As a member of the Student Hires team, your communication with students is extremely important. The product that Student Hires delivers is an experience more than anything. That means that our communication with the students we teach must be consistent across all of our employees and across every school site. From our Code of Conduct, one of our guidelines is to treat everyone that we encounter with respect. At the surface, this seems straightforward and easy to accomplish. But what do we do when a student is moody or even defiant? 

The first step is to keep your own emotions in check. Dealing with troubled students can be draining. It is very easy to see a defiant student and react in a negative way. For that reason, you must first assess and keep your own emotions in line. From there, we can move on to communicating with empathy. Many upset students just need a little motivation and encouragement to completely flip their mood around. Others need a bit of the kind of candor that we spoke about earlier. Whatever the situation may be, ask yourself: how would I treat this student if they were my own sibling?

Because you may be closer in age to the students’ actual siblings, their view of your relationship can be tricky. Students will want to see you as a friend, but will need to respect you as an authority figure. You will want to be their friend, but need to maintain certain boundaries and responsibilities as the adult responsible for their safety. This paradox can actually lead to having the best of both worlds. You can show students that they can have a positive, trusting relationship with adults at the school. Especially if, there are students who unfortunately have not developed these relationships with other staff members.