Imprtance of teachers as students' role models

By Cynthia Grimm
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March 3, 2011

Tonight’s was a very emotional class. As part of the social cognitive theory lesson, it really showed how the self-efficacy factors could be shaped so much by role models. For those with immigrant parents, it seems that not only the verbal persuasion and vicarious experience of being able to overcome obstacles, but also their emotional arousal provided by their accomplishments and perseverance really played a big part in these students’ lives. They are also modeling this positive behavior in a way by not giving up and trying their best even when financially and emotionally it can be very difficult to continue with their studies.

I really liked the symbolic role model as well in that Beethoven became not just a bust on a mantel but a real person this student could relate to. Having a symbolic role model can lead one to have very high expectations (which in Rousseau’s theory would not be something to encourage because not achieving them would only cause his Emilie pain and suffering) but in this case that seems to be really motivating for Justin.

It was a bit surprising that there was only one student in an educational program that had an actual teacher as her role model. Perhaps this is a sign that as future teachers, we have a new path to blaze where we are the supportive and caring role models students need, even if we ourselves did not have any.