DiDonato 1

Aaron DiDonato Ms. Sippy English 1102 28 April 2013

Finding Success in Teacher Student Relationships Setting: Stuck in an elevator in a convention center hosting a conference about education. Characters Dr. Hunter Gehlbach - Psychologist who conducts research on education with teachers and students in the classroom. He wanted to be a doctor in his undergraduate years. Vyom Munjaal - 8th grade math teacher just beginning his teaching career having problems connecting with students. Allen Mendler - High school English teacher (Former Business major) that wants to transform his classroom into a better learning environment. Scott Mescudi - Trill (True and real) dude who raps for a living and wants to get a better understanding of problems in the world today. Andrea Santiago - Young woman finishing her Masters degree in Education and planning to be a Superintendent one day when she finishes Doctorate school. Aaron DiDonato 19 year old college student with the intent of getting more of an insight on his interest in education.

*Everyone enters into the elevator* Everyone is at the main floor trying to get to a conference being held on the third floor. When all of the sudden the elevator drops to the ground floor. Lights go out. Everyone is in the elevator startled by what has happened. Scott: *Yells* This is too trippy! Aaron: Yeah man, Im completely with you. Dr. Gehlbach: Is everyone okay? I have medical experience if anyone needs assistance.

DiDonato 2

Scott: Nah, Im good bruh. Aaron: I get stuck in elevators like this at college thanks to crappy living halls. A young woman is nervous and has a fear of being confined in small spaces. Andrea: *Panicking* This cant be happening!!! Everyone stares at her. Dr. Gehlbach makes his way to her with his cell phone light. Dr. Gehlbach: Alright, everything is going to be okay. Just breathe in long, deep breaths. Everyone give her some space. Everyone moves closer together and gives the woman space. Everything goes silent for a moment. *Pause* Allen: *Frustrated* The conference starts in 20 minutes. It doesnt look like were going to make it on time. Andrea: *Still breathing heavily* This is important for my paper I need to start. I dont know what Im going to do now. Everyone starts getting out their cell phone and putting on a light. Vyom: *Randomly speaking out with Indian accent* This reminds me of my childhood in India. It was very crowded and dark at times. Always dirty too, but Everyone is staring at him like he has a problem. Vyom: What? Dr. Gehlbach: How is that even relevant to our situation? Scott: Bruh, you went too far with that shit. Everyone starts shaking their heads in disbelief. Elevator goes silent for a moment. *Pause* Allen: Alright, this isnt the place for tension and hate to be built. Were all coming here the same reason. To be informed, enlightened, and taught. Anyways, my name is Allen. Im a high school English teacher. What is everyone elses background? Everyone starts to speak out interrupting one another. Allen: Everyone hold up! Ill point out who speaks. One at a time. You right there Young kid. Aaron: College Freshman coming to decide if I have an interest in education.

DiDonato 3

Allen: Okay, its cool to see you have an interest in coming to a conference with so many adults a good bit older than you. You over there Gentleman in the suit. Dr. Gehlbach: Psychologist just starting out and finding my niche of doing research on education in the classroom with teachers and students. Allen: Interesting as well. How about you over there Young woman. Are you okay now? Andrea: *Calming down* Yes, I feel a little bit better. Im graduate student wanting to complete my PhD in Education. Allen: Very nice, so a young college student, a doctor, and aspiring doctor. You with the C hat on Scott: The C stands for Cleveland. Thats my home city. I rep it for life. Im just a rapper who wants to inform future generations of what problems we need to face in our lives through music. Speaking of that, my new album Indicud drops April 23rd. Its gonna be the realest shit ever. Make sure you pick it up. Allen: Nice to inform us of your whole background but interesting You over there, the rude guy. Vyom: Excuse me, how am I rude? Allen: Just tell your damn background. Vyom: I am an 8th grade Science teacher disappointing my parents. They wanted me to be a doctor and stay in India married to my wife since I was 12, but I fled the country pursing my college degree in Education. Unfortunately, I am not a doctor of my studies. Allen: Okay, inspiring you came to the free land. So what does every think about education, teachers, students, and how you can build success out of it? Aaron: I feel that it is very important to give students the skills they need when they are completing Elementary and High school education to be able to apply that to their college education. Having High school teachers with an insight on college education and what kinds of courses are needed in certain concentrations would help out that transition so much. That preparation and prior knowledge helps your mind from being blown away by certain subject later on. I dont think I saw much of that from previous years in school. For example, I am a Business major in college where Accounting and Economics classes are a big focus, but in high school none of those classes were said to be very important. I just feel that we have been taught a lot of irrelevant information that was just meant to just be regurgitated on paper and forgot about. Right now, college is kind of difficult and I dont know what I want to do anymore.

