relationships outside of the classroom. This achievement is what teachers are trying to prepare their students for, the real world.

Close professional relationships with student is very important to have. This is important because it increases motivation, engagement and helps them to achieve their goals. First step to this close relationship, however, is to have the right approach to teaching. The right teaching approach will then lead to an overall good experience for the students and the teachers!