Teamwork, collaboration and learning to communicate are skills that influence the first interactions students have in schooling. Teachers are some of the most influential people in young childrens’ lives, and they can shape the entirety of their educational experience.
Often, students find a safe place for themselves within the classroom. Whether it be with their classmates, the teacher or the atmosphere in general, the environment of education is very impactful on a student’s life.
Children who have ideal home lives find immense joy within their classrooms, especially at a young age. The impact of the teacher-child bond often carries into the future of their educational experiences.
One may look back at their third grade class and be able to remember the exact moment they felt secure and inspired. They may be able to recall the sun shining through the windows or to look back and find peace in the memories with their favorite teachers.
Those bonds and memories do not happen in every classroom, and it often takes a special teacher to establish a strong enough relationship with their students in order to impact them.
Junior Sidney Brockmann has had many influential teachers in her life, and has found that those interactions have carried into her current perception of education.
“Teachers that have fun in the classroom and are passionate about what they are teaching have helped me develop a more positive outlook on the school environment,” she shared. “When they impact students by promoting the sharing of thoughts, planning interactive lessons and being caring, it can help students to have a positive relationship with any work they may have to do throughout their lives.”
Brockmann believes that although many do not see the importance of meaningful classroom interactions, they have the potential to forever change one’s outlook on school. It holds a very heavy weight because the cooperation and collaboration within the classroom becomes an expectation in the minds of young children, however each educator may carry out those expectations.
Senior Elizabeth Pischke, the daughter of two teachers, has an interesting perspective on the world of education. Although she gets first hand knowledge at home from her parents, she has also made some interesting observations regarding the importance of education.
“When we are young, we’re so impressionable to the world around us. Teachers are the first group of people, besides our parents, that really help us navigate that world by showing how to fit in with society, rewarding good behavior while condemning the opposite, encouraging us to do well,” Pischke shared.
“I think teachers also have a huge impact on our social lives, because when they are welcoming and supportive while also creating healthy relationships with their students, it can lead the student to be more of a social butterfly and not afraid to be themselves or face the world confidently,” Pischke continued.
Pischke’s perspective touches on a significant idea that many fail to recognize: how students view education as well as the respect they have for their educators can be shaped from a very young age.
Aside from the educators who make a lasting imprint in the minds of adolescents, there are also everyday interactions with teachers that impact experiences for high schoolers and beyond.
Pischke has had many positive experiences with educators throughout her life, and as a result, she feels she has a positive connotation in her mind surrounding education.
“The most influential I’ve ever had is likely Mr. Terronez, my ASL teacher. He takes to get to know each of his students on a personal level, and he was in high school not that long ago and is back in school now, so he shares an understanding and sympathetic attitude with us,” she said. “Mr. Terronez has shaped the way I look at school because I’ve been able to gain a perspective around the idea that no one has everything under control, and that it is normal to get stressed out.”
Both Pischke and Brockmann share one particular theme in common: the bonds and memories students are given the opportunity to make in their classrooms and with their teachers can forever stay with them. Special experiences like those can be hard to come around, but when one does, it often helps build the foundation of their future.
