2.E.1: High Expectations
About the Element
The teacher candidate must be able to clearly communicate high standards for all students in their work, effort, and behavior. Additionally, the teacher candidate needs to consistently reinforce that all students can meet these standards and level of mastery through effective effort, rather than innate ability.
High expectations for all students allow students to reach for an objective, which is achievable through the effort they put into their work. Students need to know that they are all accountable for reaching for and working towards those standards. Beyond setting these high expectations, it is also critical for students to know that they are all capable of reaching those goals through diligent and continued effort, not just by talent.
My High Expectations
In our classroom, students' math grade was based on effort, on homework assignments and during class. Their math grade was also based on their improvement, how much they grew and learned in their mathematics skills. I emphasized the importance of turning in every assignment on time and with every problem attempted. It was consistently reinforced that students would not lose points on homework for errors in their answers, because I believe that homework should be a space for mistakes to be made and learned from in order to improve one's skills for future correct applications of the material, whether that be on tests or in general day-to-day life.
During my student teaching, in office hours, occasionally discussion of "levels" of different classes arose between students. They exclaimed their beliefs and anger that certain classes were being challenged more, because they were viewed as the "smarter" class. This was a pure demonstration of students not having confidence in their own skills and instead, seeing it as different classes were being held to different standards. However, the reality of this situation was that several students from what was deemed the "slower" class were doing much better in math class than some students in what what was deemed the "smartest" class. This was a reminder and opportunity for me to jump in and explain how our expectations for all students, in math class, were the same. All grades were based on effort and improvement, regardless of the class. Homework was the same for all classes, as it was more important to see students' efforts in trying a problem out, rather than just getting an answer. It was important to get this message across: that completing homework on time and participating on every example in class would lead to greater success in math class and math skills than any other factor.
Below, I have included the rubrics that my Supervising Practitioner and I designed for our classes.
To the left: The structure of students' math grades. This rubric also served as a guide to how students could be successful in our class. Students who followed these expectations found early, continued, and achievable success in our math class.
To the right: This slide was an extra reminder of how student could find success in our class. It emphasizes the importance of holding yourself accountable for the grade that you earn. We constantly and consistently reinforced the idea that students were in control of their own grades. Just by putting in effort, they could achieve mathematical success.
To the left: The general math homework rubric used in grading. We placed more emphasis on turning complete homework in on time above all. This is because timeliness and organization are life skills that students will always carry with them, since mathematical skills can always be reinforced and strengthened later. It is more important early on to teach students to be on time for engagements and obligations, to try every challenge, to know that it is okay to make mistakes, and to follow instructions.
Anna Eng
WPI Teacher Preparation Program
aeeng@wpi.edu