ABSTRACT
This chapter explores supportive teacher-student relationships that are part of a general approach to teaching. Gloria Ladson-Billings, Lisa Delpit, Michelle Fine, and Nel Noddings are among a number of educators who have written about the importance of emotional connections between teachers and students. In The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, Ladson-Billings (1994) studied the qualities that made a multiracial group of teachers successful working with African American students. A key element of what she describes as “culturally relevant pedagogy” is the ability of these teachers to care about and connect to their students. Delpit (1995) is concerned that teachers reject working-class, poor, and minority youth because their perceptions of proper behavior and ways of learning are based on their own class and cultural backgrounds. Fine (1991) argues that in an irrational world where students are sometimes demeaned by school authorities, dropping out may be the only rational choice some students can make. Noddings (1984, 1992) offers a philosophy of education based on an “ethic of caring.”
