What struck me in the Allen Greg interview was how Frank briefly mentioned something on the lines of "getting too close to his students." Asking about his accent and his life story is, I'm sure, seen by anyone as endearing. But this definitely raises the question of how friendly/personal we should be with our students.
I had a follow up conversation with Max L. in the Zoom room, where he shared his experience on this topic, from working as a manager. He mentioned how there is a fine line between being too friendly and keeping to yourself. I agree with this approach as I believe, as with many things in life, that some things need to be balanced. Where this balance is in terms of friendliness, might also depend on the teacher's personality. We've all had teachers who were too strict and shared little about their lives, yet students respected them, but we've also had teachers who shared a lot of their lives, like in Frank's case, and they were respected as well. Finding this balance is one of the undertakings that we have to venture in as teachers.
Yes, this is certainly one of the very important issues we have to balance as teachers! The teacher-student relationship is a serious and important one, and it is part of our work to help our students grow up well and develop into thoughtful adults. It helps to share our stories and experiences, but certainly not to socialize with our students outside of school, or to treat them in any way that threatens the trust between teacher and student!
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