Chapter 4 Raise Your Expectations

As a teacher, I expect all my students to do well on every thing they do. Teaching sixth grade has many more challenges because of what is expected of them at this grade level. We expect them to do well on reading assessments, math assessments, social studies assessments, writing assessments, science tests, spelling tests, language tests, perfect social behavior, perfect manners, creative artists, musicians and athletes just to name a few. I would love to have perfect students every year that can do everything. I know that students do better with high expectations and praise but there are still those out there that can't or need more help than can be given. What do we do with those students who don't meet our expectations? Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. It says "Do not accept failure as an option" but what if there is failure. Not every child is an artist, not every child is a musician, not every child is a math genius, so how high do we set the bar and what do we do if they don't succeed as a writer?