Having High Expectations in the Classroom Make a Difference

Several weeks ago, I was invited to a party in which I was able to meet a couple of NYC teachers who serve our elementary students. In the beginning I was pretty excited because in my head I was thinking we would be able to share our experiences and struggles, however, the experience was completely different and disappointing. While having our small conversations, some things were obviously, in my opinion, wrong. 

First of all, this person shared that she had issues helping all the 2nd graders in the classroom with tying  their shoelaces. My response to that was that if this is something she needed to do with many, maybe it was a good idea to teach them how to tie their shoes by modeling it for them. Her response was close to "how can you teach many kids how to tie their shoes?, I have 29 kids to do this for and they are not able to do it by themselves". The problem with her response was not the part of teaching them how to do so, but the fact that she already thought "THEY ARE NOT ABLE". This mentality made very angry and my response was a bit brusque because in the future years, her students will come to me and they will already be low with some skills. I simply said: "I teach kids with learning disabilities as well as those who are emotionally disturbed, they are mixed with kids who are higher and the teaching varies from student to student and we also have 29 students as average, but I do NOT do things for them, they NEED to learn it by themselves." She stayed quiet and we just switched conversations. 

Although, some of us, are learning the way to keep these high expectations with kids who are, unfortunately,  thought to not be able to succeed, it truly pays off! During parent-teacher conference, parents were giving me feedback on how their children I teach actually go home and do their work because they know I will not be happy the next day if the work is not completed. The parents see changes in their children and these are good changes! These changes involve having ownership of responsibility and knowing that they are expected to achieve higher. One of these parents was a parent of one of my IEP students (lingo for a child that receives special ed services). This parent was able to share how she is, now, trying to set high expectations with her daughter at home. Hearing both  child and mother share how they feel and think about expectations is a great feeling!It was such a good moment because although they may see me upset when things are not done, they know I am not expecting mediocre work, but the work that should be given by any 6th grader!

Moral of this blog: Students know when you have high expectations, keep them high at all times! They know when you care and when you do not.