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Forces at Play: A Phenomenological Study of Successful Hispanic Students and Their Experiences with Regard to Academic Achievement
By Marin Gonzalez
Working with Teachers
It isn’t easy creating relationships between teachers and students in large comprehensive high schools. Huge classes with structured schedules do not allow teachers much time to get to know students outside of the classroom setting. While schools look into small learning communities, school within a school approach, and advisories to create more of these possibilities, educators need to work on providing opportunities that foster relationships through unconditional acceptance of their students. Alan Blankstein (2004) has identified best practices that help promote connection versus disconnection among teachers who want to promote student success. According to Blankstein (2004), the road to student success begins by creating an environment and culture that meets students’ basic needs. Teachers who would like to build connections with their students should be,
- Welcoming students even when they are late;
- Greeting students warmly at classroom door;
- Working with administrators to systematically assure that every student is positively connected to an adult using extra-curricular engagement data of all students as measure of school success;
- Demanding mastery of material;
- Finding and emphasizing strengths;
- Allowing students to help create class rules;
- Eliciting input on class projects and readings;
- Teaching empathy, self-awareness, and other emotional intelligences;
- Allowing students to teach each other;
- Creating community service and learning opportunities;
- Attending diversity and understanding poverty training sessions;
- Attending culturally based sensitivity workshops; and,
- Using strategies and techniques for second language learners.
Getting the parents support is essential to reaching out to students who are struggling. Getting the school staff to acknowledge the power that they have in helping students become academically successful is also essential. The power of the teacher is all about creating relationships with students and expecting great things from them. As stated by Alfie Kohn, it’s providing unconditional acceptance through unconditional teaching. As noted by the students it about having staff who cared about what happened to them. Their teachers respected them unconditionally and valued them as human beings. Their teachers did not always teach in a traditional formal classroom setting. The students were encouraged to have lunch with them, discuss current events, and learn more than their regular lesson, but also learn lessons about life. The students noted how much they appreciated having teachers who cared enough to accept them for who they were rather than for what they were capable of doing.
The relationship these teachers formed with the students created positive affects that were stronger than the affects of any particular instructional practice or instructional method. Using best practices alone was insufficient; effective teachers who were sincere about making a difference gave the students no other choice but success. No excuses—failure was not an option. The students the researcher spoke to appreciated the high expectations and rewarded their teachers with what was expected—success. |
