Setting The Bar As High As You Can

I expect a lot out of my students. In fact, sometimes I have to sit back and evaluate if I am pushing them too hard. "They are only in 2nd grade...." It is easy to see when I have expected too much out of them. I create an assignment I think will be really great. Two minutes into the work and my desk is surrounded by questions, doubts, and confusion. Right away I can see all the holes that I overlooked before. This is the Homer Simpson moment of "DOH!"
Sometimes we can be right on target for our expectations. Expectations can and should be higher at first than what a student believes they can reach. When the doubt creeps in, it is our job to infuse a belief that will drive them to achieve. It is amazing what a child will do if someone believes in them.
The past couple weeks we have been working on leaving meaningful compliments for each other. I will never forget the first week when one little boy only had one comment left for him (it was from me). He came up to me and said, "This is dumb. I only got one and it was from you." This opened a teachable moment for me to push this little boy to go higher. I asked him how many compliments he had given other people. When the truth came out, he had only given one half-hearted note to someone else. Then I asked him, "How can you expect to get back more than what you have given?" At the next opportunity I saw him sliding a couple of notes behind a few names at our Compliment Central. When they collected their compliments this past week, he rushed up to my desk and said, "Look, I got three this week." He was beaming with joy. That little boy just learned in real time the impact kindness to others can have.



How do you set the bar high for your students? Post your success stories of helping kids go beyond where they thought they could.

Photo Credit: http://www.posetech.com/pose_method/track-records.html