Students are particularly sensitive people. They spend their lives in a push-me-pull-me world longing to be independent and part of the crowd at the same time. Whatever sets them apart from their peers in a negative way can be exquisitely painful.
With this extraordinary sensitivity in mind, it is easy to see how quickly an unintentionally demeaning word or deed can wound our students’ fragile pride. The dilemma for educators is that we have to correct our students’ behavior while protecting their self-image at the same time. While this is not always an easy task, it is one that is vital to the cooperative relationship that should exist between teacher and student. In the two lists below you will find advice on what you should be careful to do and what you should be careful not to do help preserve your students’ dignity.
To preserve a student’s dignity, be careful to
• Take the student’s concerns seriously
• Use a kind voice when talking with the student
• Be as patient and understanding as possible
• Listen carefully to your student
• Try to be as fair as possible when delivering a reprimand
• Ask sufficient questions to be sure that you have an understanding of the incident
• Work to resolve problems and not just punish the student
• Assure the student that you believe that the misbehavior will not happen again
• Make every effort to see the entire child and not be affected by brief moment of bad judgment
To preserve a student’s dignity, be careful not to
• Call a student a name, even in jest
• Compare one student to another
• Reprimand a student in front of the class if at all avoidable
• Allow a confrontation to build in front of others
• Ignore a student who needs your attention
• Raise your voice
• Be sarcastic or insulting in an attempt to have the student learn from a mistake
