Marinating in High Expectations

On Wednesdays, I marinate.

I sit in my three-hour long class on positive psychology and I just soak everything up. 90% is not new information, but as a teacher of students who are sometimes two or more grade levels behind, it’s necessary. Discussions of growth mindset, resilience, grit? Bring it on.

So, on Wednesdays, I soak. I’m dead tired, and every fiber in my body seems to be yearning to be in my bed. I soak regardless.

One of the biggest problems facing our kids today is that their teachers don’t believe in them. Or, they don’t believe in them enough.

And I get it. When you’ve tried ten different methods with a child, reviewed vocabulary twenty times, and made the same correction literally about a fifty times, it is just about the most frustrating thing ever. You start to doubt it’s possible — can this child really learn? But you’re supposed to be patient, so you smile, you breathe, and you keep going.

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“They’re not going to college.” “They can’t do math.” “They can’t read.”

Hang around a group of teachers long enough, and you’ll hear this language. It’s ever-present, almost as a ever-present as general jokes about the administration or a cute story about a kid. Kids are pretty cute.

But on Wednesdays I hear stories about what happens when you believe in kids, believe in their capacity to learn and change, and I am able to reset. I can reclaim the attitude of radical…