Brandon's Brainwork- High Expectations

High Expectations
Having high expectations for all students is critical in receiving quality work from your students.  I was reminded of this recently when my daughter (who is in Kindergarten), was sitting watching a movie and out of the blue decided to tell me "dad, do you know your prefrontal cortex is the front of your brain and the hippocampus is behind your ears?"  This statement totally blew me away, but it got me thinking about having high expectations for all students.

Most teachers would say they have high expectations for their students, but closer examination may reveal that this is not true.  A simple, yet effective, task could be going through your class list and identifying those students that you may or may not have high expectations for.  After identifying students, then being cognizant of how you interact with each of the students.

A great resource on creating and communicating high expectations for all students comes from The Department of Safe Schools, Single School Culture for Academics, from The School District of Palm Beach County, FL.  It is based on the Marzano framework, is short and to the point, and has lots of great information about high expectations.

Communicating High Expectations for All Students from The School District of Palm Beach County, FL

I also like to refer to Austin's Butterfly when talking about high expectations.  This teacher has high expectations for his/her students and it shows!

Questions to Consider
1. Do I really have high expectations for all students?
2. Do I accept mediocre work, just because it's easier?
3. Do my actions or words show my expectations of my students?