Eating lunch with your students

This past January I had the opportunity to observe in a fourth grade classroom for a month. I remember being extremely excited to get to know the teacher and her students.  I learned all of the students names right away, and after correcting many of there assignments and helping them in group activities I was quick to catch onto their academic strengths and weaknesses. However, although I got a small grasp of there personalities by observing them in the class room I really did not know that much about them. That all changed however at lunch time.

At the school I observed the teachers ate lunch with their students every single day in the lunch room as a class. I had never experienced this before and was very surprised by it. To be honest at first I was a little disappointed, I was looking forward to eating lunch with the other teachers to hear their insights and ideas, but after a month I can not imagine not eating with my students as a teacher. 

I learned so much about there lives and there personalities. As fourth graders I did not really think about how much stress some of them could have. They really opened up over lunch. I learned about their families, their sports, their likes and dislikes. I laughed with them and talked with them. I made sure that I was still the teacher at the table however, and not just a buddy. They called Ms. R and listened when I talked. I think it is essential that you remain in charge for the relationship at lunch to work. However I think it is o.k to to open up with them and tell them a little about your life. In my opinion they respect you more when you do, because they relate to you on a more personal level. 

Why is eating lunch with your students beneficial? I believe not only do you learn about and develop closer relations with your students, but you can use the information that you learn about them and apply it to the classroom. For example I remember one boy who was extremely quite in the classroom and seemed to have an attitude that he was too cool for school. One day at lunch I heard him and his friends talk about rap music. I sat by them and they were a bit surprised that I joined the conversation. Needless to say I was telling the teacher about our conversation, and she agreed that the boy seemed very passionate about it, which was surprise. So in the next book project she gave students the option to do something with finding music on itunes that you could relate to the book. The boy was actually excited to make a CD and did a great job on it.

In my opinion eating lunch with your students can make you a better teacher. I learned so much about the students in a month and used that information while working with them. In return they learned about me. Our relationships strengthen when we found common ground at lunch to talk about, and I still kept my teacher status. I think that as a teacher you should really consider eating lunch with your students at least for a couple of weeks like I did. You will be surprised how much you learn about them and how you can incorporate that information to make your students get excited about learning and school activities.