Rapport and Day One

You hear teachers say this all the time: "Don't smile until second semester." I can't think of a bigger mistake a teacher could make. Conversely, I think the fact that I show enjoyment for my job on day one helps me more than anything, and, yes, this show of enthusiasm includes smiling--maybe even some (gulp) laughter!

This need to appear "tough" to students comes from a deep insecurity that we won't be able to control our classroom. Teachers are authority figures, therefore we should maintain authority at all times, right? No way. We facilitate. Our students are like valves in the pipeline of our instruction. If we allow too much pressure to build, our pipeline will eventualy explode and become useless. If we release pressure every now and then, we maintain our pipeline. Consider the kid who likes to joke around. Maybe he's showing off to the girl across the room, maybe he's masking his insecurity about learning, maybe he's simply testing the teacher because it's more fun than listening. We will eventually find out why he does this, because we will eventually get to know our students. But we don't need any time to release that--on day one--our student is fooling around. So release the valve a little. Diffuse the behavior by allowing a little of it. Yes you risk a little rapport with the student who likes a perfectly orderly classroom. Later on, you can release that student's valve by demanding order: "Hey, this is really important--I really need your attention here." The idea is not to allow anyone's valve to malfunction, and of course to avoid the ultimate rapport killer: the exploded pipe.