When you are a teacher, it's very important to set up a series of expectations for your students:  what the rules of the classroom are, what happens if students don't follow the rules, how to achieve a high grade, how to earn yourself a low grade, how to get help when you need it. Setting expectations is important to people have a good idea of what's appropriate, which translates, to me (pardon the pun), to the culture of the classroom.

Here's an example of a negative classroom culture

In fourth grade we had a wonderful teacher who left on maternity leave, so we had a long-term sub whom I'll call Mrs. Ratchet. Mrs. Ratchet was a substitute teacher who subbed often and we all knew she wasn't always fair.

One morning I walked into the classroom and my name was on the board. (This was a bad thing, a punishment for misbehavior.) My name hadn't been on the board when I left the day before, so I was shocked. I asked Mrs. Ratchet why my name was on the board. "You know what you did!" she tossed at me as she turned away. I had no idea and neither did my friends.

To this day I remember her being so unfair, her treating me so disrespectfully, and whenever I think of it, I remember the yucky feeling I had that day. And how I wanted our regular teacher back from maternity leave because she had clear expectations. Mrs. Ratchet had changed the rules in the middle of the game!

This is an example of the kind of teacher-student hierarchy that Mrs. Ratchet practiced:

To be clear, there are important situations and times in life that the teacher-student relationship warrants this hierarchy. It is important for safety and for organization, especially in a classroom with small children. It is sometimes vital for a teacher to 'pull rank' to keep a conversation in a classroom respectful or to keep a conversation moving. Or perhaps a professor needs to steer a meandering conversation back to the main topic. And there are times when this kind of relationship is necessary and helpful, times when it's appropriate for a teacher to assert, "Hey, I'm the leader here! We need to go THIS way!"

That said, there are times when teachers or professors, like Mrs. Ratchet, take advantage of this hierarchy. They use it as a tool of power. They use it for their personal gain. Or they implement a strict form of this hierarchy because they don't want to put forth the effort to learn any other way of guiding their students. We've all had teachers like this.

And then there are bosses who act this way. And co-workers. And suppliers and customers and on and on.

People are really tired of it!

That's not how I run my classroom.

Because the idea of the "teacher-student relationship" can be loaded with expectations, as we've seen in these examples, I have departed from them completely and changed the language of this relationship. Instead of "students," I say "clients."

This is how I view the relationship between my clients and me:

You'll notice I don't refer to myself as a German Instructor here, but a Consultant. While I do call myself a German Instructor on my business cards, I provide the service of German instruction in a way that enables each individual client to achieve the skills they want. Just as a Consultant provides what the client needs, I provide the German services the client needs.

Clients are welcome to request changes in their lessons, to explore additional resources, to determine the course of their German learning. It's my job to get them where they want to go. Sometimes that means I challenge a client on a particular grammar aspect or on their study habits. Sometimes I push a client to challenge themselves in a particular way or for a specific amount of time.

And I do that collaboratively and with respect.

Here's an example of a fantastic classroom culture

My third grade teacher, Mrs. M, was very good at creating an inviting classroom environment. I loved third grade and I loved how she ran the classroom. The atmosphere was fun and peaceful, we got to change our desk arrangements multiple times during the year, and when she was out sick and we had a sub I really missed her! She taught us multiplication, which was hard, and she made it as fun as possible. I have fantastic memories of third grade; what I remember most of all was the atmosphere:  we all truly mattered to Mrs. M. and we knew it because she was clear about what she expected from us.

Every German learner matters, whether you've subscribed to the newsletter, show up occasionally to read new blog posts, or are taking lessons.

And it's wonderful to work with you!