Aim High

I have recently been reading an educational book about different techniques that put students on the path to college.  I don't usually pick up books like this to read, but as I was reading, I came across a few techniques that strive to promote higher levels of student acheivement.  

You have been setting expectations with your students since your first session with them.  Setting high expectations is key for high student achievement, even for those who do not show successful achievement.  So how do you demonstrate high expectations if you haven't already?  Take a look at these techniques that will help you do so and create a more challenging learning environment for your student:

1.  Don't Opt Out:  Don't let your student say those three ugly words to you, "I DON"T KNOW".  That is not going to cut it here at CGTP.  Your student is trying to avoid what he/she thinks they don't know.  If you let your student get away with an "I Don't Know" kind of answer, then they are going to expect to get away with that.  This technique works best when working with more than one student, but once a student knows the right answer, have them repeat the answer back to you, to ensure they were listening.

2. Right is Right:  Okay, so you've got your student answering questions and they are "almost right" but not 100% correct.  We want to get our students used to answering with an all the way RIGHT answer.  You can help them do that by saying things like " I like most of that" or "Can you develop further?" or "That's a great start but there's a bit more to it than that".  Using positive language to get your students a few steps further in their understanding will lead to much greater success.

3.  Stretch It:  When students get an answer all the way right, you can STRETCH it even further. 
Ask how or why, ask for another way to answer, ask for a better word or some evidence as to how they know that.  Learning doesn't end with a right answer, reward these answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge.

4.  Format Matters:  They are learning to write in complete sentences, but they aren't always speaking them.  Yes, this can be a touchy subject, but what are your students going to do when they have job interviews or college applications to fill out?  Correcting slang, syntax, and grammar is a must and you can practice this by having your students use complete sentences when speaking answers to you.  It's not what students say that matters, but how they communicate it.

Be a leader who expects great things, and great things you will see!

These techniques comes from the book "Teach Like A Champion" by Doug Lemov.