DiDonato 4

Allen: I can completely agree with you. I want to figure out how I can make the learning experience better for my students. The pressure we have as a teacher is very real. Parents are constantly on us about properly educating their child and blaming it on us instead of the students. Students can become lazy and stop putting in the effort they have the potential to put in. I want to know how to make them more engaged. I actually have an idea. I want to try to view students as customers and the teacher role be played by a salesman. Having a Business degree and not a degree in English or Education makes me think this way. What product or service do they need to enhance their lives? This is where the teacher finds something to draw their attention to the class and the teacher makes the students believe it is their effort not their ability. Spark their interest. Sale them your idea or notion. How does everyone think that sounds? (Mendler 1) Scott: I can see this working. That is a very good way to look at the situation. Man, I think it is all about the positive vibe. It is about looking at the big picture of everything. Find out how the kid learns and what challenges they face, then go from there. Take a student one on one if they need individual attention. I feel I have the same ideas as you Allen, but just put into a different context. (Phelan 2) Vyom: Yes. I see once you find out the way to help the student you should apply some tactics so that they retain whatever is taught. Create an intellectual, interested learning habit by making the student prepare, practice, and repeat anything that has been taught them previously. Being an 8th grade teacher, I feel this is a very important time in a students education. Kindergarten through 12th grade education is used for the building blocks of the future. No matter what the student does in their life, the basics are derived from education at this point. The basics are being able to complete every day, adult tasks with the knowledge of Math, Science, English, and other subjects. A lot of education is what the student makes of it. But then again going back to what Scott said, students face challenges and it is the teachers job to help them sort it all out. (Munjaal 1) Andrea: After the student has that basic education, they then need to enhance themselves. Finding the success can be being happy with what you do, but you need the degree to take that extra step in acquiring the job you want. Especially in todays day and age, it is essential. A person with a degree, looking for job with no experience may be chosen over a person with no degree, but a good amount of job experience. Generally, a person with the degree, straight out of college is young, determined, and has the capability of learning beyond what they already know from their education versus a person with experience being older without that foundation entering a job. It is all about making the best resume for yourself. Being a student getting my graduate education, I understand that Im going from getting a job teaching K-12th grade education to now getting my Masters. I could teach at a university with that or I could advance further into my education to get my Doctorate. With that, I could become a Superintendent or hold some other high position. (Santiago 1)

DiDonato 5

Hunter: I can see where this conversation is connecting. These are great points everyone is bringing up. Based on my research I have done since I have become a psychologist, statistics recorded show that significant changes are made in teacher student relationships over time when the teacher develops a better way to communicate and help the student. Getting the students to establish similarities between them and the teachers is a good place to start in any way you look at it. Giving the students a good outlook to what they could achieve is important early on in their education that way they can advance onto higher education. Given the proper motivation, the students have the confidence to do what they want. With this conversation, we have looked into the perspectives of both the teacher and the student and have figured out the things they both have to do in order to build a successful relationship. (Gehlbach 12) Allen: Wow, I was not expecting to build this kind of connection with what I questioned. Vyom: I thought that everyone gave a good comment to what they thought about this. *everyone nodding their heads in agreement* Andrea: *worried* Oh no! We have 4 minutes left until the opening ceremony starts. Everyone goes silent for a moment and then all the sudden there is a loud noise coming from the door. Everyone intently stares as the door is pried open. They discovered that the elevator is partly below where the ground entrance level is. Aaron: Heck yes, were not gonna be stuck in here long after all! Andrea ecstatically jumps for joy and everyone else has a positive expression on their face. Firefighters and elevator technicians are waiting at door once it was pried open. Everyone was helped up and signaled to take the stairs as the opening ceremony was about to start up. END

