I don’t believe that the relationship between students and teachers is inherently negative, however the power dynamic between students and teachers cannot be denied. This power dynamic can lend itself to a somewhat adversarial relationship; students yielding to the demands of the teacher out of necessity can create natural feelings of contempt. In terms of concrete examples, if a student feels unfairly judged or upset about the grades or feedback they are receiving, they are likely to not think of the teacher as their partner, but as someone who disciplines and punishes them.

The question of how one uses their power as a teacher to influence the tone of the relationship with students is answered in a myriad of ways – from the set-up of the grading system, the level of disciplinary tone in the classroom, and the underlying assumptions present in the classroom around knowledge, learning, and success.

Reflecting on my current English 101 class, I have not had explicit conversations about the principles shaping the class. Students pay attention to the system of punishment and rewards and see me as an enforcer of this system. Students have learned about how strict the class is based on seeing how they lose points – whether it is for tardiness or not meeting the rubric in a specific way. This doesn’t inherently create an adversarial relationship but one in which I am holding them accountable.

Accountability isn’t inherently negative; accountability can be positive in that it can provide structure and motivation to pursue a standard or goal that is beneficial.

I do believe that the word partnership however, implies a certain level of equity that isn’t true to the relationship between student and teacher; the power to have a lasting impact on a marker of someone’s success negates notions of partnership. The strongest sense of partnership I have felt with students was in mid-term conferences, where questions about how they feel about the class and what their life is like more holistically lent itself to a tone of support and investment in their well-being and success.

I am curious how this tone could have more of a presence throughout the quarter – not necessarily for its informal quality but ideally for students to be more motivated in their own learning and success. In other words, the impact of them seeing their teacher as someone invested in and able to support their success as opposed to someone there to enforce discipline and evaluation markers is stark.

Honest reflection on my teaching this quarter reveals that I have not always felt equipped to be a partner per se to my students. Recently, I have felt more that I am relaying expectations without fully supporting them to meet those expectations. I have not felt equipped to teach them about wordpress or poster design or engage in their research projects in a way that supports high quality data-analysis – I think feeling a sense of expertise and ease with the curriculum would help me in positioning myself as a source of support for students.

At the same time, I have had peers say that they are transparent with students about their own learning curves, and that too could lend itself to a certain camaraderie or partnership of learning together with students. I have not taken this approach as I fear students losing a sense of trust or respect towards me. I also want to approach the power dynamic thoughtfully, responsibly and ethically. For me this means my own sense of accountability to showing up for my students and being someone who can support their learning and success.

In conclusion, I want students to know I am on their side for learning and meeting the objectives of the class, with the understanding that holding them accountable to the assignments is part of what it means to be in a student-teacher relationship.