When teachers yell at students, they often call it “tough love.”
Teachers do more than just teach: they also help students improve noncognitive skills, watch them develop, create different bonds and relationships and teach different fundamentals to help shape them into the person they are to be. In this case, students find teachers can have a lifelong impact on them.
Junior Kamari Coppage is one of these students who feels that her teachers have gradually influenced her.
“One time I was late for Ms. McMillon’s class, almost resulting in an altercation due to the friends I was around,” Coppage said. “She gave me a lesson on how being in the wrong place at the wrong time could result in the worst, guiding me to what I could do instead.”
Coppage passes that advice on to others, describing her relationship with McMillon as “tough love.”
Online school during COVID affected students’ interactions in a classroom setting severely. Although online learning is more efficient for some students, this type of education is different from what students are used to.
Since the pandemic, there has been an increase in teachers using online lessons, tests and homework which creates an environment where students work more independently with less human interaction in class.
Spanish teacher Kristin Antoniotti thinks that in-person learning helps students express their struggles and communicate with their teachers.
“A greater percentage of students are quieter and hesitant to engage in face-to-face interactions,” said Antoniotti. “Students have been able to articulate their struggles more with in-person learning.”
According to an article Communication and cooperation challenges in the online classroom in the COVID-19 era, the transition from face-to-face to virtual classes caused communication challenges with socialization. Students’ lack of attendance in and out of class led to the lack of effective feedback on learning.
“I hope students know that when I ask a question about how they are doing, I genuinely care about what the answer is,” Antoniotti said.
Government teacher Jay Peterson thinks that the relationships he forms with students are the most heartwarming part of teaching.
“Relationships and bonds are the strongest and most sentimental part of teaching. Knowing that you are able to trust and build assurance within each other makes students feel more safe and that they can rely on others,” said Peterson. “I try to create an environment where students feel comfortable and safe, by using humor in the classroom.”
An environment where students feel safe and comfortable allows students to relax and see teachers as human beings and not rigid people that they have to be afraid of or nervous around. This also shows that the teacher may care and take a personal interest in students’ lives.
“I think teachers have the ability to play a really important role in influencing students,” said Peterson. “No teacher should ever make light of the fact that they couldn’t have a significant impact.”
