What do we Expect from our Expectations?

Online Reflection #5

Recently a student said to me, “Mrs. Michaud, your class is like an honor’s class!”

I wasn’t exactly sure right away if they meant that in a good or bad way. So, I asked a follow-up question, “what do you mean by that?”

“It’s hard sometimes and we move quickly,” they said.

My heart sank for a moment as now I interpreted their statement as a bad thing. The last thing I want is for my students to dread my class. I apologized to the student if they felt like I was rushing them and asked if there was any way I could help them or if they needed me to slow down.

To my surprise, they responded, “no, I like it!”

Through a bit more conversation I learned that they liked the challenge and were enjoying the pace and flow of the class. I will admit in those first moments of our conversation I was worried it meant that not only had I assessed them incorrectly but that my students were not enjoying Language Arts. Thankfully, I ended up relieved because not only through my daily assessments did I feel that my students were successful with the content and that they were progressing well, but it also meant that I was creating an environment that is conducive to learning and fosters their love of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

This conversation got me thinking and created a domino effect of events. After asking myself, do our students rise to our expectations, I recollected a reading in core 1 of our teaching program by Harry and Rosemary Wong, The First Days of School How to be an Effective Teacher. I had to reread the chapter, and this rejuvenated me a bit. Wong and Wong point out, “students tend to learn as little or as much as their teachers expect” (p 42), which is exactly what I am now seeing my students express to me, just not in those words. In turn, I looked up some blogs online and found one titled, Students Will Rise to the Level of Expectations, by Justin Bechtold that suggests watching the movie Stand and Deliver. I have not watched this movie yet so I can not vouch whether it is good or not, but I can say that his post provides a short clip of the film showing a meeting with admin and teachers discussing and reviewing the recommendations for accreditation as it appears they may be about to lose theirs. Through this small clip when a teacher points out students will rise to our expectations, I can say I will be watching it soon.

The point of this is not to toot my own horn, rather it is to point out that sometimes we get in this funk wondering if what we are doing is working and I think that’s totally normal. Reflection on these things are what keeps us on our toes and striving to better teachers. Especially at this point in the semester when things feel as if they are picking up all around us. I know our KPTP is due in almost a month, most of us are studying for our Praxis and PLT tests that are coming up, a lot of us are preparing for our assessments and wrapping up our KPTP units in addition to our own lives outside of school and school. My point here is to hang in there my fellow classmates and educators, or Edutators, if we stick with our group chat name. Ha! Know that you are making a difference and loved by many students, even some you think you’re not reaching. Just keep on keeping on and continue maintaining those positive and high expectations of your students. We’ve got this!

Ps. 77 days until graduation!