In the beginning of the video, Frank mentions the two schools of thoughts of teaching: being a friend to the students versus being the authoritarian teacher. Our group had a long discussion about finding the balance between the two. Are they mutually exclusive? How do you balance the two? This was a big struggle of mine from my 1.5 years of teaching experience under an LOP. As a young teacher, I was very active and friendly with students. I would play chess, table tennis, and soccer with them as well as engage in casual conversations outside of class. However, doing so also undermined my authority in the classroom as a teacher, as students sometimes interrupts and talked to me without respect, as if I was a friend of theirs. Through my experience, I realized that I've gotten off on the wrong foot and realized the importance to getting the students to differentiate in-class time and out-of-class time. For the future, I realized that it is important to set a more "serious" and "authoritarian" tone for classroom time and teaching. However, it is also okay to keep it casual outside of class, showing the students that you as a teacher care for them. It is similar to the parental role, where there are times to be fun and show compassion, but also times to show tough love.
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