Practical Solution Idea 11:1 on page 85 discusses the expectation of excellence.Give several examples of how you model your expectations of excellence.Respond to someone on the blog.
Modeling expectations isn't too difficult. I try to not 'hold student's hands' as they are working. I expect them to do their best, be self-advocates and request assistance when necessary. I found that I used to try to prevent students making errors on assignment, but they didn't learn as much. Now, I try to make sure a concept is learned properly and then have them practice independently. I thought the concept of work continuing when the teacher leaves the classroom was interesting - I just always assumed students would continue working. I had quite a bit to think about with this chapter! So far I think it's caused me to ponder ideas the most.
Self inflicted consequences seem to be a big learning/teaching time. I know even with my own to children that sometimes that is the best way for them to learn but like Jerrie said we can't be holding their hands or they don't learn near as much. Goes back to setting the bar high. Your expectations of excellence for a Gifted Student may look/be different than that of a student with a mild learning disability but you should always have some sort of expectation for learning and mastery.
It is true what Amy said about the gifted student/interrelated students being different in expectations. But there is still the need for their expectations to exceed more than existing. Even if a student does not read, pictures and other items can be used to teach them. So if a student doesn't know his multiplication tables - why not use a calculator. Most adults and businesses use them. That is a skill for students. I don't let my students leave a blank on their work - they know that is automatically a missed answer and so we continue to search and look for the correct answer.
For students with disabilities, I have always been concerned that students, general ed teachers and parents believe that getting through school is the goal and if that takes a para, so be it. The real goal should be learning. When staff makes the comment that it is very difficult to "get" a student into special education, my question is what will be different for this student tomorrow except a label and an IEP? If that is all that we do, we diminish all students because being identified as a student with exceptionality changes the expectations immediately.
Modeling expectations isn't too difficult. I try to not 'hold student's hands' as they are working. I expect them to do their best, be self-advocates and request assistance when necessary. I found that I used to try to prevent students making errors on assignment, but they didn't learn as much. Now, I try to make sure a concept is learned properly and then have them practice independently. I thought the concept of work continuing when the teacher leaves the classroom was interesting - I just always assumed students would continue working. I had quite a bit to think about with this chapter! So far I think it's caused me to ponder ideas the most.
ReplyDeleteSelf inflicted consequences seem to be a big learning/teaching time. I know even with my own to children that sometimes that is the best way for them to learn but like Jerrie said we can't be holding their hands or they don't learn near as much. Goes back to setting the bar high. Your expectations of excellence for a Gifted Student may look/be different than that of a student with a mild learning disability but you should always have some sort of expectation for learning and mastery.
ReplyDeleteIt is true what Amy said about the gifted student/interrelated students being different in expectations. But there is still the need for their expectations to exceed more than existing. Even if a student does not read, pictures and other items can be used to teach them. So if a student doesn't know his multiplication tables - why not use a calculator. Most adults and businesses use them. That is a skill for students. I don't let my students leave a blank on their work - they know that is automatically a missed answer and so we continue to search and look for the correct answer.
ReplyDeleteFor students with disabilities, I have always been concerned that students, general ed teachers and parents believe that getting through school is the goal and if that takes a para, so be it. The real goal should be learning. When staff makes the comment that it is very difficult to "get" a student into special education, my question is what will be different for this student tomorrow except a label and an IEP? If that is all that we do, we diminish all students because being identified as a student with exceptionality changes the expectations immediately.
ReplyDelete