Teacher [tee-cher] : a person who teaches or instructs, especially as a profession; instructor.*

There are the learned and the learners. Leaning can be done anywhere: a home, online or most commonly, a school. America’s education system has greatly evolved throughout history. It has gone from one-room school houses encompassing all grades to our current system of schools.

Where and how we learn is not the only aspect of education that has changed. The relationships between teachers and students have changed as well.

“I was never close to any of my high school teachers; It just was so different before,” AP Art History teacher Monica Winters said. “We were not allowed to talk in class. We were just students who sat in rows. The teacher was the sage on the stage.”

Because of this, teachers and students did not have many opportunities to connect and build a relationship, which some people even see as very important.

“[Relationships with students] are important because it makes it a lot easier to express passion about a subject. It makes it easier to learn.” freshmen assistant principal Jeremy Varnell said. “It may even help a student learn and like a subject that a student thought they hated. Also if [a student] likes a teacher, then the student would probably work harder at the subject as well.”

Multiple teachers at Coppell share such a view. To have a relationship is the goal for some teachers such as Janine Kay.

“It’s my goal to be there for students,” Spanish teacher Janine Kay said. “You should form a relationship with a student, of course, to the point of where both are comfortable.”

This is completely a different outlook than what would have been just a decade or two earlier. Having a teacher was more likely purely for teaching, and not for building relationships with the learners. Now teachers seem to be more welcoming and amiable towards their students.

“[Kay] is like a mother to me,” junior Daniel Sander said. “When I moved from Ohio, I didn’t really know anyone so I just talked to her. She’s like the school mom. She doesn’t judge, always gives good advice, and just really helps you with your problems. We can even just joke around without either of us getting offended.”

There are many roles that a teacher can be to a student. A ‘mom’ is not the only role a student can see a teacher as.

“[Coach Jonathan McKinney] is like an older brother to me. He gives me life advice and I consider him my friend,” senior Ryan Liston said. “We have played video games online together, and I just come into his room to talk to him sometimes. I’ve become sort of like his student teacher.”

Teachers have become more and more involved in a student’s life. Because of technology, it is much easier for communication between students and teachers.

“My seventh and eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Neal, was awesome. She was like a mom and mentor because she really cared about her students,” sophomore Trey Sledge said. “When I [had] surgery she was very understanding and always helped out. A bunch of [students] really liked her, so we created a Facebook group with her to plan class dinners. So once a month me around nine other people and I would go have dinner with her.”

Technology does not only help make plans with teachers, but it can also help the teacher give advice. Junior Lily Balsamo is completely comfortable asking Kay for opinions on big decisions. When Balsamo was contemplating whether or not to quit band, she promptly texted Ms. Kay for some advice.

Even apart from mentoring, technology has just broken a barrier between the teacher and student outside of school. Some teachers tweet questions to students about assignments. They are friends with their students on Facebook. Perhaps technology advancement is the key reason for the closer relationships between students and teacher. Perhaps it could be how culture has changed throughout time.

“I never had any sort of relationship with a teacher when I was younger, but I feel like people are just much more open nowadays,” Kay said.

Whether it be the technology or the people, relationships between students and teachers have evolved in a way in which both individuals have many more opportunities to communicate than their past generations.

*definition from Dictionary.com