Principal Note To Self: Expect, No Matter What.

 

I recently watched a video recorded in a high school science classroom. The classroom was populated with both students who are blind and students are sighted. The teacher made clear through his actions and words that he not only expected each student achieve and excel but that he didn’t hold those expectation with blindness or eyesight as a factor.

All student were treated the same with regard to learning potential, capacity for meaningful contributions, and collaborative competence. Actually, it was a lack of elucidation on the question of expectations that seemed to drive clarity regarding the same. The absence of distinction between students’ limitations and their potential coupled with a deep consideration for their individual needs propelled a culture in which each seemed to be empowered.

Furthermore, each student appeared enthusiastic and somehow boosted by the realization of the empowerment of the others. The mood was highly collaborative and the focus was learning and growth, not ability; specifically not the ability to see with one’s eyes.

If you believe that it’s essential to identify and address the individual learning needs and developmental readiness of each student that we serve in order to serve each one well then you’ll find no argument from me. I believe it’s a must. The teaching and learning taking place in this amazing classroom gifted me with cause and scaffolding to further consider what that means and how it looks (and could look) in our classrooms.

In this classroom distinctions were made behind the scenes and for planning purposes only, giving the teacher an ability to target students without sight in the most inconspicuous of ways. He used tools and strategies for exploration that didn’t call for those distinctions to be highlighted. In doing so he also exposed his sighted students to learning opportunities that they might not have otherwise had. There was an awesome lack of recognition of individual differences because of an awesome understanding of the same.

Seeing this group of students out of this context could trigger someone to think about them as existing as two separate groups: blind students and sighted students. Without this context one might think of them as having different capacities for learning, growth, and extraordinarity (not previously a word, but one now). In this context it’s decidedly clear that they’re each simply students. In this context it’s decidedly clear that are each capable and that are each exceptional. This context is profoundly awesome. I dig it, and I can only imagine its potential in classrooms where diversity is less overt.

As an elementary school principal I’m keenly aware that each classroom is populated with student who are unique and exceptional. It’s among the most categorical pieces of the educational puzzle that make our classrooms brilliant environments for real-time learning and growth. Our students have veritably limitless opportunities to intermingle with diverse populations of learners, mirroring interactions that they will inevitably continue having for the rest of their lives.

How can parents and educators ensure that each one of our incredible students is burdened by the expectation that his or her efforts and achievements should match and even exceed standards outside and above what conventional wisdom might otherwise suggest? Living within a growth paradigm is tough, and as a consequence it has the potential to produce tough people.

What can we do to help each of our students understand his or her personal responsibility for both cooperation and independence? How do we continue moving ever closer to a universal culture in which our differences bring us together, both in and outside of our schools and our classrooms?

Sometimes our differences are explicit and sometimes they’re subtle. Often times they’re completely indistinguishable. When we work to understand and address human potential for the striking enigma it is we allow ourselves to glance beyond what our eyes can see and into a realm of limitless possibilities.

When we release ourselves from stigma and predetermination we dissolve barriers. When we expect, no matter what, we show the children that we serve how to do the same, and as they discover the delights of odd-defying achievement they crave and build their capacity for more. Awesome.

 Live. Learn. Lead.

Dream Big. Work Hard. Be Well.