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Realizes A Teacher: Children tell me who has read with them, show off new clothes. Parents tell me informally of any apprehension about or dissatisfaction with children's progress. Briefer versions are aired in the classrooms, of course, but with twenty-five or so children waiting even the most self-centred parent soon realizes a teacher's limitations as a listener under these circumstances. This is also the time when I start dropping hints of proposed changes, plans, events, meetings; when I in turn listen to suggestions, answer questions, seek and give advice (not only on school matters but on any other subject which the parents and I deem necessary or relevant).
After a few days the teacher noted that Eleanor was fairly comfortable in school and was happy to talk about the games she was playing. The teacher noted: 'Eleanor enthusiastically told me the names she had given to all the plastic play people/
After about a week Eleanor began to greet the teacher when they met in the morning and she usually had some news to report. The teacher felt that this was a good sign that Eleanor was settling in well.
Should a child love his teacher? Yes, if "love" is taken to mean a warm, constructive relation in which the child is truly valued and helped to develop his best potentialities. No, if it means a relationship that is intense and meets the emotional needs of the teacher at the expense of the child. A teacher's strong personal affection for one child may lead to favoritism, which children keenly resent. Or it may make the child oversensitive to the teacher's opinion. |
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