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When students have access to support and encouragement, they are
remarkably effective at holding on to hope that they can learn, succeed in their
own lives and make a difference in society, even when they face daily challenges
negotiating violent, unsafe, and inconsistent home lives and dangerous
communities in school and/or on the street.
Focus on respect
The teacher-student relationship should be all about respect. A student
will, I mean, not to sound cheesy, but just absolutely blossom and grow
if they feel like their teacher will respect them even when they fail.
Because everyone fails, and only through failure, and through darkness
and desert do we learn and grow. (Clara Locey)
Many students spoke about the enormous difference that receiving respect can
make for each student. Sometimes they asked simply that teachers look
students in the eye, and they see that as showing respect they didn't always
receive. The student quoted above, Clara Locey, was very clear that respect is
crucial, however much the student is messing up . Although it is important to
notice that the experience she praises is from a special program for addictions
and may be more acceptance than many programs can offer, it does reveal
clearly the importance of valuing the student until they can begin to believe in
themselves:
Interviewer: how do you know someone respects you?
It's hard to pinpoint specific things that symbolize respect for me, but
it's probably the little things that make the biggest difference. My
experience in the drug addiction program; that's probably the best
example I have for a teacher that truly respected me. If I even made it
in on Monday morning, (I would be coming down from really hard
drugs,) the teachers would say: "Hey, I'm so glad you're here today!
How are you?" They were never angry with me. They never said harsh
words. They were never, ever impatient. Things like that really made a
difference.
It wasn't even we're glad you're here, but we're so proud of you that
you made it in. They were just so delighted that they meant something
to me. That I would make it in even when I was obviously so sick, and
just needed to sleep. Other teachers, when you come in late, when you
come in, clearly wasted, they're like "Get out. We don't want you here
like this." it's absolutely the wrong thing to do, because the student
should be there to learn. Even if the teacher is just reinforcing good
qualities like attendance, and participation, the student will learn
that the teacher sees something good in them, and they're going to
want to come back to be recognized for those qualities again.
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