Rosie Vargas. Blog # 7 Routman (2003) Chapter 2: Bond with Your Students

This was by far my most favorite chapter in this book. I highly recommend it to be a must read for all teachers. I personally enjoy bonding with my students and getting to know them. Sometimes it is hard for me since I teach the entire school but it helps that I am able to see these students grow as learners year after year. I really like the quote Routman shared from Don Holdaway when he told his child’s teacher that “you don’t have to like my child, but you must bond with her if she’s to learn anything at all! That’s your job as a teacher (Routman, p.11).” I think it is our job as teachers to get to know our students in a way that will make them feel that we care about them. If our students know we care about them and want them to be successful they are more likely to believe in themselves. Routman explains that “unless we reach into our students’ hearts, we have no entry into their minds (Routman, p.12).”

As a teacher in a Title I school I have come to realize that we have many students that need good role models and that we are not just teaching reading, math, science and social studies, but we are often teaching life lessons. We model respect by the way we treat our students and other teachers in our school. We have to constantly use words of encouragement with our students because they may not hear it at home as often as they need to.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the section on Enjoying Your Students. Routman recognizes that joy is missing from too many of our schools and classrooms. Routman describes the difference in the students of teachers who were joyous and those who were not. The students of the joyous teacher were drawn to her like a magnet and that they were eager and accomplished readers and writers and the burdened teachers’ students reflected their teachers’ demeanor where work was getting done but there seemed to be no enjoyment in doing it and very little pride in accomplishment (Routman, p.22). Sometimes with all that is required from teachers outside the classroom lessons it can be easy to forget to be joyous. However, we must always remind ourselves of the reasons we got into this profession and find a way to keep that joy alive.