High Impact Teachers... Believe deeply in the potential of their students

"Ms. T, I need a different group.  You didn't put me with the smart people."   - Students when they're not happy with "random" group selection.

My response to these individuals is always, "You are the smart people. Take some time to figure it out."

When entering my classroom, students will understand that there is a standard.  There is an expectation to live up to.  I'm not known to be an easy "A".  

A few years ago, my science department colleagues and I made an appearance in the valedictorian's speech.  He said, "We survived Mr. Derocher's science class. Ms. Turner's science class.  Mr. Quackenbush's science class.  It's safe to say that science is tough at Arthur Hill."  I believe that it is imperative to be stretched and pushed, not only academically but also in your extra curricular activities.  Students will never know what they truly can accomplish if they are not challenged.   

There are times when I intentionally group individuals with some of their peers that will challenge them.  In that moment, the expectation is that they will realize that they ARE one of the smart students.  In my eyes, how "smart" these students are is correlated to what expectations were set for them.  The students that don't work hard often assume that the smart students are born that way.  The challenge is to get them to see that if they put in the work, they also can be the "smart people".  

There is also a delicate balance that must be maintained with this approach.  You want to challenge the students but you don't want the challenge to be impossible to achieve.  That's setting them up for failure and can yield results that are the opposite of what was intended.  So, in becoming a High Impact educator, you must also be available to give the appropriate level of support to the students to keep them moving in the right direction.  This is not an easy task.  It requires time in planning and time building relationships with students, but when done correctly, it's worth it.