Review of Related Literatures
Student-Teacher Relationships
With this basic understanding of the apparent necessity and importance of relationships in mind, the following section will focus more specifically on the importance and impact of student-teacher relationships. A request for what constitutes effective teaching will be after undoubtedly a long and varied list of responses. The list may include, but not be limited to a teacher’s knowledge of subject, pedagogical competence, instructional effectiveness, and/or classroom management skills. Banner and Cannon (1997) describe the difficulty in defining exactly what it means to be an effective teacher, “We think we know great teaching when we encounter it, yet we find it impossible to say precisely what has gone into making it great.” As stated by McEwan (2002), “An ample amount of research exists showing that content and caring are not exclusive commodities; effective teachers emphasize both...”
Teacher connections
One of the attributes that will undoubtedly make most lists is a teacher’s ability to connect with students. It may be referred to as an ability to cultivate relationships or be more formally labeled as “nurturing pedagogy.” It may be defined as a mix of high expectations and caring support; or as Pianta (1999) defines the student-teacher relationship, “Emotions-based experiences that emerge out of teachers’ on-going interactions with their students.” Strahan and Layell (2006) noted the importance of