Chapter 2 of Teaching Children to Care by Ruth Sydney Charney brought up the subject of formulating expectations.
"Expectations are an essential step between intention and achievement. We must first know what our expectations are and then communicate them clearly to children" (31).
In my student teaching classroom, the expectation of doing excellent work was made clear from the very beginning of school. If student work is not of excellent quality, it will be done again. My CT explained to the students how 4th and 5th graders are old enough to be responsible for doing their very best work all of the time. Excellent work includes writing in complete sentences, using correct punctuation, writing with small and neat handwriting, coloring neatly, and following all directions.
Students are held to this expectation and have indeed re-done work that is not of high, excellent quality. The wall of student work has the word "Excellence" posted above it. Only work that is excellent is posted. Students are very aware of this expectation. Having students re-do work, especially at the beginning of the year, reinforces the expectation of doing excellent work and hopefully reduced the need for reminders later on in the year.
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2 comments:
Hi Lauren -- I'll be interested to see how this plays out as you investigate issues of status in the classroom also. Are there ways of conceiving of excellence that honor different facets of understanding (an idea you'll read about from Wiggins & McTighe for Thursday)? Setting high expectations is clearly important, but it's in tension with other goals like inclusion and taking a broad view of intellectual capacity. Whose papers end up being posted? Are there steps you can take to insure it's not just a repetitive few students? I bet Adrya has thought about these things and I wonder how it will play out.
--David
Great question! The Excellent display of student work includes work from all students- which I agree is very important for the idea of inclusion.
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