High Expectations
To demonstrate exemplary high expectations, a teacher must "effectively model and reinforce ways that students can consistently master challenging material through effective effort and successfully challenge students’ misconceptions about innate ability".
One of the most prominent challenges of teaching is motivating students. Students go from class to class for seven hours a day, five days a week and there's a considerable population of students who have convinced themselves that they hate school, so they put little to no effort into their work. It is the teacher's job to express and enforce high expectations in the classroom to help motivate all students to complete their work with their utmost effort. Students should constantly be challenged in the classroom; if they are not taking academic risks, they are not being pushed to their full potential. By challenging students with high expectations, teachers are showing their students that there is potential to grow through pushing them to learn in new and different ways.
If teachers have high expectations for their students both behaviorally and academically, their students’ learning should be exemplary. When a teacher has high expectations, they will teach more and create a more positive atmosphere in the classroom which will lead to higher achievement. If a teacher doesn’t expect their students to do well, students will notice, and they will conform to those low expectations. Positive attention, encouragement, and feedback to the students will present high expectations and they will react by being academically successful. Catering to individual needs, monitoring academic progress and providing positive feedback to students will help build connections with students and consequently result in student success.
Modeling Expectations
Ship an Egg Project
Students were expected to make a package to ship an egg through the US Postal Service for $2.64 or less. The package could not exceed 4" on any side and it could not weigh more than 7 oz. To the left are the results of this project; the top picture is the package that I made to demonstrate what I would do if I was given the same task and the bottom picture is a sample of the packages made by students.
Sailboat Project
Students were expected to make sailboats out of two liter bottles with a wind catching device, a non-operational rudder, and a place to eat, sleep, and bathe. These sailboats are then tested on a navigable waterway to see if they can sail downwind. To the right are the results of this project; the top picture is the sailboat that I made to demonstrate what I would do if I was given the same task and the bottom. picture is a sample of the sailboats made by students.
To encourage students to work through the challenges they faced, I constantly checked in with them. During these checkins I asked if they had any questions, if they were struggling with anything, and I concluded with little pieces of positive feedback and encouragement. If I saw certain students were struggling, I stepped in and helped them get on track. For example, during projects, if groups were behind, I specifically gave them a game plan for the class period, and I would help them complete the mini-tasks I gave them. I often reiterated the expectations for the project throughout the process, so students were aware of the expectations and they were encouraged to ask questions during that time too. I modelled the growth mindset by constantly reminding students that they are capable of completing any challenge if they put in the effort and hard work.