DiDonato 6

Primary Research Many people conducted surveys as part of their primary research, but I felt that doing one of those would form a biased opinion among the people asked answer questions or provide information. I decided to actually do an observation of two different types of classrooms here at UNC Charlotte. I felt that over the semester from the sources I have found on my own, the passages we have read in class, and discussions we have had in class were very helpful to me. I was confident in conducting an unbiased observation of different classroom settings looking from the teachers and the students perspective. The first observation took place on April 9th 2013. This was actually my roommate Kaelins Spanish 1201 class. The class had a small classroom setting of about twenty to thirty people, so I contacted the teacher beforehand to make sure it was okay if I came. At the beginning of class, the students had to do a composition assignment and I waited outside until they were finished. I came into the classroom at a good point after questions being asked by the students with the teacher clarifying and an actual lesson being started. A few people knew me, so I was a bit of distraction. After a couple minutes, my presence was not really noticed. The teacher begin the lesson by immediately speaking out and having the students engage by saying lines in Spanish as a class and every once in a while she would call someone out individually to answer. The teacher also wanted to be sure that everyone understood certain Spanish sentences and would explain in English how a sentence was supposed to be formatted and pronounced. This class was very conversational oriented and the best way to learn a language is to actually speak it out. At one point in the lesson, she had everyone work in pairs to complete a small activity creating sentences talking about seasons throughout the year in Spanish. She called on each pair to see what they came up with and would correct them on any errors in speech or

DiDonato 7

sentence order. I saw that most kids were engaged. Some would periodically send messages on the various electronic devices they had. A couple people in the back row were on their laptops the entire time doing various things while being semi-engaged with what was going on in class. My second observation was the next day April 10th 2013. I went and observed my cousin Amirs Ethics of Law class. This class was definitely more of a lecture style feel to it and had about forty some students present with quite a few vacant spots from people probably skipping class. I let the professor know as I came in that I would be sitting in and it didnt bother her at all. The class started out by the professor lecturing a one sided lesson. The students were not asked too many questions to openly answer. When there were questions, the answers typically came from students in the very front that were engaged with what the professor was saying. Looking around I saw most students on their laptops and phones. A lot of them had a bored/tired kind of look on their face.

DiDonato 8

Conclusion After completing my primary and secondary research, there are multiple things that depend on a teacher student relationship to be successful. Both the student and teacher have to put forth the effort in order make anything happen. Ultimately, the students are held responsible for anything that happens to them in the classroom. That being if they want to understand the material or not. It is also the teachers job to give them a reason to want to learn the material. That all comes down to the teaching style the teacher presents. A very one sided, lecture class approach to things is not the way to go through with teaching. The students are ready to learn and be stimulated. A conversational, questioning teaching approach is the better way. This teaching style has to be present for most information to be greatly retained. The teachers need to establish these ways early on in Kindergarten through 12th grade education in order to create an intellectual way of thinking. Discussion, interaction, repetition, and practice are key in the classroom. A teacher working with a student one on one to discover a problem can go a long way. Not every student perceives material the same way. The Kindergarten through 12th grade teacher has to insure that the student is equipped with the knowledge to continue on in the adult world. This is where my part of the conversation comes in. I feel that Kindergarten through 12th grade education could do a better job of preparing you for your future job going into secondary education (college) and this education could prepare you more for basic knowledge you need to face everyday situations. Rather than make you memorize, regurgitate, and forget things you will never need, apply the notions to make the student more intellectual. From here if this is displayed then the student will be even more motivated to take part on continuing their education or obtaining a job of their interest. Building an intellectual mind only gives the student a better opportunity. Experience and the piece of paper we all call a degree both give a better resume of

DiDonato 9

how the person has previously displayed their abilities. This can insure that the person is prepared so they can secure a job that they cannot only enjoy, but can also make a living off of.

DiDonato 10

Work Cited Gehlbach, Hunter, Maureen E. Brinkworth, and Anna D. Harris. "Changes In Teacher-Student Relationships." British Journal Of Educational Psychology 82.4 (2012): 690-704. ERIC. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. Mendler, Allen. Good. Should Teachers View Their Students as Customers? 2012. 11 Mar. 2013. Munjaal, Vyom. Ezine @rticles. Importance of the K-12 Education System. 2009. 11 Mar. 2013 Phelan, Patrica; Pianta, Robert. Forming Positive Student Teacher Relationships. Cedu.niu.edu, Unknown Date. PDF. 11 Mar. 2013 Santiago, Andrea. Why Is Education So Important? About.com. Web. Unknown Date. 11 Mar. 2013