Respect

        Respect is earned, never just doled out randomly. It can also take on many appearances; it can look like caring about, honoring or even fearing the respected person. As a teacher, I believe one should never establish respect in the form of fear. It undermines any potential benefit and education might have on a student. Instead of learning, they are concerned with how their behavior might cause unwanted consequences. They steer clear of anything to do with the teacher even if they have questions that keep them from understanding the material. This fear may even turn the student completely away from the specific academic discipline, possibly even academia all together! Teachers need to be very careful when establishing respect within the classroom so as not to get a response of such honor that it turns to fear.
        So, how do you get respect in the classroom? A friend once told me that she had a teacher who always started class asking if the students wanted to learn or have snacks and play games instead. Obviously all the kids chose to have snacks and play games. All the students knew this person was an aweful teacher, but they were satisfied to play games rather than expand their knowledge. Sometimes teachers either think that they can earn respect by being cool and letting their students do what they want, or maybe they are just lazy. In this case, and I think in all cases like it, the response from the students is not respect. To the students this looked like a lack of concern or care for them or the subject matter. That is definitely not worthy of their respect! I think a big part of respect comes from you demonstrating your love for the subject, teaching, learning and especially the students. Have you ever hear the phrase, "Smiles are contagious."? A teacher's enthusiasm for his or her job is just as contagious.
        Some other simple ways to earn respect in the classroom are: know your students, teach to an objective, and make learning fun. Knowing your students seems simple enough, and it really is! Know their names and more. Get to know them as individuals so that you can distinguish their strengths and weakness. Establish a relationship as a mentor rather than a teacher. Mentors are more approachable and show concern for their "apprentices." When teaching, make sure you teach to an objective. I don't mean to say that stories and tangents in classroom discussions are completely bad, but make sure to always tie everything back to the objective for the day's lesson. If you just ramble on about nothing, students are going to think you are stupid, and it doesn't actually teach them anything. Rambling also has the negative side effect of boring students which exponentially increases the likelihood of them goofing, a.k.a. being disrespectful. Finally, make learning fun! think of those hilarious stories that apply to what you are teaching. Play games that help the students understand the material. Do whatever it takes to positively motivate students to learn! If you keep students entertained, not only are they going to love you, they aren't going to have the time to disrespect you because they are enthralled in what they are doing.
          There are many ways to earn respect, and those different ways may bring about care, honor or even fear. I think that the best teachers earn the type of respect that benefits the students education the most. Therefore, being scary is not going to cut it; neither is being lazy. Some simple ways of earning respect in the classroom are love the job, know the students, teach to an objective and make learning fun. These methods will give the teacher his or her desired response from the students and maximize the students learning.