High Expectations

1. High Expectations I believe that all students have infinite potential. When teachers avoid underestimating their students or putting a “ceiling” on what they can achieve, and instead provide learning experiences that allow them to experience success and to recognize their own talents and potential, we will be amazed by what they accomplish. --Victoria Miller “I got in trouble (mild) this year for telling the students that since they chose to be in my class…, they need to study to pass the class….The students were shocked that a teacher said it to them.” --Susan Jones “Look and you will find it. What is unsought will go undetected. --Sophocles “If you guide students to _understand_ what is happening, you'll be far less boring than if you teach techniques without meaning. And taught that way, they can figure out what to do in un-taught situations.” --Wesley Groleau “I am sure that the students already know how to look for stuff like this, so they can help you” –Carol Rubenstein “The great majority of students say that having to meet higher standards would make them work harder in school and would prompt them and their classmates to learn more.” One student commented, “I think they don’t take us seriously enough. We’re really smarter than they think.” Johnson, Jean and Farkas, Steve. “Getting By: What American Teenagers Really Think About Their Schools,” A Report From Public Agenda, 1997, p. 19. Image: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/829482