Loose Ends: Earning students’ respect

Talk about one-room schoolhouses or teaching school in the “olden days” and someone is sure to mention the fourth “r” that was part of every school’s curriculum — respect. All the years I was teaching school, the one question I was asked every year before school began was “How do you get respect from these kids today?” My answer never varied — “I earned it.”
Facing a classroom of children each year, each teacher learns…