Miara Bonner
The Extraction of Interaction
Whether it’s raising your hand to answer a question, chatting at lunch with a friend, or having a conversation about your grade with a teacher, interactions among high school students and staff occur on a daily basis.
With over 700 students and over 50 administration, interactions within McKinley consistently occur. However, MTHS students and staff share similar and different perspectives on how these interactions can affect the culture of the school.
“The culture of the school has a lot of different things that input into it. So to isolate one thing is difficult,” says principal, Dr. Jones.
One could begin dissecting the culture of the school by analyzing how interactions change within different settings. For example, the classroom: student vs. teacher.
“...If you go to a classroom setting rather than the whole school culture, you can see how the relationship of the teacher with students impacts learning. Students seem to do better with teachers or staff members who they feel they some connection to...”
According to The Classroom Assessment Scoring System, consistent evidence suggests that to improve students’ academic achievement and social skill development, the focus must be on the nature and quality of teacher-student interactions.
Senior, Crishawn Sanders, agrees. “I really do think that the better your relationship you have with the teacher, academically, you will succeed.”
However, the effects of interactions on students go beyond academic success. These effects can go as far as student behavior.
According to the Eberly System: Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation, “Instructors who use negative motivators (e.g., fear, guilt, embarrassment) experience more classroom incivilities than instructors who use positive motivators (e.g., encouragement, praise). Instructors exhibiting few immediacy behaviors (verbal and nonverbal signs of warmth and friendliness), experience significantly more incivilities compared to instructors who exhibit several of those behaviors.
Similar to students, the effects of interactions on staff are extremely significant. The amount of interactions a staff member engages in can be heavily affected by the job requirements of that staff member.
"...I found it easier for different types of interactions at other schools because my duties have been different. Here, there seems to be an inordinate amount of paperwork and just requirements that make it hard...I can be out and about and interact more but, then, I would have absolutely no home life, " states Dr. Jones.
All in all, the culture of the school can be determined by the way that students and staff interact and how much time is placed in engaging in effective interactions. Although interactions may begin small and seem unworthy of effort and attention, they are the platform for a successful student, inspirational staff member, and a healthy school.
Similar to students, the effects of interactions on staff are extremely significant. The amount of interactions a staff member engages in can be heavily affected by the job requirements of that staff member.
"...I found it easier for different types of interactions at other schools because my duties have been different. Here, there seems to be an inordinate amount of paperwork and just requirements that make it hard...I can be out and about and interact more but, then, I would have absolutely no home life, " states Dr. Jones.
All in all, the culture of the school can be determined by the way that students and staff interact and how much time is placed in engaging in effective interactions. Although interactions may begin small and seem unworthy of effort and attention, they are the platform for a successful student, inspirational staff member, and a healthy school.
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