'Striving to do so much': Expectations and responsibility in teacher-student relationships.

摘要

This inquiry project follows two middle school students through one school year, documenting interactions with teachers, and recording their views about teachers through interviews. An analysis of these findings demonstrates that students believe that in order to achieve and maintain positive relationships with students, teachers should be responsible for supporting all students educationally, both inside and outside of the classroom, and emotionally through listening and helping with personal problems. Students also reported that they were responsible for some aspects of the teacher-student relationship including behaving well in class to contribute to the learning environment, respecting others and communicating their needs. These findings suggest that students believe that a democratic classroom environment in which students are given responsibility and treated as significant agents in the classroom are conducive to positive teacher student relationships.