All because of
my teacher
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPING
POSITIVE STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS
The power of the student-
teacher relationship can
be found in the stories of
at-risk students for whom
teachers became mentors
and role models, building
powerful relationships that
positively influenced their
success and futures.
30
Leadership
Many students, despite abysmal
circumstances, are thriving due to the resil-
ience-building power of teachers. Imagine
the student from a broken, abusive home,
living in poverty and struggling to master
English. Research indicates that students
suffering multiple adverse conditions are
likely to fail and drop out of school (Bowers,
Sprott and Taft, 2013; Wang and Fredricks,
2014). However, in my study of at-risk stu-
dents succeeding in school, the teacher was a
primary contributor to their success.
Emmy E. Werner (1996) and Nan Hen-
derson (2013) identify schools as a viable
haven to establish conditions that promote
resilience and growth mindsets among
students vulnerable to failure. As such, the
student-teacher relationship becomes para-
mount to the process of student achieve-
ment. Schools provide the most influential
relationships that many at-risk students
come to know in their lives. Teachers be-
come mentors and role models through the
powerful relationships they build with stu-
dents (Theron and Engelbrecht, 2012).
Teachers who have the ability to trans-
form lives are the most positive inf luence
in a child’s life outside of the family circle
(Werner and Smith, 1989; Voke, 2003).
Student achievement research shows that
what teachers do matters – and for some stu-
dents, teachers can tip the scale away from
academic failure and move students toward
scholastic success (Hattie, 2012).
A school setting provides structure,
boundaries and openness to explore the
many opportunities that are available to stu-
dents, and the student-teacher relationship
is the catalyst in the school setting (Birdsall,
2013). Teachers gain opportunities to share
a multitude of examples about overcoming
adversity through literature, history and the
arts. A student’s exposure to and retention
of the cultural, social and emotional capital
that a teacher provides can greatly enhance
the development of resilience.
Through my extensive interview pro-
cess with at-risk students, the power of the
student-teacher relationship was revealed.
The students who were interviewed faced
multiple risk factors in their lives; however,
all were succeeding in school. Each of the
students had graduated in the top 10 percent
of their class, while concurrently being en-
rolled in community college classes. By the
time they graduated high school, they had
earned nearly a full year of college credit.
I have learned over my years in education
that student voices expose the realities em-
bedded deep within education. When we as
By Trenton Hansen