By Steve Huerd
One of the criteria by which college ranking organizations
classify different institutions is class size.
The thinking behind this is the smaller the class size, the more
personal interaction the student will receive with the professor. Thus, personal access and instruction from a
knowledgeable professor becomes premium when considerations are being made.
Yet, even within these smaller classrooms, having good
relationships between the professor and the student is naturally implied. There’s an old adage that says, “People don’t
care how much you know until they know how much care.” This truth definitely applies to mentoring
relationships as the perceived quality of the relationship between the mentor
and mentee is possibly the single most important factor to mentoring
effectiveness.
I believe the same is true in teaching. If a student intuitively knows that his or
her professor not only is an expert in their field, but that he/she also cares
about them individually as a person, then they tend to allow the professor
greater access to their inner thinking.
We all intuitively determine who we can trust and who we can’t,
sometimes without even saying a word to that person. People’s actions publically display certain
levels of trust; either inviting us to be real, to use caution, or even to be fearful.
When a teacher has shown signs of being a trustworthy
person, then those around them begin to allow them access to their
thinking. This relational trust, then,
enables the professor to have more influence in their students’ lives and thinking.
Granted, no one can have close, personal relationships with
all their students in every class, but by simply being aware of the relational
factors present within the classroom, our effectiveness as instructors is
greatly increased. Our teaching then
becomes better leveraged through relational influence resulting in greater
impact upon the minds we seek to sway.
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