It Doesn't Matter How Much You Care for Me

Effective teachers establish close and personal relationships with their students BUT they don't need their students to love them. In other words, they don't use their students to fill their own emotional needs. This will help a teacher avoid taking personally what students do or don't do and thus be in a better position to focus on the needs of the students.

A favorite quote of mine is, "It doesn't matter how much you care for me, but rather that I love you enough." It's important to remember that love can be an action even when it isn't a feeling. A teacher may not feel love for all his students but he can still demonstrate respect and care for all students. A teacher does this when he feels it is his responsibility to teach all students as much as possible regardless of how he feels about them.

Lessons from Dr. William Glasser

Dr. William Glasser is an internationally recognized psychiastrist who identified five innate needs we all have: 1) survival, 2) love/belonging, 3) power, 4) freedom/choice, and 5) fun that drive the behavior we choose. He has applied his theories to educational settings. One of his most well known successes where he applied his theories is with delinquent girls at the Ventura School in California. There are now a number of mainstream schools that have made a commitment to apply his theories in order to become a quality school.

The following books Dr. Glasser has authored are great resources that everyone who wants to make a difference for Hispanic learners will want to read:

• Choice Theory in the Classroom
• Schools Without Failure
• The Quality School
• The Quality School Teacher
• Every Student Can Succeed

For more information visit the website: http://wglasser.com/