HIGH EXPECTATIONS

CAP Element 5

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CAP Element Description

Effectively models and reinforces ways that students can master challenging material through effective effort, rather than having to depend on innate ability.

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Overview

Fundamentally I do not believe attributing students as “smart.” Each student has talents, abilities or disabilities, and complex contexts in which they grow. I also do not believe in the word “stupid.” No student is helpless to learn, and no student can remain passive in the learning process and expect to do well. Teachers must identify the best ways to approach each student’s needs and styles to generate learning and growth. The way I like to approach the CAP element of high expectations is by creating certain goals for each student and delivering lessons that will provide opportunities for each student to grow regardless of the level they are.

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Expectations of Student Growth

I emphasize a growth mindset in my life and in my classroom. I hope to see students putting in effort to alter their practices and grow in their learning. At the beginning of the year, I became accustomed to the large amount of time required to deliver individual feedback to each student. There were over 100 posters of the digestive system and essays about water properties on my desk. I started out grading with so much energy and excitement to provide students with helpful feedback. By the end of grading, I had given each student individualized areas for growth and areas of success. This took much more effort than I expected. Unfortunately, some students did not utilize the feedback as I had hoped, but many did. There was one student who had very sloppy work with writing that was nearly illegible. I had asked him in his comments to work on neatness, and many times on his tests or classwork I would have him redo assignments that were illegible. One of his tests is shown below from the beginning of the year. He has made a lot of progress with his writing with constant assistance from other teachers as well. As a teacher, I emphasize individual growth and making progress in each assignment with direct feedback.

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STUDENT FEEDBACK

Digestive System Poster

For each student, I created unique and tailored feedback based on their work. Here are some of the specific responses I gave to each student on Schoology.

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CLEAR OUTLINES FOR SUCCESS

Expectations are generated in my class from models I provide. As the practicum went on, I included better models and demonstrations of the quality of results I expected. I created rubrics to grade against for student and teacher accountability and fairness.

CAP Element 5: About Me

Rewards for Mastery and Growth

Students also were able to use reference cards that they created with topics they had mastered on tests. For example, students created a reference card for chemistry concepts such as bonds and polarity, since this was often the most difficult concept. Once they took their chemistry test on bonds and polarity, they could use those reference cards on any future quiz or test.

Students also could complete "test corrections" to gain extra points after their test. This required a lot of work, since students had to rewrite each question they got wrong, identify the answer they chose, identify the correct answer, provide the source of the correct answer, and describe why it is correct with a drawing to support the concept. Students also had to write a summary at the end of their test corrections to describe what they could have done differently while studying to get a better score. If students completed this, they would get almost an entire letter grade back on their test. This taught students to reflect, practice their skills, and understand what they should do to do better on tests. I found this a helpful tool for individuals to understand their unique areas of strength or weakness.
As the semester went on, students relied less and less on these test corrections since they gradually become fewer additional points. Students thus gradually learn what to expect to do to succeed before a test.

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