Never underestimate the impact you have on your students!

   With all the responsibilities that teachers have, I think that we forget how much of an impact we have on our students.  Probably, the strongest impact is having the students observing our behavior - modeling.  Our behavior (besides their home) is teaching them how to interact with others.  Have you ever seen a young child copy what the parent says or does?  Sometimes it's not exactly what we want them to say or do.
   Whether you believe it or not, your students don't miss a thing when it comes to how their teachers act.  This may be an interaction with a student, another teacher or a parent.  They have ears like elephants!  You may even hear them repeating some of the things they hear you say.  Sometimes, when a student would ask me something, I would say," Just give me 2 minutes".  They would often count the minutes and  if it was longer than 2, they would let me know.  I would say, "I meant Ms. Demong's 2 minutes!"  Soon, when I asked them to do something, they often said, "Just give me 2 minutes".  
    A possible scenario:  a student may come to class sporadically.  One of the days they're in class, the teacher may ask them a question.  They don't know the answer and the teacher says, "Well, if you came to class more often, you would know the answer!"  Think about this.  Although it's true, if you don't feel good about coming to class regularly, is this comment going to encourage you to come more often?  Will the student think, "Oh yes, I see the error of my ways!  I will go to school everyday so I know all the answers!"  Or, will the student think, "Forget you!  I knew school wasn't for me!  I don't need to feel worse about myself!!!"My money is on the second statement.
   So why do we say those things?  It's that old fact - we're human!  We may be frustrated that the student doesn't want to come to class and hear our "words of wisdom".  I think that it's important not to say those comments.  But more important is to realize that you're doing this and then you can practice fixing that mistake.
   When the student thinks of you in the future, they will be happy that they were in your class.  Students are resilient and forgiving.  If you're responsible for your behavior, that may teach them to be responsible for theirs.  You could teach them that it's ok to be human, learn from your mistakes and correct them.  It may not be only what you taught them academically that they remember but also the kindness you showed them.  And I think that's pretty great!