R-E-S-P-E-C-T (find out what it means to me)

Respect: How do you define respect?  How does it look in the classroom?  What is the impact of respect or lack of respect in classrooms?  How is respect best established in a classroom environment?

  Respect and tolerance are two very similar ideas.  Both essentially make the point that a person should let another person believe or think whatever they choose to believe without unnecessary repercussions.  This especially applies if your own beliefs and thoughts vary in any way from the other person.  Respect, I think goes a bit farther than tolerance, because when you respect someone, you acknowledge their worth as a person, and say that their ideas are important in some way or another.  Tolerance, while it can also be implied that some people acknowledge the sense of worth of others who hold different opinions, it is not necessary.  You can tolerate things without respecting them.  I can tolerate my brother eating his food with his mouth open, but I don't respect it.  I do however tolerate as well as respect other people's religious beliefs, sports teams preferences, tastes in music, movies or books, among others.  It is very important for us (as future teachers) to learn to respect, and not just tolerate our students' beliefs and preferences.  By respecting our students (and having them respect us in return) the level of trust and learning in the classroom will be at an optimal level.  Respect also should be shown through a persons actions.

  Respect in a classroom can look like many things.  Students respecting a teacher could look like: Students raising their hands when they want to speak and not talking out of turn, students paying attention or, if they choose not to, they do it in a way not to draw attention to themselves.  A teacher respecting students could look like: not making fun of a student if he or she can't do something very well, really listening to what students have to say in class, or getting to know a student a little better than strictly who they are in your one class.

  Learning goes much smoother in a classroom if respect between both the teacher and the students is present.  If either side doesn't have respect for the other, learning can become a lot more difficult.  For example, if one of the students doesn't feel like the teacher respects them, he or she might choose to act out, in order to feel noticed by the teacher, maybe to gain their approval.  That same student, if they had been shown respect, might not have acted out and disturbed the classroom.  A student that is not respected might go on to hate school or learning, and maybe in not-so-extreme cases eventually drop out (which, while not eliminating the chances for a good career or a good life, diminishes those chances immensely).  The same student, shown respect, could go on to love learning, and keep it up for their entire life.  People rarely comprehend that one little thing we do can affect another's life in a big way.

  Respect is best established in a classroom initially by the teacher.  If the students feel disrespected right at the beginning of the school year, or at the beginning of a course, they might not respect the teacher in return.  Then trust does not build up between student and teacher, which is essential for learning.  I feel like I really need to trust a teacher or a professor when they are teaching me something.  If I don't, I'm not sure I can believe everything that they're telling me.  If the teacher respects students as soon as they walk through the door, and accepts them for who they are and what they think, then students will be more likely to respect them in return.