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Presentation
It is the first day of high school Chemistry. Thirty-two students
wait expectantly for the teacher to speak. The teacher begins the
class by saying, “This is a college prep science class. I
have very high expectations. Look around you. Based on past experience,
I expect that only two of you will earn A’s in this class.
Who will that be?”
There were no A’s in this class. I received one of the two B’s.
Let no reader think that this is what is meant by high expectations.
Providing High Expectations and Purposeful Support
Children need to be taught that strong habits of mind is something they
can learn through effort. It is the lesson of the Little Engine That
Could - I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,.... until she does.
One characteristic of a resilient learning community is that all staff
take collective responsibility for student learning - no blaming parents,
students, administrators, the district office, the state department
of education, the tax payers. The educational community, including students
and parents, come to see all students as problem solvers, not problems
to be solved. This requires taking risks with and for students, rather
than labeling them at-risk. This is the challenge that is at the very
center of creating resilient learning communities. We need to look every
student in the eye and say: “This work is important. You can do
it. I won’t give up on you. I am here to support you.”
High Expectations: Focus on Literacy
We know that people who can not read and write well are at a distinct
disadvantage in the adult world. It is the responsibility of each educator
to demand and support each student to become literate. It is the responsibility
of each educator to gain expertise as a teacher of literacy skills.
It is the responsibility of each educator to be literate, modeling literacy
skills.
High Expectations: Habits of Mind
Equally important is that all students learn to use their minds well,
to be critical thinkers and consumers. It is the responsibility of each
educator to demand and support each student to develop and practice
quality habits of mind. It is the responsibility of each educator to
learn gain expertise as a teacher of critical thinking skills. It is
the responsibility of each educator to be a critical thinker, modeling
quality habits of mind.
Remember from Case Study #1 that Anzar High School is guided by its
habits of mind (EPERRs).
High expectations means believing that all students are capable
of using their minds and hearts well.
Fostering resiliency means that teachers are “in kids faces”,
knowing them and their work well, expecting all students to meet high
expectations and telling them so. As Gary Bloom, Associate Director
of the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz
says, “Teachers need to be relentless in insuring that students
follow through and experience small successes; they phone parents, they
harass and harangue; they don’t give up; they advocate relentlessly
for students. It needs to be more work for a student to fail than it
is to get on board.”
Students who need academic support are accelerated (helped to catch
up), rather than remediated (too often associated with falling further
behind). Only when we have high expectations and purposeful support
for our students will all students have a sense of the future that is
optimistic and hopeful. This requires that teachers and administrators
believe, say, and practice for all students: “This work is important.
You can do it. I won’t give up on you. I am here to support you.”
What would a school look like whose culture is centered on
high expectations and purposeful support?
• Reasonable, positive, public, known and consistently
enforced policies and procedures are in place.
• The campus is well maintained with little litter and
graffiti.
• A broad range of student work is on display throughout
the school.
• Every student can name at least two adults who know her/him
well and her/his work well.
• The parent’s role in supporting student learning
is valued and supported through parent workshops, a parent library,
and availability of social services support.
• Members of the community are seen supporting student
learning; space and training are provided for this purpose.
• Teachers, parents, and students talk openly about the
commitment of the principal and district to all students learning
to use their minds and hearts well.
• Staff articulate a common mission that all agree transcends
personal differences. |
What would curriculum, instruction and assessment be like
in a school that is designed to foster high expectations and purposeful
support for all students?
Curriculum
• Students are actively engaged in interdisciplinary, thematic,
project-based work.
• Projects have significance to students and are based
on important questions raised by students, teachers and community
members.
• Curriculum respects and acknowledges the ethnography
and community of the students, using this as a departure point
for curriculum that explores diversity of culture and opinion
within and without the community .
• Teachers individualize and modify instruction that addresses
learning styles and special needs of students.
• Students comment (or proudly complain) that the work
is challenging and takes time.
Instruction
• Classes are heterogeneously grouped for most of the day,
with regrouping as appropriate.
• Students usually are working in small groups or independently.
• There is a well defined safety net in place to accelerate
students who are falling behind in their academic progress.
• Common instructional strategies are being used in most
classrooms within and across grade levels.
• When teachers ask questions, students are required to
use higher order thinking skills to answer and all students have
equal access to respond.
• When students ask questions, teachers usually reply with
a question that requires thought by the student, rather than with
the answer.
Assessment
• Student learning is assessed in a variety of ways, including
the use of well publicized rubrics, public exhibitions and self-reflection
by students.
• Individual teachers use assessment strategies on a daily
basis to diagnose the learning of individual students and to adjust
instruction based on this assessment.
• Teachers review student work and other assessment data
together to guide school and classroom practice.
• When asked, students talk articulately about their best
work. |
How would teacher and administrator roles change in such
a school?
• The principal knows students and student work well
and is often seen engaged in conversations with teachers about
individual students and their learning.
• The principal knows students and student work well and
is often seen engaged in conversations with students about their
learning.
• Teachers and school and district administrators have
agreed on best practices in a limited number of areas of focus
(literacy, habits of mind), and time, resources, and professional
development are supporting implementation - including expert and
peer coaching and collaborative action research. |
• Time is provided for teachers to discuss the needs and successes
of individual students.
• Time is provided for teachers to discuss classroom
practice.
• Teachers talk openly about how supportive the principal
and district are regarding supporting ideas and helping to provide
resources.
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