THE POWER OF TEACHER THROUGH HIGH EXPECTATIONS

It has been found that students tend to internalize the beliefs teachers have about their ability. Most students rise or fall to the level of expectation of their teacher. When a teacher will believe in a student the student will believe in himself. It is certainly true that when those you respect think you can, you think you can.

When we view students as lacking in ability or motivation and are not expected to make significant progress, they tend to adopt this perception of themselves. This is why some students particularly those from certain social, economic or ethnic groups, discover that their teachers consider them incapable of handling demanding work.

Teachers hold certain expectation from students but whether they are high or low it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. All this certainly fits the idea that students tend to give teachers as much or as little as teachers expect of them.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WAYS TEACHERS BELIEFS TRANSLATE INTO DIFFERENTIAL BEHAVIOR TOWARD STUDENTS?

Teacher give students who are perceived low in ability fewer opportunities to learn new material and ask less stimulating questions, give briefer and less informative feedback, praise less frequently for success, call on less frequently, and give less time to respond than students who are considered high in ability.

Instructional content is dumbed down sometimes for students who are considered low in ability. Children in low groups and tracks are taught lesser amount of exciting instruction, less emphasis on memory and more rote drill and practice activities than those in high or heterogeneous groups and classes.

Some students are categorized or labeled by the teachers, they end up receiving a watered down curriculum and less intense and less motivating instruction.

WHAT OTHER ISSUES INFLUENCE WHAT IS EXPECTED OF STUDENTS

If children are performing poor in school it is attributed often to low ability and this ability is viewed as being immune to alteration much like eye or skin color. In our experience poorly performing students often come to believe that no matter how much effort they put forth, it will not be reflected in improved performance.

The idea contrasts sharply with the predominant perspective in other societies where hard work and effort are considered key to student’s academic achievement. The attitude in these cultures is that high expectations are maintained for all students and if a student is not succeeding it is attributed to lack of effort and hard work, not to insufficient intellectual ability.

Teachers should understand that tracking and ability grouping can also effect expectations. Is it any wonder that traditional tracking expectations for students as well as pace of instruction are detrimental for low ability students and impedes the progress of students in lower groups. Educators now understand that mixed age and mixed ability classes show improved achievement perhaps in part because more is expected from students in such groups.

WHAT CAN TEACHERS DO TO KEEP HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL STUDENTS?

Research has revealed that teacher’s expectations for students tend to be self- fulfilling. Jere Brophy (1986) explain teachers that routinely project

attitudes, beliefs,expectations and attributions… that imply that your students share their own enthusiasm for learning. So great is this power to treat your students as if they already are eager learners, they will be more likely to become eager learners.

And then of course you know that high expectations do not magically equalize students innate abilities and learning rates. We can accommodate differences among students and help all students achieve mastery without resorting to watering down standards and expectations. We can allow teachers to manipulate three variables time, grouping and methodology.

For this reason pre-service and in-service training can sensitize teachers to possible unconscious biases and heighten their awareness of the detrimental effects of holding differential expectations for students.

Teachers who strongly believe intelligence as dynamic and fluid rather than static and unchanging are less likely to have rigid preconceived notions about what students will or will not be able to achieve.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES FOR HIGH EXPECTATIONS

POWER GAME:

Give all your students pet names. You can refer to one student as “My Wonderful One” you can call another “My hardworking one. Another you can refer as “My Superstar”You can keep a deep thinking child as “My Pensive One”. You can call another “My Dedicated One”. To each student give a name that matches some positive attribute of their personalities. You can refer to that student by his or her power name all year long.

EVERYBODY LOVES A COMPLIMENT

You must have heard the quote “Every one loves a compliment” attributed to Abraham Lincoln . Bestow comments on your students by using power names and in many other ways. When you are bestowing compliments always say things that everyone in the class know to be true. As teachers one can’t blow smoke at kids. Students know when teacher is being disingenuous. But the student also knows when teacher is being sincere.

BRAG ON THOSE WHO ASK QUESTIONS DURING CLASS:

If you have a tough kid in your class and want to turn that kid around, you can do that by being the teacher who remembers the good things about your student. Many at promise kids state my teacher always keeps in mind the bad things about me. If you can be the teacher who always remembers the good things you have gone a long way in the direction of creating a culture in your classroom that breeds high expectations. Call them good names every day. Brag on them for being on time, brag on them for neatness. Brag on another one who shows respect. Brag on the one who help others. Brag on the learners who raise questions during class. If you are going to create the personal relationship that is the key of creating a classroom culture of high expectations, call them good things. Brag on them everyday.

There is no doubt that when teachers and administrators maintain high expectations they encourage in students a desire to aim higher rather than to slide by. You have to spread the word to expect less is to do students a disservice not a favor.