What’s Good for Teachers Is Good for Students

As educators, we tend to prioritize the needs of our students, often at the expense of our mental and physical health. But where do student needs and teacher needs intersect? Where are the opportunities to experience mutual benefits? Let’s consider three opportunities which lead to better outcomes for both students and teachers.

Building Strong Relationships

Decades of research support strong student-teacher relationships as a lever for better academic, social, and emotional outcomes for students. When students feel connected to their teachers, they are more likely to be motivated to learn and willing to take the risks necessary for learning. Teachers who have strong relationships with their students can better understand individual learning needs and provide appropriate support and guidance. And when students perform better, teachers feel more satisfied and successful. Seeing evidence of how their teaching impacts student learning leads to greater teacher efficacy.

Teachers who build strong relationships with their students are also better equipped to provide emotional support and guidance when students face challenges or difficulties. Knowing they have a caring and supportive teacher can help students regulate emotions and navigate challenges more effectively. In the context of a strong relationship, students are more willing to comply with rules and requests. Building relationships helps teachers experience less conflict with students and build a peaceful and productive classroom culture.

The benefits of strong relationships for students are clear, but there are also significant benefits for teachers. Building strong relationships with students can be personally rewarding and fulfilling. When teachers feel connected to their students and see the positive impact they have on students’ lives, job satisfaction increases.

Increasing Engagement

Engaging activities create a dynamic classroom environment where students feel motivated to learn. Implementing engagement strategies also positively impacts students’ social skills by fostering a sense of community and collaboration. Seeing students actively engaged and making progress can be highly rewarding for teachers, too. Engaging strategies can reignite a passion for teaching and reinforce a sense of purpose in the classroom.

Engaging activities can also help minimize disruptive behavior and keep students focused on the task at hand. When students are actively involved in meaningful learning experiences, they are less likely to look for distractions or cause disruptions. When students look forward to coming to class because they enjoy learning, teachers experience less frustration and conflict.

Implementing engaging strategies requires teachers to be creative, flexible, and resourceful. It encourages them to explore new teaching methods, technologies, and instructional approaches, leading to professional growth and development. Trying something new can help a teacher break out of a rut and experience the satisfaction of cultivating a new skill. School days can become monotonous and tedious for both students and teachers, and both benefit from efforts to increase engagement.

Fostering Well-Being

When teachers are physically and emotionally well, they are more likely to perform their duties effectively. They can deliver high-quality instruction, manage classrooms efficiently, and provide meaningful feedback to students. In order to teach well, teachers need to be well. It is difficult to build strong relationships or deliver engaging lessons when depleted and weary.

Teachers serve as role models for their students, not just academically but also in terms of well-being. When students see their teachers prioritizing self-care and managing stress effectively, they are more likely to adopt similar habits. Both teaching and learning require energy and resilience, and teachers can lead efforts to foster well-being in the classroom community.

We often hearing about trying to pour from an empty cup and self-care as a requirement in caring for others. But student success is not the only reason to focus on teacher well-being. Caring about teachers means providing the support they need to experience peace, joy, and satisfaction in their work. High levels of teacher well-being are associated with lower rates of burnout and turnover. When teachers are well, they are more likely to remain in the profession, providing students (and themselves) with continuity and stability.

Good for Both

What’s best for students? That question guides much of the conversations among professionals in schools. But I’m advocating for a different question… What’s best for BOTH students and teachers? Prioritizing student needs over teacher needs is not sustainable. Prioritizing teacher needs over student needs doesn’t lead to better outcomes. Instead, focus on practices that are good for both teachers and learners. A strong community is built on satisfying the needs of both. By focusing on relationships, engagement, and well-being, both teachers and students can thrive.

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