What are your expectations? What are your expectations for your students? Believe it or not, your expectations for your students actually determine how well they perform.
It’s a fact that your expectations do determine how well your students do in class and on their tests. This may sound strange, but it is absolutely true. I know we all have a tendency to blame our students’ internal motivation. We blame their parents and our students’ home environments. We blame their peers. Often, we blame everyone, but ourselves. However, our students will rise to the level of our expectations. It’s almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So, what silent signal are you sending out to your students? And, who are the students that are impacted the most by our behavior? Let’s take a look at our most vulnerable students first. These are our “At-Risk Students”.
Who are At-Risk Students?
At-Risk Students are the students who are in danger of falling behind, failing, or dropping out of school. They are also known as our struggling students, and they can be our low achievers. There are some exceptions to the rules. Sometimes, these high-risk students aren’t low achievers. Some at-risk students may even excel in the classroom. However, their home environment, their social group, or their socio-economic status may put them in danger of dropping out of school.
Negative Impact on High-Risk Students
You see them. They have their hands up excitedly trying to get your attention, but you are ignoring them. Or, they are hiding behind their friend’s back or sliding down in their desk so that you won’t call on them. But, you see them. You know they don’t know the answer. You know they are going to get it wrong. So, what do you do? Chances are good that you ignore them. For the excited ones, this is disappointing. For the ones who don’t know, they breathe a sigh of relief. Either way, you have just missed an opportunity to impact your at-risk students.
You may assume that you are doing these students a favor, but you aren’t. You may justify your behavior by thinking that you are saving them some embarrassment. But, what you really did was deny them the chance to be a part of the class. The correct thing to do was call on that student.
Research has shown that teachers only ask these students questions at the lowest level. On Bloom’s Taxonomy, this would be the “Knowledge Level”. It was also noted that teachers give these students fewer opportunities to learn new material.
But, how can you get your at-risk students more involved in class without embarrassing them? Here are a few suggestions:
- Allow students to discuss the question with their peers before you ask for answer.
- Allow students to use a signal to alert you when they are ready to answer. Examples of this could be a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
- Call on every student. Use popsicle sticks for an online spinner to choose your students.
It has been shown that when teachers do call on high-risk students, they don’t allow them enough time to answer. Instead, they quickly move on to the next student. Many of these students are aware of this. So, what do they do? They wait you out. Instead of trying to answer the question, they sit them. They know that within a few minutes, you will move on to the next student. Allow these students more time to answer questions when you do call on them.
We all like to recognized. I know I do. Unfortunately, most teachers don’t offer as much praise to their at-risk students as they do other students. Hopefully, you are not guilty. If you are, no worries. Simply make a conscious effort to offer this students more praise.
Some things you can do are:
- Give them a thumbs up when they get the answer right.
- Put a smiley face on their paper.
- Display their work.
- Often them that extra encouragement.
Students need to know how they are doing. At-risk students especially need feedback on their performance. Make this feeback comes in a timely manner. This means getting students’ scores back to them quickly. Be sure that it is before another assessment on the same skill is given. This way the students can know what they did right and what they did wrong. And, they can make any needed corrections.
The greatest impact on these students’ learning was the teacher’s expectation level. And, those expectations were low.
Address a variety of Learning Styles
Most students, whether they are at-risk or not, enjoy hands-on activities. So, make sure that you provide your students with a lot of hands-on activities to keep them stimulated. And, don’t forget to address the other learning styles too. Your auditory learners may need to listen to the material on a tape or other recording. Be sure to provide demonstrations for your visual learners.
By addressing the various learning styles, you are sending a message to your students. That messages says that you care about their learning. And, that you are trying to provide them with meaningful learning opportunities.
You get what you expect…
It’s true. You get just what you expect. Since I’ve taken on a new position, I get to work with a lot of different teachers. Some are novice teachers. Some are veteran teachers. But, the one thing that I have notice across the board is this. Their students perform up to the level of their expectations. It’s almost like a self-full filling prophecy.
The thing that I find the most fascinating is that many teachers whose expectations for their students are low want these same students to perform well on their assessments. Go figure.
Novice teachers seem to fall more readily into this trap. They tend to get frustrated with their students. They believe that either their teaching style is not working, or these students simply are not trying hard enough.
It can be a combination of both factors. It can also be that the students’ parents aren’t helping at home. Although these teachers may not verbally come out and say that their expectations for these students are low, they can certainly tell them through non-verbal cues.
I was a struggling reader. I did not do very well in elementary school, but I flourished in high school. My mom worked long hours. There were four of us that she had to take care of. And, she was often too tired when she came home to help out with homework.
Despite all of the obstacles, I became an avid reader in high school, and I even graduated with honors. What was the difference? When I reached high school, I had a teacher who believed in me. She continuously poured into me. She told me that I could do it, and I believed her.
Think about yourself. When someone constantly tells you that you’re doing a good job, you continue to do a good job.
If we want our students to succeed, we have to change our expectations. We have to fix our own belief systems. And, we have to communicate our high expectations to them.
I’m not saying that this will work all the time. But, it works almost all of the time. Whatever you speak out of your mouth, that’s what you’re going to get.
Articles to Read:
Teachers & At Risk Students
https://2cuteclassroom.blogspot.com/2015/04/teachers-and-at-risk-students.html
At-Risk Adolescents Perceptions of Learning Temperaments: Implications for Educational Intervention
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1416363108
How to Support At-Risk Students in Your Classroom