Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Psychology/FaCET Director

Challenges:

Maybe the greatest challenge is accepting that there are students not ready or not able to change their behavior or adapt to a classroom with you in it. It is painful when you know what might help a student but are not in a position to communicate it.

We deal with a wide variety of humans. It is inevitable that someday we will have a student who is a poor match for us. The true test of an effective teacher is how you handle that poor match. Can you deal with the person professionally? Can you enlist outside consultation when you need to in order to minimize problems?

Students are “in process.” That is, they are in a period of development and change and sometimes teachers are just a ship passing in the night compared to other significant events in their lives.