Expectations & Habits

In both my teaching and my personal life, things seem to be focused on two words. Expectations. Habits.

Expectations are an interesting thing. We think those expectations are intuitive and often implied. When reality is, in both the classroom and parenting, they’re far from that. We very much need to define, teach, and reteach what our expectations are. Even with high schoolers, we assume they know what school expectations are. However, there are two realities I’m encountering. 1) My expectations vary from that of my colleagues and so assuming they know what I expect based on previous experiences is like assuming a new barista at my favorite coffee shop knows what I like. 2) High schoolers will push boundaries as they assert their independence. This means, if they don’t know where the lines are, they’re naturally going to search for them.

By the way – this is also true in parenting a child of any age frankly.

I have been revisiting expectations in my classroom. At first, it felt childish and like I was treating my freshman like children vs young adults. That’s also how they perceived it. After three weeks of focusing in, these expectations are becoming new habits. [More in a moment there.] I’m finding the level of respect towards me and my class to be increasing. I’m finding the level of engagement to be increasing. I’m finding the level of unproductive chaos to be decreasing. At the same time, it’s allowing for a more productive level of chaos. It’s amazing how simply realizing that a group of teenagers still needs to be taught classroom behaviors has positively impacted my instruction.

As we focus on expectations, the habits are coming into play. Today, I noticed that my students are starting to meet the expectation of “more than just a few people participating” willingly vs me forcing this to happen. More of them are raising their hands and volunteering. Perhaps this is because the unproductive chaos has ended and students know more of what is going on and are gaining more and more confidence by the day. It’s also becoming a habit for me of focusing on these positive behaviors in class and recognizing their efforts.

Because the unproductive chaos has cleared, I can find myself thinking clearly, students thinking more clearly, engaged more clearly, and that sensory overload that could easily be experienced is decreasing.

It’s a win. It takes dedication to make a new practice a habit. It doesn’t happen overnight. My administrator used the phrase in conversation with a colleague today “Go slow to go fast”. Sometimes we have to give ourselves permission, as educators, to make the decisions that are right for student learning – even if it means taking it slow for a bit. I’m confident these changes are going to impact the student learning in my classroom in positive ways.

I’ve been at this job for over a decade and I’m just now realizing how much room I still had to grow. It’s ok. I’m liking the direction I’m going. I think these will make me a better teacher and a better mentor.

Funny part of it all- it’s all started by a desire to become a better parent and seeking the resources to be a better mom.

Expectations and habits. Define expectations clearly. Enforce them to make them habits.