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Why is having rapport within a classroom important? Rapport is the relationship between the students, teacher, and other students. Without a friendly connection it could cause disruption to the class. “Respect is a two way road,” this statement says without one side or another of the Street of Respect, respect is not there. Meaning, if the teacher does not respect the students and show the students respect, than the students will not respect the teacher. This scenario then ruins the teaching of a specific subject. For, the students will not have the intent to listen or behave. What any one, teacher or student or not, should do in life is not think that they deserve acknowledgement and up most respect for who they are, rather than what they do to care and show others respect nevertheless if they like them or not. If the teacher was to be too friendly at first impression, than the students will think the teacher as funny and not serious, and think it is okay to mess around in the classroom. If the teacher was to go the opposite way, in thinking that the students should show upmost respect off the bat, than the students will think the teacher too strict and feel uncomfortable learning from him or her. It is difficult, however a teacher has to find that middle ground as soon as possible. This is by paying close attention to the students body language and engagement within the first lesson. Too much talk and messing around among other students can mean establishing rapport too quickly before establishing discipline. And if the student appear shy and not at all interested in interacting and replying to the teacher, this could mean the teacher is coming off to abrupt and needs to tone it down a little to show that this a good class and he or she is willing to have fun and help in anyway for the students to get the most out of learning. Rapport is something that is either overly established or not established at all in the classroom. Some teachers say they do not want to appear strict or mean, which is not incorrect, however there should be some discipline and times to show authority. In other cases, the teacher may think that without firm discipline the students will not listen or learn at all. Which, in this scenario, the students feel uncomfortable within the classroom and will not ask questions or feel motivated at all to learn the subject. The last is the balanced established rapport, which is difficult to obtain especially with young learners. This rapport is where both the teacher and the students have a mutual respect for each other, allowing the lesson plans to run smoothly with little or no disruption. Example of these is as follows: 1. The class was split up into three sections and one of the teachers was given a group of all new students. The teacher did not want to come across mean, so they were overly friendly to the students. The student then thought is was okay to mess around and cause disruption. After the class the teacher felt discouraged because they were shown no respect. 2. The opposite scenario is like so, a teacher came up and started to complain about her students behavior and motivation. She was thinking about quitting her job because it was so difficult. The reason why the teacher was having so much trouble is, she tried to establish dominance in thinking she earned the students’ respect before gaining it. 3. The last scenario of establishing rapport, is a teacher introduced them self to a group of new students very respectfully and had the students do likewise. After learning something about the student they would make a positive comment about one of the students’ interest. The kids then felt more comfortable and started messing around a little, so without yelling the teacher stopped what they were doing and said something like, “I know this is new and exciting, but we really need to listen to learn because it's important.” (Using words like important really catches young learners attention.) If the students still mess around, the teacher than moves the students onto an activity like, “okay everyone, one clap… now two claps… now three claps and a snap.” This gets the students back engaged into the lesson plan without raising the tone of voice. (With older students, a little bit of a stern tone and directing the disciplinary to a specific student may be necessary.) After a time, the students learned the proper respect for the classroom. And the teacher was happy with their work and felt ready and refreshed to teach the next day. Through these three scenarios, one might come to understand that rapport is a delicate but essential for the teacher to enjoy teaching and for the students to enjoy learning from that particular class. Overall, it helps establish a fun, happy, and healthy environment.
