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Rapport: The Key to Shift an Interaction with a Difficult Student from Antagonistic to Collaborative
Sometimes a teacher-student relationship goes sour, with too many antagonistic interactions where “he,” the student, is placed in one corner while “I,” the teacher, firmly position myself in the opposite corner. I guard my corner fiercely while the child is guarding his corner fiercely. We even seem to be talking two opposite languages; my “yes” is the child’s “no;” my “do” is the child’s “don’t.” Giving commands and criticizing noncompliance is my way to unsuccessfully persuade the child to do something, and the more the child does not do what I want, the more rigid and antagonistic our relationship becomes. In other words, although student and teacher are sharing one and the same physical space, mentally and emotionally “we” (as in student and teacher) are in two very different places. Under those circumstances, I believe, no communication between the two of us is possible. If only I could find how to shorten the distance that is keeping us apart... Rapport: The Bridge that Connec