ABC's of Successful Teaching...Expectations!

It has been proven that a teacher's expectations can affect the way a student learns or behaves.

Let's take a look at how we can improve our expectations about every student in our classroom.

1.  Find out what they are all about.

Get to know your students as individuals.  What do they like?  What are they good at?  How do they feel about school and learning?

These are some interest surveys I use at the beginning of the year that give me a start.  They are leveled to meet all student needs.

2.  Allow students to set goals for themselves.

Each Monday morning we take a few minutes to set a goal for ourselves.  I set one as well so the class sees me working to improve also.  The first few times you do this you may have to help students with this but after a few times you will see they really work hard to meet these goals.  On Friday I hand back their sheet and they evaluate their progress.  

Some weeks I collect these and write a note on the back to each student letting them know how proud I am of their efforts. 

I allow students to pick the same goal more than once if they feel they need more practice.

Keep goals simple and attainable.

Sample goals:

Improve my math facts.

Work on my penmanship.

Practice ending sentences with periods.

Reading more when I finish my work.

Raising my hand before I speak out.

3.  Play games with your students that allow for conversation.

I love this game.  It is simple and really allows me and the other students to get to know each other.

I like to partner students.  At the end they answer the sheet provided that shares on thing they learned about their partner.  We then share these with the class.

This can be played over and over as long as they partners are different!!

Many ideas are available here.

These help students see their growth and set goals.

Filled with ideas.

I let my students know on the first day...

I EXPECT each of you to "do your best"!

Download all of the copies shown above here.

Tomorrow...