Embarrassing or belittling students may interfere with learning and lead to long-term resentment. Teachers should treat students respectfully and be mindful of their feelings. We all need to use our influence to provide a safe haven for all students regardless of their behavior. Here are several ways to prevent students from humiliation, or to fix the situation should you accidently embarrass a student and want to make things better.
1. Keep communication between you and your students private when talking about behavior or academic progress.
2. Frequently check with your students that the message they are receiving is the same one that you are sending.
3. Avoid sarcasm, even if your students might laugh at it. Students often save face by hiding how humiliated they really feel.
4. Pay close attention to body language. Sometimes what a student is saying is not what he is feeling. If a student shows discomfort, defensiveness, or withdrawal, make sure everything is OK between you.
5. If you notice any sudden change in a student's behavior, especially indications of withdrawal, find time as quickly as possible to make sure that you have not been hurtful to that student, even unintentionally.
6. Never write a student's name in a public place.
7. Do not praise a student for doing a simple task. This only makes her feel that you have low expectations for her.
8. Call on all students equally. If a student gives a wrong answer, don't say, "Can anybody help him?" Instead, ask the student if he’d like to choose another student to be his consultant. Let him choose his own consultant.
9. Ask students to tell you (or preferably write you a note) about anything that they might find humiliating or embarrassing in class, and be sure not to do those things with any student that specifically informs you.
10. Tell your students a story about a time when you were embarrassed by a teacher, discuss it with them, and listen to their suggestions of what you could have done to resolve the incident. Come up with a class poster called, "When you are embarrassed, you can. . ." and list suggestions.
Every student in school deserves the right to feel emotionally safe from embarrassment and humiliation by teachers, by other students -- and by local barbers. When this safety is violated, not only does academic performance suffer, but also students might never be free of the hurt for the rest of their lives.
Source: Dr. Richard Curwin for Edutopia
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