Team building has become a growing hot topic in the educational and corporate world. What does that word really mean? It is the dedicated process of building functional teams that are willing to collaboratively tackle difficult tasks. Why Team Building? A question we should always ask…if not our students will. I’ve included lots of activities and ideas for team building. Download my FREE Whitepaper today!
I will be doing two workshops and a panel at the 2017 MAAP 101 Conference on Friday, October 13, 2017 from 8:30am to 3:15pm. Check it out at here.
“Sometimes teacher expectations are linked to the perceived social class of the student… [hence] teacher expectations can play an important role in determining the educational achievement of the child” (Spring, 2015, p. 84). “Sometimes teacher expectations are linked to the perceived social class of the student… [hence] teacher expectations can play an important role in determining the educational achievement of the child” (Spring, 2015, p. 84).
Lawrence Lezotte points out in his book, “What effective schools do: Re-envisioning the Correlates”, that the perception that home and family situations are the largest factor in a student’s ability to learn is detrimental to the individual growth of that student. Blaming out-of-school factors can be a roadblock to finding school solutions to ensure all students learn. We need to be empathetic toward our students and their different situations, but we should not feel sorry for them, causing us to lower our expectations. Sometimes the greatest demonstration of understanding for a student and their situation is to provide consistent high expectations with proper encouragement to support the student to meet those expectations. The greatest good we may be able to do for a student is helping them to believe they can and will learn.
Caroline Dweck in her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” provides studies that prove many students that are held to certain proficiency standards actually decline once they reach high school compared to students who are held to rigorous growth standards. However, I still see schools changing expectations for students who live in poverty. I have made a conscious effort everyday to impart a growth mindset in all of my students. There is no time for excuses or lowered expectations.
I believe that a student’s resiliency and grit are stronger than the culmination of his or her barriers. I have always held myself accountable to help foster a self-confidence in each of my students that they have the ability to learn and grow every day. In a time with the pressures of the teaching the Common Core and high stakes testing, we must remember the importance of cultivating grit.
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: the new psychology of success. New York: Random House.
Lezotte, L. W., & Snyder, K. M. (2011). What effective schools do: Re-envisioning the correlates. Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.
Spring, J. (2016). American education (17th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
I believe first and foremost we need to identify the definition of success. Today’s schools and society as a whole have a version of success that may or may not align with our students or even you and I. We need to make sure we are not blindly following to reach a destination that does not align with our own beliefs and ideals.
It is essential we hold high expectations for every student and make it our mission as educators to help each student reach their full human potential. We need to make sure that we focus on a student’s strengths and gifts rather than on their perceived deficits. I know I have mentioned this in other posts, but I do feel that Carol Dweck’s book, “Mindest: the New Psychology of Success”, is an excellent read for understanding the power of learning perception. It is important that we understand the power of growth rather than limiting ourselves to focusing on a fixed standard. It is about getting better every day and understanding that learning is messy. Learning includes failure. Paul Tough describes eloquently in his book, “How Children Succeed”, that success is dependent on strengthening an individual’s grit, optimism, curiosity, and character rather than limiting ourselves to a math score. Maybe the best way for us to support a young person to get out of generational poverty is to help build his or her character. Are schools doing this? Strong character does not just happen. It does not just magically appear. Therefore, it should not be left up to chance. It is our responsibility to help foster a school environment that promotes daily growth and character education.
Finally, I think we need to ensure we as educators are continually examining our own power, privilege and bias. Do our own beliefs interfere with the growth of our students? If we are in the business of helping our students reach their full human potential then we may need to check our own ego at the door. We should include discussions of power, privilege and bias in our teaching as we help our students identify their place in our dynamic society.
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: the new psychology of success. New York: Random House.
Tough, P. (2014). How children succeed: confidence, curiosity and the hidden power of
character. London: Arrow Books.
s PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Do you hold yourself accountable to serving your students? How do you know you are serving your students? Have you asked them lately?
Semester student perception surveys can drive continuous school improvement. If students do not want to be in our schools, they will not learn when they are there. We have to ensure a culture that supports learning. Collecting data does not support school improvement if it is not the right data to collect.
Please email and find out how you can begin to collect this important student perception data.
Empower
The classroom teacher has the greatest and most significant impact on student learning. Therefore, it is important that we develop a culture of committed teachers who work together to help each other improve student learning. Teachers have the ability and the knowledge to make student learning transformative and authentic. I believe it is important to create structures and strategies around giving every teacher a voice as we discuss school improvement.
