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As I sat in a meeting with my second grade teamโฆ my mind began to wander to the more important things that needed to get done in my room. It was Thursday. Next weekโs plans needed to be finalized, copies set out, homework ordered, centers madeโฆ I needed to be everywhere but at this meeting. ย But as I mentally reviewed my ever growing checklist, three words snapped me back to reality.
We all know there are some words that teachers should never say in front of their students. Most of them are 4-letters. But, there are also words you should never say about your studentsโฆ
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โMy students canโtโฆโ
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Those three simple wordsโฆ those seemly harmless, only when youโre upset, to your teaching bestie, wordsโฆ are the absolute worse things you can say about your class. A student. A group. EVER.
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Why?
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Wellโฆ simply putโฆ if they are uttered enough, you begin to believe them. Those words and thoughts creep into your mind and begin to undermine even your best teaching strategies. It becomes a self fulling prophecy. ย You believe that they canโt, so they canโt.
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Hereโs a very personal example. Two years ago, I decided to leave my perfectly happy position as a second grade teacher at a rather affluently school and teach third grade at a Title I school within my district. ย I was a proven 2nd grade teacher with strong test scores. I felt like I had to do this. And how different was third grade from second anyway? But, all I heard from everyone it seemed, was how my new students couldnโt do this or would never be able to do thatโฆ
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and sadly, I believed them. My first semester at that school was the hardest of my career. My class was out of control, my lessons were watery at best. This wasnโt what I signed up to do. I wanted to help these students, I wanted to inspire them, push them, like I had done for seven previous years. Not spend my day on discipline and watered down lessons for reading and math.
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Then, it was time to take our first two BIG district assessments for the year. Iโm not gonna lie. I was scared. I mean, I taught stuffโฆ but I didnโt know how my kids would do. I wasnโt expecting much after allโฆ These kids couldnโt.
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After two grueling 90 minute sessions of testing. It was time to see how my kids did. How I didโฆย
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I scanned in those tests, refreshed the browser and waited impatiently for the class average. Staring back at me was the truthโฆ my students performed exactly how I thought they would. Terrible. ย Why was I so upset? I was told my students couldnโt do it, I knew my students wouldnโt do wellโฆ but that 54% class average stung. At my previous school, the expectation was your class scores should always be at least 10% higher than the districtโs average. I was sitting 15% below my districtโs average. I cried.
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I sought solace with my new third grade team. All the teachers had been teaching at the school for years and had years of experience in third grade. Maybe they could help me. I shared my concerns and my upset. I was toldโฆ โYouโre not in Kansas anymoreโ. It wasnโt meant to be mean. I didnโt take it to be that way eitherโฆ it was meant to say, โHereโs your reality check.โ Youโre teaching students who canโt. And you know what? She was rightโฆ I wasnโt in Kansas, but I wasnโt in Oz either.ย ย
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As I reflected on the last eight weeks of teaching instruction, I realized the issue wasnโt my students. It was me. It was my attitude. My thoughts. I thought my students couldnโt. So, they didnโt. I never said, โYou canโt do thisโฆโ to their sweet third grade faces, but the lessons I taught, the low expectations I had setโฆ they all said โYou canโt do itโ.
I spent the next eight weeks working my pa-tooty off. I raised my expectations of behavior, reading, writing. I stopped believing the couldnโt. I stopped making excuses. I held my students responsible for their behavior, their work ethic, and their grades. It was hard.
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Not only did the behavior in my class immensely improve, so did their grades.ย It wasnโt easy. And it didnโt happen over night. I worked to make my lessons potent and engaging. I stayed late working to design, create, and plan the best lessons I could think of. My students deserved it.
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When that time came to take those district assessments again, I knew my kids would do wellโฆ because I knew they could. My students can.
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After two way less grueling 90 minute sessions, I scanned in those tests, refreshed the browser and waited impatiently for the class average. Staring back at me was the truthโฆ my students performed exactly how I thought they would. AWESOME. Why was I so excited? I was told my students couldnโt do it, and yet, now my students couldโฆ that 83% class average brought tears to my eyes.ย We werenโt 10% above the district average, but we did beat it by 2 points! I cried. I knew my students could!
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Moral of this story? Itโs all about you. You, the teacher, ย set the tone in your classroom.
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This quote from The TeachersPayTeachers blog says it perfectly. Kids rise to your expectations. I know this to be true. And when you say even just to yourself, ย โMy students canโt.โ Youโre short changing them and setting up for failure.
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Words to say insteadโฆ
Instead of sayingโฆ canโtย use the wordย can. This simple switch forces you to focus on the positive. It allows you to see the starting point for where your teaching needs to begin. ย For example, if youโre kiddos are struggling with writing multiple complete sentences to form a paragraph, youโd be tempted to sayโฆ
โMy students canโtย even write a complete sentence, let alone a paragraph.โ (Said every second grade teacher at the beginning of the year!)
Insteadโฆ focus on what they can do.
โMy students can capitalize the beginning of a simple sentence and add ending punctuation.โ
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Teachers should use what students have already accomplished to help move to what they need to accomplish. Be sure to show your students what they already know so that they can see theyโve already been successful on something similar. Learning is all about making connections to things kids already know how to do, so pointing out what they can already do something allows for students to make those connections easily and feel confident in taking the next step.ย
Now, I know there are somethings that students truly cannot do. I would never expect a kindergartner to complete complex calculus equations. Or even a second grader to perform on a 5th grade level. But, teachers should expect their students to perform according to their grade level standards. Effective teachers hold their students to those standards and if students are struggling to meet those standards, the instructor is ready to reteach and provide additional practice until that skill is mastered. If the student consistently demonstrates a lack of performance on grade level, the teacher may need to seek additional help through RTI or other school based interventions.
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So what did I say to my team member as soon as she uttered those terrible words? I held up my hand, I asked her to tell us what her students can doย so that we could we together to help improve their performance. Then, I rushed out of that meeting and straight to my classroom. Hey, that teacherโs to do list isnโt gonna check off itself!
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