THE MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDS PERCEPTIONS OF CARING TEACHERS

Caring fosters emotional and intellectual growth of students. This stu dy presents sixth-grade students' perceptions of teacher behaviors the y interpret as caring. An ethnographic technique of open-ended written responses was used with students from ethnically diverse schools in t he metropolitan New York City area. The analysis of the responses indi cated demographic differences. Student's perceptions of caring differ by ethnicity and sex. Teacher awareness of such differences is importa nt to develop and maintain mutual receptivity within the classroom and to maximize student social and emotional growth.