Give me a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Our population becomes more diverse as the decades progress. There are so many cultures and religions that I am exposed to now as an adult that I was never exposed to as a child. For some adults who grew up like I did, not being exposed to a lot of differences, change can be very threatening. The longer I stay in teaching the more I see new teachers entering the profession who are not afraid of the differences but still do not know how to instruct towards those differences. For those teachers who have been in the profession for a while and do not continue their education, I see fear and frustration and a forced way of trying to get all the students within their class to conform to the same needs.

I think for many teachers one issue that has become a barrier to moving on and focusing on the many needs of their students is the issue of respect. For those of US who have been around for a while, we have seen a decline in student respect of their teachers and their environment. In a growing diverse population, students have been taught to be an individual, but unfortunately without consideration of others. However, as a leader in schools, I have also seen a decline of respect from many teachers towards their students. As they say, "It is a two way street." I never thought I would be one to say, 'I remember when I was their age. . .," but I remember when respect worked both ways. Now we require our teachers to respect the diversity of our students, but the students have lost respect for those who teach. I am not saying this is the case everywhere with every child, but respect from both students and teachers has become less prevalent in many classrooms and entire schools.

Teachers must respect their students and be an example to them of what respect looks like and how it feels. I know this is hard for some, especially when you grew up in a time that you were respectful to the teacher no questions asked. If you weren't respectful, you could guarantee that momma would meet you at the door when you got home for your 'consequences' because she respected the teacher as well without question.

When a teacher does not feel respected by a student, it doesn't matter what other needs that student has because most teachers will write that child off. As leaders we need to guide our teachers and schools to adopt schoolwide expectations for students to understand what is expected from them. I think if we can work on getting teachers back a little respect, while providing them with skills to address the diverse needs, they will be more open to the many changes. As result we could be on the road to raising students who are confident in who they are, respectful of others, and well educated.