The Impact of Teachers

A vast amount of literature can be found that presents a compelling case that powerful relationship connections between teachers and students are the building blocks to academic achievement for all students. Students need teachers who care about them and have an authentic belief in them, motivating their work ethic. Teachers can make a difference by affecting the attitudes of students and studies found that when students hold a sense of futility toward school, academic achievement is diminished. It is also believed that learning occurs more frequently when teachers are actively engaged in interaction with students. The research reports inspiring evidence that authentic teacher-student relationships positively impact the school culture that can affect the academic achievement of students.

Professional connections between teachers and their students are too important to be disregarded by anyone. In the classroom, teachers that make connections with students can contribute to their success. In a school, the connection with managers and teachers is also critically important however, the student to teacher connection is one of the most important relationships that can be developed. Though student/teacher connections are an often studied area, there is plenty of room for development in this arena as much of the information is based on older data and focus on just the teacher viewpoint. The lack of data from the student perspective begs the question of future inquiry. Researchers believe that students in secondary programs will take a class because they know a certain individual is the teacher. This phenomenon exists at every high school across the country. Much of this can be attributed to reputation. Reputation however, is developed by the knowledge gained from other students in the course.  That reputation can be either positive or negative.

The bottom line is the impact of teachers and the professional connections they build are incredibly important to student success.

Until next time...