Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Creation of Relational Trust in an Educational Setting

The answer to "How can we create relational trust in an educational setting" short and simple; it is in fact one word: Consistency. Teachers do not, will not, and cannot know the entirety of their students' backgrounds; nor can teachers be aware of every student's daily activities; whether that person just broke up with their insignificant other, whether they had breakfast that day, whether they were out drinking the night before (I know, shocker; High School Students Drink) or any of the myriad of other things that can and will be affecting how different students are functioning in the teacher's class. What teachers can and must do is to create and environment where students feel safe and know what to expect; a student should be able to know how you will react to them forgetting homework, to being tardy, to cursing, as well as how you will react to positive things. They learn this by seeing you react to these stimuli; whether or not you are consistent is the difference between being trustworthy and being just another liar who changes their actions with the breeze. Remember to "let your yes be yes and your no be no" or as Horton the Elephant would say: "Be sure you said what you meant and meant what you said and always be faithful one-hundred percent."

Teenagers have enough tumult in their young lives as it is; the classroom, in the ideal, should be a place of safety by consistency; and THAT is how we earn their trust.

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