From Sensei to Nakama: Establishing Teacher- Student Bonds

We have often heard that teachers are the role models and are indeed our second parents. As the heroes of the crucial thirteen to fifteen years of our lives, they guide the students on the right path and identify their innate abilities. What can be more magic than turning little toddlers into the best citizens of the country? From holding a pencil correctly to paint our goals, they shape the young minds to instill the best in their students.

However, as schools and districts focus on state standards, scope, and test scores, they often neglect one of the essential factors of mutual respect and supportiveness, which further comes from a positive student-teacher relationship. Perhaps one of the ethereal teaching methods is creating a positive classroom climate. This indisputable need can be only fulfilled by sharing an organic bond between the two of them.

A student-teacher relationship can be improved by giving the students partial autonomy and the opportunity for students to make decisions. There can be choices given in assignments and encouraged to develop their own set of classroom rules that motivate students to express their opinions in classroom discussions. This method allows teachers to know and understand every individual personally, gives the student some control, and promotes self-efficacy. It accommodates the development of disciplinary policies carrying high expectations for students while also fostering caring relationships.

A sensei must summon a strategy that acknowledges the students present on the other side of the table to establish a productive bond. The growing competition in the academic field can succumb to one’s confidence, and therefore, a parent like a teacher should avoid any unfavorable comparisons. Learning is not just about simply memorizing information and scribbling it on paper. To learn is to gain knowledge about fairness, feedback, inclusiveness, and collective building of strength. Lessons are nothing if they are not backed by effective learning. According to a study done by Marzano Research Laboratory in 2010, positive relationships between teachers and students are among the most cited variables associated with effective instruction.

To teach is not to communicate book knowledge but to transfer to the students the same passion and enthusiasm a teacher holds while stepping inside the classroom. One has rightly said, “attitudes are infectious”. When the instructor builds connections with the learners, they share the invested energy, thereby earning mutual trust and respect.

To get their strings attached, both teachers and students must project a life outside school. Today, both parties make the mistake of treating school like concrete dhamma, as if everything in life revolves around it. Strictness is a necessary discipline, but students and teachers have big, bustling lives outside the classroom. By showing interest in those aspects of life will help both to share transparency in communication. This can be cheering for a school basketball game or simply lightening the homework loads on the day before an important event. Moreover, transparency can also be referred to as a teaching style that clarifies the instructor’s choice of lesson plan specifies and sharing a broader perspective of how the selections relate to course goals. Clear conceptualization will improve students’ active and collaborative learning with the teacher throughout the year. Supportive student-teacher bonds can boost achievement and protect kids from the effects of stress. Cooperative, attentive, and socially adept students possess solid verbal skills and self-controlling levels, making them more likely to succeed in social and academic domains. Even a small gesture of greeting each other with a smile can bring a tremendous difference in the relation between a teacher and student. This way, every day, you will establish a common point of connection.