We’re about halfway through the book now! Three cheers for becoming better teachers!
This chapter is all about building trust with challenging kids. This can be difficult to do, especially when dealing with older youths. When I taught High School, I would have about 170 kids each year. So if someone didn’t bother showing up to class, or didn’t do their work, or was rude, I just gave them their mark and moved on. Unless you’re a homeroom teacher, a counsellor, a coach, or someone who a student sees and interacts with frequently, it’s going to be difficult to build trust and aid them in becoming resilient.
Now that I am teaching elementary, I feel I not only have more of an ability, but also more of a responsibility, to build trust and to help my students in any way I can.
This chapter, like the ones before it, opens with a quote:
“Sometimes I say I hate you because I’m afraid you don’t love me.” – Theta Burke
I find that this guides the chapter. It’s difficult to build trust with kids that have been damaged before and hurt by people they’re supposed to be able to trust. The chapter gives some excellent advice and explains why many tactics and attempts to build trust with kids simply don’t work.
Indeed, it makes sense that kids don’t want to be forced into peer or adult mentoring relationships that are not natural, which is why so many programs fail. That’s why it’s so important for people like teachers to build natural relationships with kids; we see them everyday and if we are genuinely interested in their lives and kind to them, without them being forced into talking with us, there’s a greater opportunity to build trust and install positive change.
If you want to buy the book, here’s the link to Amazon.
katieisateacher.com 