R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I think that respect is extremely important in the classroom.  I'm sure Aretha Franklin would agree.  And this respect isn't a one-way deal--teachers need to respect their students as much as students need to respect their teachers.  This mutual respect creates a better learning environment for everyone.  I know that I have had personal experiences with teachers who I didn't respect.  My AP Lit and Comp teacher in high school (we'll call her Trixie) was a horrible teacher.  She gave us word finds constantly.  (As a side note, I would like to say that I hate the use of word finds in the classroom.  They are simply a waste of time with no educational value whatsoever.  Okay. Rant over.)  Trixie also had "Media Exams" on Fridays.  This fancy-sounding term basically meant that we would watch a movie and write ten sentences about it using some of our vocab words from the week.  And they weren't even educational movies.  They were things like Finding Nemo and He's Just Not That Into You.  And as far as the vocab sentences go, some kids wouldn't even use the vocab in a sentence.  They would just write sentences about Nemo or Jennifer Anniston.  I was disgusted by Trixie's teaching methods.  I mean, she was butchering one of my favorite subjects.  Not cool.  As a result, I put forth only the small amount of effort required to get an "A".  Clearly, respect is important in classrooms if even I, the girl whose only non-"A" grade was a "B+" (in eighth grade gym, of all classes) didn't care enough to try. 

I guess the real question here is "How do teachers establish respect?".  This is obviously kind of a tough question to answer, since many teachers (at least in my town) are about as respected as Richard Simmons.  (No offense to anyone who doesn't make fun of him.)  I think the key here is common sense.  In order to gain a student's respect, a teacher should be a fair and decent person who sincerely wants to know and understand each student.  The teacher should also be knowledgable in their particular subject area and should believe that every student can do great things.  While I realize that these ideas would not work for every student, I know that I would respect a teacher who possessed these qualities, and I think many other students would feel the same.