Teachers have one of the toughest jobs. If anyone tells you differently they are just too proud to admit it. Teachers need to be so many different things at the same time. They need to be compassionate, supportive, challenging, encouraging, helpful, and the list goes on and on. One quality that may not be the first thing you think of when describing a teacher is authentic. Authenticity is important for a variety of reasons...
No one likes someone who is "fake", and a student is not going to take an authority figure seriously if he knows that this teacher is acting and talking differently in the classroom than outside of the classroom. Even though it may come as a surprise to some people, kids are a very quick and good judge or character. It is how they thrive in their school environment. Their friendships are changing almost weekly, if not daily, and their emotions and hormones are all eschew. Their classrooms teachers, need to be someone that they can count on; they need to be a constant.
Now there needs to be a line between student and teacher. I truly believe that there can be a friendship but it needs to have boundaries and the student still needs to see the teacher as an authority figure. If a teacher is talking about his drama and problems in his life, then soon enough, the student will start to feel as an equal and that can lead to a whole other mess of problems.
On the other side of the spectrum, a teacher does not want to be totally cold towards their students either. Students will respect and learn better from a person who they can relate to. If they know that this adult understands them and what they are going through then the classroom environment will be a lot better.
It is tough to find this balance, and by no means am I saying I know everything about it, but I believe it comes with experience. As most things in life do.
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