Never Work Harder than Your Students: Know Where Your Students Are Going

Chapter Three

This Week’s Agenda

Chapter Three•Expectations=Confidence•The Pygmalion Effect•Faith in Yourself•Confront the Brutal Facts•Courage to Teach

Not expect your students to get there…

•An expectation=the confidence something will happen

•Probability x Value•Based on values and

beliefs

I can help my students

.

It is important

to help my

students.

Expectation:

What we believe

about our teaching situation,

our ability to handle it, and what

we believe is important

It’s all

about

me!

9

The Pygmalion Effect•Self-fulfilling prophecy

▫Not your unwavering belief in student abilities

▫Your unwavering belief in your own abilities.

Consider asking these questions:1. What do I want students to learn?2. How will I know when they have learned

it?3. How will I respond when a student

encounters difficulty learning?Rick DuFour, 2005

The Stockdale Paradox

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

~Admiral Jim Stockdale as shared in Good to Great by Jim Collins

Reflection•The primary benefit of reflective

practice for teachers is a deeper understanding of their own teaching style and ultimately, greater effectiveness as a teacher.

▫Validation of a teacher's ideals, ▫Beneficial challenges to tradition, ▫Recognition of teaching as artistry,

and▫Respect for diversity in applying

theory to classroom practice.

It’s

all

about

me!

Asking the Right Questions

1. What are my current skills and teaching strategies?

2. What are the requirements and the constraints on the teaching task at hand?

3. Are my current skills and strategies sufficient for the teaching task at hand?

4. If not, what can I do about it?

Confronting the Brutal Facts

• Try to look at your classroom with the same lens as if you were looking at someone else’s.

• Use video. Critiquing yourself is sometimes easier when you are watching it on screen.

• Try the five whys: ▫Ask a question about your classroom. “Why

aren’t students doing their homework?”▫Ask “Why?” four more times. “They aren’t

motivated.” Why? “They don’t like school.” Why? “They’re bored.” Why? “The content doesn’t relate to them.” Why? “It’s too abstract.”

• Give yourself some credit. Be real. Be curious.

Why ask why?• Asking essential questions and good

supporting questions makes the effort of learning more than a game of trivial pursuit.

• Strive to ask questions that result in new questions the teacher cannot answer.

• An essential question that arises from imaginative engagement is an important way to bring teacher, student, and subject matter together in such a way that enriches all three.

Values Beliefs

Facts

Confront

Faith

Maintain

Expect to Get Your Students There